Sunday's Asheville NC, peace rally:
There was a good turnout and the weather was very nice. Some powerful speakers and poets shared the stage.
Cindy Sheehan who spoke the day before in Fayetteville, once again brought tears to many eyes. She co-founded the group Gold Star Families for Peace and her son Casey was killed in Iraq. There was also a strong veteran showing in Asheville. I estimated the crowd to be at least 400 (?)
Cindy Sheehan and other speakers at the Fayetteville protest can be heard at: www.DemocracyNow.org
--
Iraq war opponents rally downtown
photo: John Fletcher/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
By Barbara Blake
STAFF WRITER
published: March 21, 2005 6:00 am
ASHEVILLE - Several hundred opponents of the war in Iraq gathered peacefully at City-County Plaza on Sunday afternoon for a Global Day of Action commemorating the second anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Baghdad.
Carrying placards, banners and posters with slogans such as "Bush Lied - Thousands Died,'' and "Are We Safer Yet?,'' the peace activists listened to poets, singers and speakers call for a withdrawal of troops and an end to the war.
"The U.S. military is igniting rather than stopping violence all over the world,'' said one of the speakers, Dr. Don Richardson of Brevard, a member of WNC Physicians for Social Responsibility. "Real security would not include killing people to win their hearts and minds.''
The crowd on the government plaza ranged in age from newborn to a woman in her 90s, and included a number of church members unified in their opposition to the war.
..more..
http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050321/NEWS01/503210324/1001