Anti-War Demonstrators March on Washington

[brettdale]

Anti-War Demonstrators March on Washington


http://www.ftimes.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=29648&TM=26866.56


The rally stretched through the day and into the night, a marathon of music, speechmaking and dissent on the National Mall. Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey, noting that organizers had hoped to draw 100,000 people, said, "I think they probably hit that."

Speakers from the stage attacked President Bush's policies head on, but he was not at the White House to hear it. He spent the day in Colorado and Texas, monitoring hurricane recovery.

[Arkana]

1. "Probably?"

I thought the conservative estimate was around twice that.

[evlbstrd]

2. I was there.

Organizers' estimate was 200,000 or more. I believe it. Pictures to come.

[wildhorses]

3. one of the guys in my group

who attends football games at stadiums that hold 100,000 people said that it looked like 3 times a full stadium. Wouldn't that make it 300,000 people? Just asking...
All I know is that it is the most people I have ever seen in one place in MY life time. AWESOME

[flakey_foont]

4. One of the speakers, forget who

said 300,000, .. and from what I saw,. that figure will get no argument from me....
easily 100,000....

[alphafemale]

5. It seemed like at least twice as many as any other I've attended in D.C.

And the parade route covered so many streets this time.

I'm just getting back to Sav, GA so low on info.

Was the extended route spontaneously done by protesters.

Or was it something done by police to stop the gridlock of it backing up on itself?

[tnlefty]

10. It backed up on itself anyway. Our small group lined up after

Galloway finished speaking and lots of others were lining up, too. After an hour of wall to wall people we left and had snacks and a drink. During that time we encountered someone who had interpreted for the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Cindy Sheehan and we asked her why the march wasn't moving. Her response to us was 'people have no where to go. There are people at the White House already and the streets are full.' We spent 45 mins. taking a break and then rejoined the line. For a while we thought we'd be bringing up the rear, but people just kept coming to join the line. After about an hour of marching I told the adult with me to look behind us. We could no longer see the end of the line behind us nor in front of us, and we still were quite a way from the White House. The streets were full and the marchers were spilling into the sidewalks. LOTS of people!!!

[alphafemale]

13. We waited/marched for 4hrs.

Previous years it's taken maybe 45 mins to march the route.

We (son, hubby and I) were pall bearers.

[tnlefty]

14. We saw you and the others and it was an awesome sight!

We stepped out of the line after that, and there were still people coming to join the line! Good on both of you.

[ThomWV]

6. I Was There Too

We were guessing an easy 250,000. The guy I rode over with (we are from West Virginia) is also a football fan and familiar with what crowds of 65,000-100,000 look like. I thought there were at least 100,000 in view from the ellipse, and goodness only knows how many that were simply around the corner or a couple of blocs away.

As to the Pro War crowd, what I could see as we passed them I would not have estimate their numbers to be any more than 50. That was at about 2:00 PM.

[wildhorses]

7. that is about what I would

guess from what I saw along the way

[Talismom]

8. I would agree with your estimates for both groups. At least 250 to300K

on the anti-war side. The only larger protest I've attended was the one a couple years ago in DC for womens reproductive rights. It was just amazing! You could hardly move anywhere in the area and the cell phones just wouldn't work because so many were using them in the same area!

[tnlefty]

12. Thanks,I was having difficulty using my cell phone within the area

and I couldn't understand why I could call home to my home phone, but couldn't reach my spouse's cell phone number, nor the people in DC who I was trying to reach and they couldn't reach me either. Glad to know that it was many people who were having this problem and not just us.

[Oeditpus Rex]

9. Okay, let's be honest

How many of us can accurately estimate a crowd? I sure can't. Maybe it's like having a "math head" or something, but I can't imagine anyone with the ability to look at a mass of people like that and say "It's 100,000" or whatever.

As for estimating crowds based on sports events, remember that the people at these are in an enclosed area with a seating capacity that's generally known — not spread all over the place with no point of reference.

I'm not saying anybody's estimate is wrong or right; I have no way of knowing this. I'm asking how they know.

[porphyrian]

11. Rain Man would know. - n/t