Pictures from Chicago

[FatDave]

Most of these are from gathering at the start of the route, because it got hard to shoot with my semi-crappy digital camera once the sun went down. These will probably kill my monthly bandwidth, but WTF...









The guy above I think was part of the marching band. He had a small battery-powered amp on his back which was wired into the bullhorn on his helmet. I didn't get a chance to hear him play, but one way or another, this dude rocks.




He turned just as I took the picture, but the sign says "We will, in fact, be greeted as liberators -Dick, 1/16/03". Not really Cheney, just an amazing likeness.













Tsk, tsk, such language...







Low shutter speed (due to darkness) plus shooting while walking equals pretty lousy pictures of us actually marching.







Did I mention the police came out to support us? I saw CPD, county, and sherriff's department. As far as I could tell, they lined the complete route (not quite 1.5 miles) and almost all decked out in full riot gear.



Now this was really interesting. Toward the end of the route, here was one of Chicago's finest with a video camera recording us as we walked by. I thought that was kind of funny, so I went back to take his picture. Not surprisingly, a lot of people were taking his picture. But by the time I got the picture, he'd lowered the camera. So I waited. Eventually he raised it back up. I was saying "smile! smile!". Then he did this...



Woohoo! Go me!

[Blue_In_AK]

1. Great shots...

We are ALL photojournalists. :woohoo:

[Erika]

2. Great pics. Thanks n/t

[Drum]

3. Wow, excellent!

Thanks for these pitures, and thanks for being out there.

[nonconformist]

4. Great pics! K & R nt

[Bozita]

5. Pix of Chicago cops in riot gear really get to me ...

... but I'm from another time.

[gator_in_Ontario]

7. I thought the same thing

the cops with the slap sticks gave me the chills. I must be getting old...

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

6. Antiwar protests and Chicago police. They go together like milk & cookies.

Big, armor-clad, baton-wielding cookies.

In the pix where the police are lining that wall - where was that? I can't identify it. I thought the march route was on Michigan Ave?

How many marchers do you think showed up? Did you see any Protest Weiners - er, Warriors?

Poor health won't let me take the Red Line downtown, much less march in the cold. Thanks for the pix, and thanks to you and everyone who participated for marching against Bush.

[FatDave]

11. answers to your questions

In the pix where the police are lining that wall - where was that?

Everybody met up at an elementary school at State and Walton. Ogden Elementary I think. That's where all the daylight pictures are from. The police were lined up across the street from the school, on the other side of State (I think).

I thought the march route was on Michigan Ave?

Mostly down Michigan. This is from memory, so I hope I'm getting it right. We started at the school on State & Walton and headed east on Walton to Michigan. We took Michigan south to Wacker, Wacker west to Clark, Clark south to Washington ending at Daley Plaza.

How many marchers do you think showed up?

Really hard to say. If I had to guess, I'd say over 10,000. Maybe a lot over, maybe barely. It was hard to judge from the middle of it. Haven't seen any aerial shots or anything yet. I get the number 10,000 because that's what I heard turned out for an immigration rights march a week or two ago, and though I wasn't there I saw pictures and this seemed bigger, from the ground anyway.

Did you see any Protest Weiners - er, Warriors?

Very few. I saw some idiot screaming something about glory and honor (apparently we lacked both). Saw a couple people holding Israeli flags. Some guy with a sign that said something like "thank you American left for allowing me to continue killing" next to a picture of what I presume was a terror suspect. Couldn't see it very well and couldn't even read the whole thing. A few "support our troops" people, who were met with chants of "support our troops: bring them home".

The most visible of the counter-protesters were Billionaires For Bush (http://billionairesforbush.com/), but they're on our side really.

The overwhelming majority of people on the sidewalks were giving us peace signs and taking pictures. I saw a homeless man singing "War: What is it Good For?" at the top of his lungs.

Thanks for the pix, and thanks to you and everyone who participated for marching against Bush.

No need to thank me, it was my pleasure! :)

[FatDave]

19. Official numbers

The official police estimate is 7000 people (so like I said, at least 10,000 :P). From the Sun-Times:

Three years after clashing with police and stopping traffic on Lake Shore Drive, war protesters legally took over downtown streets in what appeared to be the largest U.S. anti-war demonstration Saturday to mark the third anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion in Iraq.

Despite a legal battle with City Hall that lasted nearly as long as the war, a crowd Chicago Police estimated at 7,000 was allowed to march down some of the city's most prominent streets, including the Magnificent Mile of Michigan Avenue.

More than 200 officers, including Chicago Police, Cook County sheriff's officers and State Police, lined the march route -- most in riot gear.

"They look like Darth Vader with clubs," Diane Handelsman, 63, of Lake View. "That is very scary, and intimidating."

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-antiwar19.html

CBS 2 coverage w/ Video: http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/local_story_078075336.html


Edit: just formatting

[gunsaximbo]

24. Thought the Trib said 15,000...

[Gabi Hayes]

23. there's a thread here w/ABC news story on it

7000 protestors, and they followed the festival of lights route

there's a picture with the route they took. started up on Walton near Michigan, then wound down past the river, on Wacker, to Daley Plaza

[lebkuchen]

8. It's a peace march, and the "peace" officers are out w/billyclubs

I don't understand that.

[sheelz]

9. I don't understand either.

The billyclubs are readied.

[ChristianLibrul]

10. It's hard out here for a chimp...

...when patriots like you exercise their civil rights.

[northofdenali]

12. Fantastic!

Thanks!

[mirandapriestly]

13. I'm so jealous of the cool posters people make

and the great slogans they come up with - My next license plate will be made by Bush Cheney - HA HA.
All those riot police for probably the most gentle people on earth. How sad...

[gunsaximbo]

14. I love Chicago

The greatest city on earth...

[gunsaximbo]

15. I just read one of your stories on your blog...

The Sad Story of Ida Wilcox

I LOVED IT! I haven't laughed that hard in a while. Thanks for writing it.

Gunsaximbo

[BigBearJohn]

16. Thanks for posting these pictures. YOU ROCK!!!

[EC]

17. Chicago is getting scary,

video taping protests, wanting businesses to put up outside cameras...

[mogster]

18. Great pics!

Thanks for posting :-)

[mopinko]

20. is answer cointelpro? or whatever they call it these days?

i know this has gone around a few times. yesterdays march makes me wonder. the whole plan seems like the kind of thing that a mom does to get a toddler worn out. it sure made it hard for me to sell buttons. i did manage to get to the pre-meet-up-meet-up point, and do a little business. but there was no way for me to drive the ole pinkomobile down and set up in another location. i also tried to hit some of the "feeder march" meet-up spots, and just missed the step-offs, trying to get from one to another.
the whole meet here, march there, take a bus, march some more, we must march on mighigan avenue, even if it means marching at night, what a bunch of b.s.
police estimated 7,000 people. i think last year the estimate was 30,000. it looks like it worked out pretty well for them.

[IsIt1984Yet]

21. Love the pictures!

Especially the guy with th guitar! :rofl:

Added here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=699027&mesg_id=699027

[Gabi Hayes]

22. great pix! this one is a Tshirt. my sister got it in DC last Nov, and

gave it to me



should I wear it on the plane next month?

[Gabi Hayes]

25. this is from Yahoo....DUer Terry Jones!

?x=380&y=258&sig=Rkx1RTcr2pehAN_U6DT7qQ--

dunno if this works for anybody else, if not, go here, and click through to picture number 31; it's part of a series from Daley Plaza, within the entire set of pictures

http://news.yahoo.com/photos/ss/events/ts/031806antiwar/im:/060319/480/iljl10903190403;_ylt=Au35pHR83DCxIFP.KwzUmZtsaMYA;_ylu=X3oDMTA5bGcyMWMzBHNlYwNzc25hdg--?sp=-1&lsp=6000

[ThatsMyBarack]

26. Thanks for sharing!

:woohoo:

[Kare]

27. You forgot to mention...

The loudest chanting that I heard was "Impeach Bush"
At least those are the ones we were most behind.

And of course the nice woman who had the petition to
impeach bush.. thats always nice
I wonder how many signatures they got in the end?
I would think right around 7,000

Does anyone know if they did that at all the marches?

Nice pictures :hug: FatDave :hug:

[laylah]

28. Way to go!

Thanks for sharing and a belated :toast: welcome!

Jenn

[flygal]

29. unbelievable

thank you for the pics - great job! The pics of the CPD are chilling - WTF?!!!

[Generic Other]

30. Way to go Chicago!

Nice photos.