The January 27, 2007 anti-war protest was an anti-war

Anti-war

An anti-war movement is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during conflicts. Many...

 march sponsored by United for Peace and Justice

United for Peace and Justice

United for Peace and Justice is a coalition of more than 1,300 international and U.S.-based organizations opposed to "our government's policy of permanent warfare and empire-building."...

 in Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

. The official event consisted of a rally and march at the United States Capitol. Notable attendees included Sean Penn

Sean Penn

Sean Justin Penn is an American actor, screenwriter and film director, also known for his political and social activism...

, Korean War

Korean War

The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...

 veteran

Veteran

A veteran is a person who has had long service or experience in a particular occupation or field; " A veteran of ..."...

 and Congressman John Conyers

John Conyers

John Conyers, Jr. is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1965 . He is a member of the Democratic Party...

, Susan Sarandon

Susan Sarandon

Susan Sarandon is an American actress. She has worked in films and television since 1969, and won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in the 1995 film Dead Man Walking. She had also been nominated for the award for four films before that and has received other recognition for her...

, Tim Robbins

Tim Robbins

Timothy Francis "Tim" Robbins is an American actor, screenwriter, director, producer, activist and musician. He is the former longtime partner of actress Susan Sarandon...

, Jane Fonda

Jane Fonda

Jane Fonda is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model, and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou. She has won two Academy Awards and received several other movie awards and nominations during more than 50 years as an...

, Jesse Jackson

Jesse Jackson

Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr. is an African-American civil rights activist and Baptist minister. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as shadow senator for the District of Columbia from 1991 to 1997. He was the founder of both entities that merged to...

, Rep. Dennis Kucinich

Dennis Kucinich

Dennis John Kucinich is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1997. He was furthermore a candidate for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States in the 2004 and 2008 presidential elections....

, and Danny Glover

Danny Glover

Danny Lebern Glover is an American actor, film director, and political activist. Glover is perhaps best known for his role as Detective Roger Murtaugh in the Lethal Weapon film franchise.-Early life:...

.

UFPJ had hoped for up to a million people attending, and it was announced at the protest that aerial photography had estimated that at least 500,000 showed up. The Associated Press

Associated Press

The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...

 has stated that the march drew "tens of thousands".

SDS feeder march

A black bloc

Black bloc

A black bloc is a tactic for protests and marches, whereby individuals wear black clothing, scarves, ski masks, motorcycle helmets with padding, or other face-concealing items...

, organized by Students for a Democratic Society

Students for a Democratic Society (2006 organization)

Students for a Democratic Society is a United States student organization representing left wing beliefs. It takes its name and inspiration from the original SDS of 1960-1969, then the largest radical student organization in US history...

, and advertised as a "radical youth bloc" on the DC Indymedia site, met at Dupont Circle

Dupont Circle

Dupont Circle is a traffic circle, park, neighborhood, and historic district in Northwest Washington, D.C. The traffic circle is located at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue NW, Connecticut Avenue NW, New Hampshire Avenue NW, P Street NW, and 19th Street NW...

 to begin a feeder march to the main rally site on the National Mall

National Mall

The National Mall is an open-area national park in downtown Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. The National Mall is a unit of the National Park Service , and is administered by the National Mall and Memorial Parks unit...

. The march from Dupont Circle to the Mall roughly followed the course of Massachusetts Avenue

Massachusetts Avenue (Washington, D.C.)

Massachusetts Avenue is a major diagonal transverse road in Washington, D.C., and the Massachusetts Avenue Historic District is a historic district that includes part of it....

 NW to its intersection with 7th Street NW near the Washington Convention Center

Washington Convention Center

The Walter E. Washington Convention Center is a convention center located in Washington, D.C. owned and operated by the Washington Convention and Sports Authority . Designed by Atlanta-based architecture firm Thompson, Ventulett, Stainback & Associates, the convention center is located in a...

. The march then followed 7th Street through Chinatown

Chinatown, Washington, D.C.

Chinatown in Washington, D.C., is a small, historic neighborhood east of downtown consisting of about 20 ethnic Chinese and other Asian restaurants and small businesses along H and I Streets between 5th and 8th Streets, Northwest. It is known for its annual Chinese New Year festival and parade and...

 and the Penn Quarter

Penn Quarter, Washington, D.C.

Penn Quarter is a neighborhood in the East End of Downtown Washington, D.C. north of Pennsylvania Avenue, NW. Its boundaries are not well established, but they appear to extend to 5th and 10th streets NW on the east and west, and approximately H Street on the north where Penn Quarter abuts or...

 neighborhood before reaching the Mall. The feeder march continued past the back of the mainstream rally on 7th Street, and onto Maryland Avenue SW, before briefly stopping at 3rd Street, at roughly the center line of the Mall.

Rush to the Capitol

Capitol police stopped the SDS feeder march near the corner of 3rd and Maryland. As the march turned north, police blocked protesters who walked onto the Capitol lawn. Other protesters, both from the march and on the Mall, moved up in support. The Capitol police moved back to the Capitol building. Some participants in this group left graffiti on the Capitol grounds.

March to recruitment center

In the late afternoon, approximately 30 demonstrators marched to the Armed Forces Recruiting Center at 14th street. The window at the recruitment center was smashed, and the demonstrators dispersed soon after.

Counter-protests

A counter-protest organized by Free Republic

Free Republic

Free Republic is a moderated Internet forum for activists, and chat site for self-described conservatives, primarily within the United States. It presents articles and comments posted pseudonymously by registered members, known as "Freepers", using screen names...

, drawing around thirty people, was staged in the vicinity. Organizers of the counter-protest claimed that anti-war efforts hurt the United States' War on Terrorism

War on Terrorism

The War on Terror is a term commonly applied to an international military campaign led by the United States and the United Kingdom with the support of other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as well as non-NATO countries...

.

See also

• Protests against the Iraq War
  Protests against the Iraq War
  Beginning in 2002, and continuing after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, protests against the Iraq War were held in many cities worldwide, often coordinated to occur simultaneously around the world...
  
  
• List of protest marches on Washington, DC

External links

• Interview with Rep. John Conyers
• Fonda, Sarandon among Iraq war protesters - CNN
• Tens of Thousands March Against Iraq War (ABC News)
• Protesters Demand Withdrawal of US Troops From Iraq (WKOW-TV)
• Video of protest including interviews with Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon
• Radical Youth in DC: Return of the Black Bloc, Matthew Provonsha
• Black Bloc in Washington DC
• Audio Slideshow of Seattle, WA Satellite March