Anti-War Protest

Saturday, March 21, 2009. ANSWER-LA holds an anti-war protest and human rights rally to commemorate the 6th Anniversary of the start of the Iraq War.

The March was held on Hollywood Blvd, between Vine and Highland. About a thousand people participated in the march, groups ranging from Veterans against the Iraq War, Student ANSWER, SAG, and a local faction of the Socialist Party. Ron Kovic, the Vietnam Vet whose life was portrayed in the movie "Born on the 4th of July" starring Tom Cruise spoke to a cheering crowd and led the rally and the march. Demonstrators marched down Hollywood Blvd carrying a dozen symbolic coffins draped in flags.

The march was mostly peaceful except for a brief conflict between a Veteran against the Iraq soldier and the representative of a Palestine group who stopped to taunt the soldier, blaming him for thousands dead in his country, while two other military guys held him back. A second skirmish broke out when a religious fanatic yelled at anti-war demonstrators, shouting "there is nothing god hates more than a mouthy woman" After blocks of chanting and shouting, the group stopped in front of the CNN building to chant, "CNN & ABC, show this protest on TV. Two blocks from the Armed forces Recruitment and career center, the protesters staged a "die-in" complete with jet fighter, bomb and siren sound effects.

A barney character from The Mann's Chinese Theater joined the "die-in" as well as a man dressed in an Obama mask, kneeing before one of the coffins, while the rest of the crowd lay strewn about the street in front of the El Capitan theatre. The march then proceeded to the US armed forces recruitment and career center where the demonstrators laid the symbolic coffins on the front steps of the building while police looked on. The Rally ended as undramatically as it has started. Demonstrators, united for a few hours, put down their signs and walked back down Hollywood Blvd while tourists snapped photos and tried to make sense of the chaos that is Hollywood. Hippies, Soldiers, super heroes, dead celebrities and anti-war demonstrators - all part of a typical day in LA. by Suzanne Polverino