SANTA CRUZ -- Amalia Gonzalez stepped to the microphone, got out "Hi everybody," and almost simultaneously started to sniffle.
"This is my son. He was a Marine," she said, lifting up a large framed photo of Victor Gonzalez in uniform. "He was 19 years old when he was killed in Iraq."
Her English was broken, but her message was clear: The U.S. needs to get out of the Middle East.
"This war has no sense to be," said the 48-year-old Pajaro woman. "This war, I mean, nothing is changing having this war."
That was the basic sentiment among the activists who gathered at the Town Clock Wednesday night in downtown Santa Cruz on the fifth anniversary of the Iraq war. An estimated 250 people lit candles, huddled in small circles to read accounts from people affected by the war, and finished with a procession down Pacific Avenue.
Four other vigils, organized by political action group MoveOn, took place throughout the county, along with three in Monterey and three in Santa Clara County, according to MoveOn Regional Coordinator Deirdre Des Jardins.
Protesters also gathered nationwide, blocking traffic and government buildings in Washington, D.C., acting out a Baghdad street scene in upstate New York and banging drums in San Francisco.
About 150 San Francisco protesters were arrested by early Wednesday afternoon for blocking traffic and chaining themselves to buildings, police said.
The rallies, which drew hundreds to the city's busy financial district, were mostly peaceful, though some demonstrators threw glass Christmas ornaments filled with paint at police, said Sgt. Steve Mannina, a San Francisco police spokesman.
But Santa Cruz's were more peaceful events, meant to honor the fallen and call the government to find new priorities. This was a sort of reprise to another large-scale vigil held a year ago on the county building steps. That gathering, however, was less tranquil. |
"This time we wanted to make it more of a vigil, because there's a certain level of sadness involved," said Adele Gardner, a MoveOn organizer.
Walter Oicle, of Corralitos, set up a coffin draped with an American flag, along with a giant tombstone-shaped sign showing the numbers of U.S. soldiers and Iraqi civilians who have died since President Bush sent the U.S. into Iraq in 2003.
"A lot of people feel the same way we do and don't think there's any way to change things, and I'm here to say that's not true," he said as he handed out dozens of candles he'd bought. "Whatever we can do to get the message out."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Contact Isaiah Guzman at isaiahguzman@hotmail.com.
