A banner drop kicked off a week of anti-war actions in Washington DC on September 26th. The banner slogan "Violence Does Not Solve Violence; US Worker - Afghan Child, Why Value One Over the Other?" set the tone for the rallies, vigils, talks etc. to come. After the IMF/World Bank had cancelled their autumn meetings in the wake of the terrorist attacks in the US, some of the street protests had been called off while others changed their focus. The Anti-Capitalist Convergence and an anti-war coalition organised rallies and demonstrations, accompanied by a People's summit and 3 days of squatting actions to establish autonomous zones throughout the city.
On Saturday 29 September - a spontaneously declared global day of action against war - up to 20,000 people took part in a rally, and many more participated in demonstrations and vigils. Police came out in force to contain the actions and surrounded the demonstrations in several occasions. Incidents of of pepper spray use by police were repotred, and the antiwar march led to the arrests of 11 protesters. Read more on Indymedia DC.
- Read a first hand account
S29 protests against racism and war took place all over the US and many other countries. While a 10,000 strong demonstration took place in Athens, Greece, and another 10,000 took the streets in Barcelona, Spanish State, 20,000 people were demonstrating in Napoli, Italy, where Nato had planned to hold a conference, which had then been re-located to Brussels.
More info:
- Protest.net's list of upcoming peace actions
- Indymedia Peace & Justice feature