March 17, 2007

Pentagon Protest 2007

Pentagon Protester 2007Here is a woman who celebrated St. Patrick's Day by protesting outside the military's Pentagon building in Washington, DC.

The Pentagon protest on March 17, 2007 was part of many protests going on at this time. The Pentagon protest itself started with a march from the mall near the Vietnam War and Lincoln memorials. The march route crossed the Memorial Bridge over a blustery Potomac River, followed a the grass-lined Potomac parkway through Lady Bird Johnson Memorial Park, and ended at a parking area separated from the Pentagon by a Route 110 (Jefferson Davis Highway), at the intersection with Washington Blvd.
















Relative to the picture above, created by the ANSWER Coalition, the march stopped near the last dot before the arrowhead (it didn't cross Route 110, except in as much as the smaller protest on the Washington Blvd bridge barely crossed beyond Route 110).

This photo essay is organized into three parts.

1. Protest Speaker's Stage.

2. Road Block with Police Line on the Washington Boulevard bridge crossing Route 110.

3. Miscellaneous Photos, continued below.

See: Out-takes at Baltimore Indymedia

The following photo shows a view of marchers on the Virginia side of the Potomac as viewed from the Memorial Bridge. It was cold and windy on the bridge. Counter-demonstrator's, mostly motorcycle bikers, were coming back across the bridge in the opposite direction when we were crossing at the tail end of the march.

View of the Virginia side of the Potomac and marchers
during the March 17, 2007 march on the Pentagon.
Photo from the Memorial Bridge


The march passed through Lady Bird Johnson's Memorial Gardens. Daffodils were starting to bloom despite the ice and snow storm of the night before, which prevented some protesters from attending.
Pentagon Protesters nearing their destination after walking
through Lady Bird Johnson's Memorial Gardens.

We ran into the devil himself on the way to the speaker's stage.

Protester dressed as "George Bush the Devil" (AKA diablo)
Pentagon protest March 17, 2007

The march led up over a hill. Upon cresting the hill, the Pentagon came into view. The speaker's stage was to the left and the Washington Blvd police line was to the right, relative to the photo below.
Peace Protest Pentagon 2007Pentagon Protesters crest a hill nearing the end of their march.
The Pentagon can be seen in the background.

One sees many creative signs at peace and justice demonstrations. This official, permanent sign summed up a fundamental message, "Stop the Nation's Turn to the Right."

Stop Turn To RightStop the Right Turn, official sign at the March 17, 2007 Pentagon Protest.
Hill leading down from Washington Blvd towards the speaker's stage.

Upon arrival, most people went to the Speaker's Stage. Others continued on Washington Blvd. to confront a police line blocking passage to the Pentagon.

March on the Pentagon. March 17, 2007.
.

2 comments:

brian said...

Pentagon March: Vets vs Protesters
In the shadow of Lincoln's massive temple the street was divided by a line of mounted police, keeping at bay the angry vets. I was bothered by their presence but, being from a family of decorated militairy veterans, I think I might know why they were pissed about our protest.

Nam vets were treated with disrespect when they returned to the states. They didn't deserve it. Any man who suffers through war in the service of his country deserves honor. From what I know of Nam, I think our military was trying to doing a good thing. We were there to stop an aggressive expansion of Communist imperialism. But herein lies the irony.

In Nam we were the defenders AGAINST imperialism. In Iraq, WE ARE the agressive imperialists. America might have stood on the moral high ground in previous wars. Even in Afghanistan, perhaps. But not in Iraq.

War in Iraq was started with a lie and, thanks to poor intel from Cheney's intelligence Cabal, didn't even let us establish a healthy Democracy (Oligarchy, whatever). I don't think it's working, unless the idea is to start a civil war between Muslim factions. But that's no good. Getting people to kill each other? Better than trying to kill us but it still sucks.

What doesn't suck is showing the rest of the world, including Arabs, that Americans are good people who want peace, hate imperialism, and think dead civilians in Iraq matter. That's why I was there. To help America by showing the rest of the world that we give a shit. Not to disrespect vets.

Steverino said...

I was there at the March on the Pentagon and wrote it all up with photos here:

http://conprotantor.blogspot.com/2007/03/vietnam-vets-face-down-moonbats.html

Enjoy!

Tantor