More than 5,000 anti-war protesters rallied at UA and proceeded to march through downtown Tucson on Saturday morning to promote peace and publicly oppose a possible war in Iraq.
Carrying signs and chanting, "No blood for oil," protesters first gathered at UA's Old Main building, and then marched 1.2 miles through Tucson to listen to speakers, music and poetry at De Anza Park.
"We're here because peace has been criticized as unpatriotic and that's ridiculous," said UA political science sophomore Noah Aleshire.
Tucson was not the only site for political dissent this weekend. Protesters gathered in cities across the nation and the world in order to oppose a possible war in Iraq, and nearly 200,000 rallied at the nation's capital Saturday.
UA students, Tucson high school students, senior citizens, parents and children, as well as many others marched and carried signs that read "Drop Bush, Not Bombs," "America the 'Bully'ful" and "Peace" in Spanish, English and Arabic.
Tucson Police made five arrests in connection with the demonstration, said Sgt. Marco Dorboa. Dorboa said two of the protesters arrested are from Phoenix and three are from Tucson.
"The arrests were made because they were interfering with government relations and failing to obey a traffic officer," Dorboa said.
According to protest coordinator Joe Bernick of the Tucson Peace Action Coalition, however, the people arrested had informed the coalition ahead of time that they were acting independently of the organization. "We feel they were trying to provoke a police attack on our march," Bernick said.
While some protesters chanted, "One, two, three, four, we don't want your stupid war," others sang the John Lennon lyric, "All we are saying is give peace a chance."
"We think there is no justification to go to war," Bernick said. "Iraq is not a threat."
The Rev. John Smith of St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church reflected a similar attitude when he addressed the crowd of protesters. "We find a pre-emptive strike an unacceptable action for Christians," he said. "We seek justice and peace in this rally which is a gift of God and goes beyond national interest to extend every human being.
A group of senior citizen women who dubbed themselves "The Raging Grannies" sang "Georgie Bush is telling stories" to the tune of "Battle Hymn of the Republic."
Canyon Del Oro High School junior Arwah Ahmad, whose parents are Iraqi natives, also participated in the protest looking for peace.
"I am here to stand up for my country and hope that they don't have a war," she said. "What are we going to get from the war? Sanctions do nothing but harm the people."
Several bystanders who witnessed the protest disagreed with the anti-war sentiment that took over Tucson for the day.
"We should use force [in Iraq] because they don't abide by our policies and they threaten America," said UA political science freshman Shawn Simmons. "We should have taken them out to begin with."
Despite the conflicting emotions, the "No War on Iraq" protest gained sponsorship from 40 organizations and coalitions, including the UA Progressive Alliance and the Tucson Veterans for Peace.
"We think it was a great success," Bernick said. "Hundreds came in from Phoenix, Tempe, Yuma, Bisbee, Nogales and elsewhere in rural Arizona."
Reach the reporter at Sarah.Muench@asu.edu.
