Protests All Across Golden State
In California, where the student protest movement was born in the 1960´s, high school and college students skipped classes by the thousands today. They chanted anti-war slogans, waved handmade signs and in some cases, blocked traffic, as they rallied against a possible war with Iraq.
Anti-war protesters blocked traffic in downtown Los Angeles for almost an hour. 18 people were arrested. At Santa Monica City College, more than 1,000 students filled an outdoor amphitheater as part of a “Books Not Bombs” protest. Just after noon, students poured onto busy Pico Boulevard, shutting down almost five blocks around the school. About 300 people rallied at Stanford University, carrying signs that read “It´s the Middle East, not the Wild West,” and “The majority of us didn´t vote for this war.”
About 60 Stanford professors endorsed the rally, either by announcing to students that there would be no penalties for leaving class to join the rally or by canceling class altogether. In San Diego, about 350 students from high schools and colleges marched through the downtown area, chanting anti-war slogans and waving placards.