Protesters demand return of troops from Iraq
Richard and Rita Clement said yesterday that they want their 21-year-old son back from Iraq before his scheduled return date next March, preferably right now.
The Clements said they look forward to the weekly late-night phone calls from their son, Brian, a specialist in the US Army. The oldest of their three children, Brian Clement, joined the Army to buy himself some time and earn some money, not really knowing what he wanted to do with his life.
"We have constant concerns, parental concerns," said Richard Clement, wearing a "got fear" pin on his shirt. "A mortar fell just 30 feet from him . . . he's dealing with stuff a 21-year-old should not be dealing with."
Richard, 51, and Rita, 45, of Gardiner, Maine, were among about 300 people who rallied and marched in Copley Square yesterday in opposition of the US occupation in Iraq and in support of a troop pullout.
The 1 p.m. rally in Boston was one of more than 30 rallies organized across the country this weekend, all held in connection with United For Peace, a national antiwar organization.
In Copley Square, couples with strollers mingled with politicians and protesters from local antiwar and anti-Bush organizations. Organizers of the rally placed 851 corsages around the brick basin inside the square, a flower for each US soldier killed in Iraq, according to event organizers.
Another 5,271 troops have been injured, according to a casualty report released by the Department of Defense on Friday. In May, 15,000 US troops scheduled to end their mission in Iraq were ordered to stay to help ensure security and stability for the transfer of governing power from the US-led coalition to the Iraqi interim government.
The organizers of yesterday's event said they hope the mass of voices that came together would send a message to President Bush to swiftly end the US occupation in Iraq and return the soldiers to their families.
Some of the protesters at the event wore "peace" rainbow flags on their shoulders, while others held up signs in opposition of the war. A couple wore black tuxedos with "Billionaires for Bush" painted on their back. Another protester wore a full-body "bomb" costume with Bush's face on the front, and "Drop Bush, Not Bombs" written below it.
"People are fed up with the lies," said Louise Dunlap, 65, of Cambridge, a spectator in the rally. "This is one more event to pinpoint the bad things."
A platform for guest speakers was constructed near the entrance to Trinity Church. Community leaders, musicians, poets, and parents of soldiers serving in Iraq spoke.
One mother of a soldier serving in Iraq said she is afraid to answer the doorbell because it might be someone from the military bearing tragic news.
Local support groups at the rally were encouraging people to sign petitions to bring the troops home, oppose the Patriot Act, and give donations to their causes.
"The movement is about the process, not the events," said Jennifer Horan, a spokeswoman for yesterday's Boston rally. Horan said the event was to show the intensity of the antiwar and antioccupation surge in America.
Not everyone in Copley Square agreed yesterday with the event's themes, however.
While there was no organized counterprotest, some passersby shook there heads and others yelled obscenities at protesters as they swiftly walked past.
Police stood guard and helped stop traffic as the protesters marched down Boylston Street to Boston Common. Some marchers held paper tombstones with the names, ages, and locations of Americans and Iraqis killed in Iraq.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the Back Bay, members of a local chapter of Amnesty International erected a vigil in front of the Old South Church to support UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.
Members erected posters and candles in front of the church and encouraged people to sign a petition for a private investigation into reported abuse at the detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
