Anti-Bush protesters take to streets again

Second such rally in a week demands end to war, injustice

President Bush's landslide win of Utah's popular vote in November didn't stop protesters — from high school students to war veterans — from speaking out against his policies Saturday at the Salt Lake City-County Building.

About 200 Utahns braved the cold to participate in the second anti-inaugural protest this past week. About the same number of protesters also gathered downtown Thursday on inauguration day.

Representatives from various political and social organizations spoke to the crowd Saturday, enlisting support to end U.S. military intervention in the Middle East; redistribute funds for "human needs" rather than for war; defend human rights and repeal the Patriot Act; and end Israeli occupation of Palestine.

"A lot of us are very upset about the methods used by the Bush administration to spread, as he said in his speech on Thursday, freedom, democracy, liberty and so on," said Chuck Tripp, a member of the Green Party and the Committee for War Criminal Prosecution.

"We have a man who talks about upholding the rule of law who breaks it routinely himself."

For the United States to regain any moral or ethic standing in the world, the Bush administration needs to reform its policies, Tripp said.

Prior to the rally at the City-County Building, protesters met farther north on State Street at the Wallace F. Bennett Federal Building. They then marched through downtown Salt Lake City, holding signs and chanting, "How do we support the troops? Bring them home now."

"We want to send a message that we don't agree with the policies of the current president," said DeNorris Bradley, a member of the Wasatch Coalition for Peace and Justice. "We feel like our stay in Iraq has destabilized the Middle East and has increased the likelihood of another terrorist attack."

Bradley said while the protesters may be the minority in Utah, they are the majority elsewhere.

"When you consider people's discontent in countries all over the world, we feel like we are the majority, not the minority," he said.

Speakers at the rally included Amanda Madden, a student at East High School, who called for youth activism.

"It's important for the youth to be involved," Madden said. "We need our voices to be heard. There are a lot of problems with this administration, like war, the environment and health care."

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E-mail: liorg@desnews.com

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