More than 1,000 war protesters gathered in downtown Salt Lake City Saturday — as well as 11 other major cities throughout the United States — to rally against war and call for change.

United for Peace and Justice, one of the largest anti-war coalitions in the country, planned all 11 rallies. Protesters from Idaho, Nevada, Wyoming and Colorado showed up at the Utah State Capitol and Washington Square to speak against the war and listen to speakers including veterans, students and government leaders.

"Never before have we seen anything like this ... throughout the nation people (gathered) in an expression of the widespread opposition to the war," said Leslie Cagan, national coordinator for United for Peace.

Kim Spangrude, a coordinator of Salt Lake City's rally, urged protesters to call their representatives in Congress about ending the war in Iraq.

"The human toll in Iraq is unacceptable and growing," Spangrude said. "The U.S. military occupation is hurting, not helping the Iraqi people."

A number of Iraq war veterans also spoke at the protests, including Chris Conway who was deployed in 2003.

"Those soldiers who still wish to go back say so primarily because they feel a sense of duty to defend the lives of those who become their brothers and sisters amidst the so-called mission in which they find themselves," Conway said. "They convince themselves that they are somehow fighting for a just cause to keep from going completely insane."

He said he wants people to know that the Iraq war "was, is and until the day it is gloriously extinguished, a profit-driven fraud cavalierly conceived by the neo-conservatives of the Republican Party."

A number of high school and college students and senior citizens showed up on buses from the Idaho Peace Coalition.

"We have seen throughout history that the people can make their government listen to their demands and that time is now," said Breanne Gratton, a high school senior from Boise who made the trek. "We have to make our government listen to what we are saying and bring every soldier home now."

"It's time we bring an end to this madness before one more life is lost ... no longer are we a minority in this struggle, we are a majority," she said.

Speakers at the rally also included Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson and leaders from Military Families Speak Out and Mormons for Equality and Social Justice.

Other cities hosting the anti-war protests were New York, Boston, New Orleans, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, Philadelphia, Orlando and Jonesborough, Tenn.

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