Rocky Anderson returned to City Hall on Wednesday evening, joined by a couple of thousand like-minded opponents of President Bush and the war in Iraq.

"You are beautiful, Salt Lake City," Anderson shouted over cheers and applause from the crowd outside the Salt Lake City-County Building, gathered for a peace and human-rights rally. "Thank you for standing up. You, who are here today raising your voices for an end to the tremendous abuses of power that are causing so much damage to our nation, are true patriots."

Anderson, the passionate and outspoken former mayor of Salt Lake City, organized the rally to coincide with President Bush's trip to raise funds for presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain. He urged the crowd to continue to speak against domestic spying, illegal kidnapping and torture, even after Bush's term ends in January.

"Let us never be silenced," he said. "Let us always stand against wrongdoing. And let us exercise our moral agency in every way we can to build a safer, more peaceful, compassionate world together."

Anderson has made no secret of his abhorrence of actions and policies of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. While serving as mayor, he spoke at Bush protests and anti-war rallies across the country — including in Washington, D.C. — and repeatedly has called for Bush to be impeached.

Judging by the turnout at Wednesday's rally, Salt Lakers remain ready to rally around Rocky.

"Anything Rocky does is cool by us," said Chanse Frenette, who hoisted a "SLC loves Rocky" sign at the rally. "He's our voice. He is the only voice we have in this state."

Frenette, a University of Utah student, called the war in Iraq a crime and said the United States should have never gone there in the first place.

"Those of us who knew it in the beginning and voiced our opinions were held down and called unpatriotic," he said, "when in fact we were the most patriotic."

Anderson was joined at the rally by Daniel Ellsberg, who in 1971 leaked to newspapers classified documents known as the Pentagon Papers, revealing government deceptions about U.S. policy in Vietnam.

"I'm getting a very good impression of the reddest state in the union," Ellsberg said as he looked out over the crowd and the collection of signs filled with harsh words for President Bush. "It looks kind of purple at the moment."

Ellsberg criticized the Bush administration and the Democratic leadership in Congress for failing to defend the Constitution, which he said is the reason the U.S. remains mired an a seemingly endless war.