Protesters blocked traffic and government buildings in Washington D.C., acted out a Baghdad street scene in Syracuse, N.Y., and banged drums in a parade through San Francisco. Dozens were arrested.

In other, more somber observances, organizers set up a 2-mile display of about 4,000 T-shirts in Cincinnati, meant to symbolize the members of the U.S. military killed in Iraq, while in Louisville, Ky., demonstrators lined rows of military boots, sandals and children's tennis shoes on the steps of a courthouse.

On previous anniversaries, tens of thousands of people marched through major U.S. cities, and more than 100,000 gathered on several occasions leading up to the invasion.

Only a few hundred mustered for one of Wednesday's largest gatherings, in Washington, the crowds' size perhaps kept in check by a late-winter storm system that stretched the length of the country.

San Francisco police arrested about 100 protesters by early afternoon for blocking traffic and chaining themselves to buildings, police said. The rallies, which drew hundreds to the city's busy financial district, were mostly peaceful, though some demonstrators threw glass Christmas ornaments filled with paint at police, said Sgt. Steve Mannina, a San Francisco police spokesman.

In Anchorage, Alaska, vandals dumped a gallon of red paint on a war veterans memorial, police spokesman Lt. Paul Honeman said.

Demonstrators also converged in Ohio, where more than 20 vigils, rallies, marches and other events were planned.

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Contributing: Associated Press

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E-mail: jhancock@desnews.com