Albany-- Marchers will hold candlelight vigil Friday before setting out for Washington

By ALAN WECHSLER, Staff writer
First published: Thursday, January 16, 2003

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In less than three days hundreds of Capital Region residents will march on Washington, D.C., to oppose a war against Iraq. And on Wednesday the buses were already full.

"It's huge," said organizer Karen White of Berne. "We're getting vans. We're getting carpooling. This is just..."

"...amazing," added Cathy Callan of Delmar, completing the thought.

The Capital District for Justice and Peace Coalition met Wednesday night at the Friends Meeting House in Albany for a final discussion about the events planned for Martin Luther King Jr. weekend.

On Friday, a candlelight vigil will take place in Albany to oppose the war. A few hours later, at least four charter buses, plus cars and vans, will head out of Albany to converge on Washington for a Saturday march. There, they will join an expected tens of thousands of protesters from around the country.

"It's really important to show our opposition," said Erin O'Brien, a Guilderland resident who hopes to attend the Saturday march. Now 33 and crippled by arthritis, she is waiting to find out if the route can accommodate a wheelchair.

As a United Nations-led arms inspection force continues to examine military bases in Iraq, President George W. Bush continues to send more military personnel to the Middle East in preparation for invasion. Some say this weekend's protests could be the last major peace actions before war begins.

Bush maintains that military might is necessary to ensure Saddam Hussein does not have any weapons of mass destruction. But many in the United States are opposed to a war they say is more about oil than terrorism.

"It's sad people feel you're being unpatriotic to not want to fight in a war, lose lives and spend billions of dollars," said White.

The candlelight peace walk begins at 4:30 p.m. Friday at the east steps of the Capitol. The group will walk to Townsend Park, where a rally will take place. Speakers there include Palestinian peace activist Hanadi al-Atwi, Center for Law and Justice Director Alice Green and Joe Quandt, a Troy taxi driver and actor who recently spent a month in Baghdad.

Soon after, at least 17 buses plus private vehicles will depart for Washington from Albany, Hudson, Kingston, Pittsfield and Great Barrington, Mass., and Rutland and Bennington, Vt..

The march, organized by International ANSWERS (Act Now to Stop the War and End Racism), will take protesters three miles to the Washington Navy Yard, where organizers say they will call for elimination of U.S. weapons of mass destruction.

Counter-protesters say they will rally along the route in support of the proposed war.

A similar protest in October drew about 100,000 people.

"There should be at least a thousand people going" from this area, said organizer Joe Seemen of Saratoga Springs. "We have never gotten this incredible volume of people trying to get there."

For more information about joining the caravan, call 273-0167 or 583-4326