A young man held a sign that read “9/11 was an inside job,” while another young man held signs that read “Long live brother Gaddafi” and “Dude, where’s my bailout?”
Another angry young couple chanted “What do we want? Troops out! When do we want it? Now!”
This scene was universal throughout the protesting mob as hundreds of people walked 1 1/2 miles from Hollywood and Vine to Hollywood and Highland on March 19.
The anti-war protest was led by ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) on the eighth anniversary of the start of the U.S.- Iraqi war.
Before the march, speakers took the stage to speak out against the wars and excite the crowd.
One speaker who took to the stage was UC Irvine and former Cerritos College student Enas Khaleq, who boldly stated that this war was about “Making wall street bankers and oil giants rich.
“This war is not good for anyone,” Khalaq said, “Except for the fat cats and the government that make all this money while students and the middle class and everyone else are just suffering.”
Cerritos College history major Carolina Morales and Pasadena City College student Yvonne Bonilla were also there in support of the cause.
“All of these wars are a huge reason why we’re in a huge deficit,” Morales said. “It’s why our education is at risk, why classes are being cutback, why our tuition fees are rising tremendously.”
Bonilla said, “We’re against the war because we see it as a way to target the youth; it targets people who don’t have access to education and lures them into the military with promises of job training and job security, but that’s all a lie.”
After the march, a closing rally was held with more than 15 speakers, and featured Chris Shiflett, lead guitarist for the Foo Fighters.
“I really wanted to get out to the big one in D.C.,” Shiflett said, “But I’m leaving tomorrow to go on tour, so that wouldn’t be possible. I found out that there was a sister march here in L.A., so I wanted to come out and support the cause I believe in. I’m anti-war, end of sentence.”
One of the voices heard at the rally, also recently spoke in the conference room on the side Cerritos College library.
Mike Prysner, an Army veteran delivered a speech before a full house on March 9.
He said the importance of people uniting in support of a cause is because “Change doesn’t come on its own, it comes through a people’s movement.”
