Diverse Protesters Snake Through Manhattan: Organizers Claim 350k

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Stony Brook people marching down towards a meeting point. Sign by Matt.

By George Agathos
Executive Editor

Supporting peripheral issues from the rescue of Darfur to labor rights, what may amount to hundreds of thousands of anti-war protesters marched down broadway in a peaceful and animated display of discontent with the Bush White House. 

The protest was led by various celebrity activists (or activist celebrities), including Susan Sarandon, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Cindy Sheehan, and recently-out-of-jail Roger Toussaint, of the Transport Workers Union.

Among the groups were several columns of elderly women. Some called themselves "Jailbird Grannies" and the "Granny Peace Brigade."  They did not bring cookies.

Hundreds of police stood by regulating the flow of people and occasionally letting cars through the cross streets.

More than 50 attendees originated at Stony Brook.

The Social Justice Alliance at Stony Brook organized group discount fares on the Long Island Railroad.  That group joined a "Long Island Contingent," which identified itself with yellow caution tape armbands.

At the rallying point in the low 20's at the mouth of Broadway, some groups stood by for more than three hours to enter the march route.