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http://www.kron4.com/global/story.asp?s=1090280&ClientType=Printable Protesters Pack Streets for Anti-War Rally Posted: January 19, 2003 at 2:25 p.m. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- California celebrities, families and activists jammed San Francisco on Saturday for one of the country's biggest protests against a possible war with Iraq, cautioning Americans about what demonstrators said are the dangers and futility of the potential conflict. FORUM: War Against Iraq "Let my country awake," actor Martin Sheen told the rally, which included drum circles, marchers and a stilt-walker dressed as the Statue of Liberty with a gag. "We want to end the long and shameful silence." Singers Joan Baez and Bonnie Raitt performed for the crowd, which police estimated at 50,000 and organizers pegged at more than 200,000. By either estimate, it was among the largest of a series of anti-war protests across the country. In a region that helped give birth to the protest movements of the Sixties, the crowd also reflected the long history of San Francisco Bay Area activism. Protesters included teenagers with their parents and retirees with their children. "We want the rest of the world to know that not all of America is behind Bush and his policies," said Shahzad Chowdry, 34, an engineer from Palo Alto who marched with his parents and sister. His father, Akram Chowdry, wore a bumper sticker on his head that read "Stop the War." Though Akram Chowdry had never before been to a peace rally, he said he was moved to attend this one because he believes the United States is acting unethically. "It should not be done. This is wrong," said Akram Chowdry, who immigrated to the United States from Pakistan 30 years ago. Dan Bradshaw, 43, of Sacramento, carried a sign that read "Republicans for Peace (and a Balanced Budget)," in one hand. In the other, he carried his 3- year-old son, Boo. Wearing a business suit and tie, he marched with his wife, Caroline, a Democrat who wore an American flag sweater over a white turtleneck. They said that though they sometimes disagree, they're united in their stance against the war. "I've been dumbfounded that we've come to this," Dan Bradshaw said. "War is a last resort I'm not averse to. But we're nowhere near a last resort with Iraq." Though it was a festive atmosphere -- some marchers came as Uncle Sam, some wore angel wings, and music and cheering energized the crowd -- demonstrators said they were serious about their opposition to the war. Former Army reservist Chris Shay, 31, of San Jose, was a member of a U.S. Army chemical weapons unit in Iraq in 1989. There, he said, he saw first-hand the devastation of the Kurds wrought by Saddam. Though he believes "100 percent" that Saddam needs to go, he said he believes that war isn't the way to do it. "The important thing is to start the message," he said. "Nobody listened in 1965, but by 1972 they stopped the war." Shay attended with his friend Damon Jansen, 30, of Oakland, a high school teacher. Jansen said protesting was not un-American. A lot of people think "if you're not for the war, then you're for Saddam and against the U.S.," he said. "There's a lot of U.S flags here." Representatives from over 50 unions planned to attend the event, more than double the number that attended a peace rally in October, according to a spokesman for International ANSWER, which organized the events in Washington and San Francisco. In the southern part of the state, about 300 people in Orange County marched to the Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda, chanting "Impeach Bush" and "Exxon, Mobil, OPEC, Shell, take your war and go to hell." "Saddam Hussein is not a good person, but he has not attacked us directly to give us reason to attack him," said Magda Saldana, 60, an elementary school teacher. 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