100,000 in DC, 35,000 in SF for Peace, Palestine Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit International A.N.S.W.E.R. (Act Now to Stop War & End Racism) 2489 Mission St., Rm. 24, San Francisco, CA 94110 Phone:415-821-6545 Fax: 415-821-5782 Web: www.internationalanswer.org MEDIA ADVISORY -- April 20, 2002 Contact Persons: Saul Kanowitz, Nathalie Alsop, 415-821-6545 100,000 People March in Washington DC & 35,000 in San Francisco in Support of Palestinian People and Against War, Racism & Poverty Largest Protests for Palestinian Rights Ever Held in U.S. History WASHINGTON, DC Today over 100,000 people marched in the largest pro-Palestinian rally in U.S. history. Demanding an end to the U.S.-backed onslaught by the Israeli military against Palestinian civilians and calling for an immediate end to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian homeland, protesters turned Pennsylvania Avenue into a sea of kaffiyas, the traditional Palestinian scarf worn by demonstrators in a show of solidarity. ˇ§Free, free Palestine!ˇ¨ echoed from the White House to the Department of Justice to the U.S. Capitol. Over 60,000 people demonstrated at the White House, where bus after bus from Mosques and Islamic Centers all over the eastern seaboard dropped off a stream of protesters that continued to pour into the rally from the opening speaker until the beginning of the march on Pennsylvania Avenue. Once the various rallies merged, tens of thousands filed past the Department of Justice demanding the repeal of the USA Patriot Act, and an immediate end to the Ashcroft raids on the Muslim and Arab community. SAN FRANCISCO More than 35,000 crowded Dolores Park for an opening rally and then joined in a huge march to a rally in the S.F. Civic Center. It took one hour and twenty minutes for the entire march to enter the Civic Center. "Today's marches and rallies are the largest ever in this country in this country in support of the Palestinian people," Richard Becker of the International ANSWER-Act Now to Stop War and End Racism Coalition, which organized today's marches and rallies, told a cheering crowd in the Civic Center. For more information on the April 20 protests, or to interview an ANSWER organizer, call 415-821-6545. -30- ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytmid-04.21.02-01:37:31-5489