Press Interpreter

04/30/06 -- Several tens of thousands of peopled marched on Saturday in New York, to demand the immediate withdrawal of American forces from Iraq, and announced their intention to pursue this campaign until the American Parliamentary elections in November.

The police have refused to give an estimate of the number of protesters who, according to the organizers, were in the order of 300,000.

The protesters were led along by such personalities as the Reverend Jesse Jackson, the actress Susan Sarandon and the head of the anti war movement, Cindy Sheehan. A large coalition of organizations, representing diverse pressure groups (trade unions, war veterans, ecologists, civil rights activists) had been called to this protest.

“We are here in order to speak to the White House and to Congress, who must stop the war now, proceed to remove our troops and stop the taking of our civil liberties over here,� demanded Leslie Cagan, from the United Movement for Peace and Justice, which coordinated this march.

“Today, we are marching, tomorrow we are organizing ourselves and in November we will be voting,� she declared.

There was an extensive police presence overseeing the protest march, which was directed through the roads of Manhattan around the town hall. “Our sole aim is to facilitate this march,� stated the New York chief of police, Raymond Kelly.

[Full article]

By AFP

--Translated by Katherine Apps

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