15 February 2003

From Loring Wirbel
Monument, Colo.
lwirbel@aol.com

What a day, we were thinking maybe, with luck, 1000 would turn out for anti-war rallies in the Springs, but 3000 to 4000 turned out.

There was a lineup on Academy Blvd that stretched a mile on both sides, but then some folks shouted "Whose streets? Our streets!" and started standing in the middle of the boulevard.

Then the riot police were deployed, and after a few individual arrests and pepper sprayings, they shot off about 7 canisters of tear gas between Maizeland and Galley, covering all of Academy Blvd. with a gas mist.

What an afternoon.