(Host) Demonstrators for and against the war in Iraq rallied in downtown Rutland during the noon hour on Friday. About 100 supporters of the war in Iraq, many of them veterans, waved American Flags and shouted from the sidewalk at the noontime traffic.
(Sound from demonstration) “Honk your horn, support the troops! They’re supporting you!”
(Host:) Carol Buro of Pittsford was there with her husband Vinny Buro, who fought in the Korean War.
(Buro) “Nobody wants war. Nobody wants to send our or anybody else’s children over to war. But that’s the way it’s always been, to fight for freedom. And that’s what they’re doing. They’re fighting for our freedom.”
(Host) Farther down the street about 50 protesters against the war were making their case for peace. At one point an argument broke out between members of the pro- and anti-war factions, but demonstrators from both sides defused the situation.
Peace demonstrator Lilian Sheren of Castleton said her side supports the troops, too.
(Sheren) “I don’t know one person on the side of peace here who is for Saddam Hussein. Not one person. But we just feel passionately that war is the wrong way to deal with the situation. And I’m tired of it being said that I’m anti-American. I’m tired of being told that I’m not a patriot.”
(Host) The antiwar group has been congregating on West Street for several months. Supporters of military action have been holding their weekly rallies since February. They attributed Friday’s unusually large turnout to encouragement from a local radio station, which they said is part of the Clear Channel Network.