(Host) War protesters gathered in cities across the world on Saturday, and they were in Burlington as well. Peace activists from across the state marched through downtown Burlington for more than two hours, intermittently stopping traffic at busy intersections.
Police say about 2,000 protesters were present; organizers put that number closer to 5,000. Kim Ead is with the Burlington Peace and Justice Center:
(Ead) “We need to make sure that soldiers – American soldiers – are not dying over there, and that civilians are not dying because of the billions of dollars in bombs that we’re dropping on innocent people.”
(Host) Police officers from nearby cities were on standby for the planned protest. Burlington police lieutenant Walter Decker says his department has a good relationship with the protest organizers:
(Decker) “Well Burlington has a very rich, colorful history of political disobedience, protest, people voicing their opinions. So our department by its very nature has always had that.”
(Host) Demonstrators say they plan to regularly disrupt downtown traffic with their protest marches, until the war is ended.