SAN FRANCISCO POLICE DEPARTMENT REVERSES POSITION AND GRANTS PERMIT FOR SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17 SF MARCH AGAINST AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ WARS

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SAN FRANCISCO POLICE DEPARTMENT REVERSES POSITION AND GRANTS PERMIT FOR SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17 SF MARCH AGAINST AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ WARS

The SFPD today granted the October 17 Antiwar Coalition a last-minute permit for a Market Street/Mission Street antiwar protest. The Permit Division had a few days earlier rejected a march permit with the explanation that it had “insufficient police” to properly monitor the march.

Had the permit rejection stood it would have been the first time ever that a march permit has been denied to peaceful demonstrators protesting U.S. wars abroad – in this case the U.S. wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan.

Market Street marches and other routes through the city have been routinely organized from the time of the Vietnam War to the present without police permit rejection.

“I have been organizing permitted and peaceful antiwar marches without incident for the past 40 years,” said march co-coordinator, Jeff  Mackler. “The idea that the city of San Francisco would or could deny us our fundamental democratic rights and civil liberties has never been in question.”

The October 17 Antiwar Coalition includes endorsing groups ranging from the San Francisco and Alameda Labor Councils, the Episcopal Diocese of California, the American Friends Service Committee, Labor for Peace and Justice to  the nation’s five leading antiwar coalitions.

October 17 is a national day of antiwar protest with demonstrations set for 40 U.S. cities. Initiated by a summer national conference in Pittsburgh sponsored by the National Assembly to End the Afghanistan Wars and Occupations, the month of October commemorates the onset of these wars and marks the 40^th anniversary of the historic Vietnam Moratorium, an event that mobilized 2.5 million Americans to protest the Vietnam War.

“Bring the Troops Home Now!” is the central demand of the October 17 protest.

Led my SF Supervisor Eric Mar, a majority of the city’s supervisors joined the effort to obtain the formal permit. Mar will be a featured speaker at the 1:00 pm UN Plaza Rally. Supervisor John Avalos, whose City Hall offices were used for yesterday’s coalition media conference, was joined by supervisors David Chiu, Chris Daley and Ross Mirakarimi in the successful effort to reverse the SFPD’s initial permit rejection.

The march assembles at the UN Plaza (Market between 7^th and 8^th Street) at 11 am. The march begins at Noon and returns to the UN Plaza for a 1:00 rally. For view of the flier and march route, click here

Who’s Going to Be at the Oct. 17 Rally in SF? Cindy Sheehan, Boots Riley of the Coup and author Norman Solomon, just to name a few.

We have an exciting and informative program lined up. So come out with your friends, family and co-workers for a peaceful, legal demonstration and join us in song, dance, marches, cheers, chants, banner waving (represent!), and protests. Send the message that you’re for an end to a combined total of 15 years of U.S. led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Let your spirit of humanity shine brightly and your voice be heard loudly so that the government can’t ignore the sights and sounds of the majority in this country who are against their wars in Iraq,  Afghanistan and Pakistan. SUPPORT OUR TROOPS! BRING THEM HOME NOW!

The U.S. goverment plans to send tens of thousands of more young men and women–sons and daughters, mothers and fathers–to Afghanistan. October 17 at U.N. Plaza is your chance to become an anti-war activist.

CONTACT US TO VOLUNTEER AT THE RALLY

E-mail oct17awc@gmail.com             Phones 415-641-1997       510-268-9429

THE ENTIRE PROGRAM LIST
Norman Solomon, author, Target Iraq: What the News Media Didn’t Tell You

Rev. Israel Alvaron, Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice
Don Bechler, Single Payer Now!
Mike Casey, President, SF UNITE-HERE, Local 2
Deacon Vicki Gray, Grace Cathedral
Cristina Gutierrez, Barrio Unido
Monadel Herzallah, Arab American Union Members Council
Betty Olson Jones, Pres. Oakland Education Association
Antonia Juhasz, Dir., Chevron Program, Global Exchange
Eric Mar, SF Board of Supervisors (invited)
Cynthia McKinney, former six-term Georgia Congresswomen,
2008 Green Party candidate for president
BOOTS RILEY of THE COUP

Tim Paulsen, Exec. Dir., SF Labor Council
Suyeya Sayadi, KPFA Local Station Board
Cindy Sheehan, Antiwar activist/leader whose son was killed while serving in Iraq
Col. Ann Wright, U.S. State Department official who resigned
in protest of 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq
Rep., ILWU Local 10; Rep., UCB Student Worker Action Team
Musicians’ Action Group/Brass, Woodwinds, Drums