[ WAR IN IRAQ ]
RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM
Protesters against the war in Iraq hit the streets of Honolulu to voice their opposition yesterday. Starting at Ala Moana Park, they marched along Ala Moana to Kalakaua Avenue, then looped back to the park along Kapiolani Boulevard and Atkinson Drive.
Honolulu war protesters Claire Hanusz, a 35-year-old Honolulu attorney, marched against the high-tech war in Iraq yesterday holding her 17 month-old-son, Alissandro, in her arms.
conduct peaceful march
Participants wanted to make
their views known, despite
the seeming futility of it allBy Sally Apgar
sapgar@starbulletin.com
"I feel frustrated about the start of this war," said Hanusz, who marched six times against the war before the bombs fell on Baghdad Wednesday night.
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"I feel we have a responsibility to be out in the street to make our voices heard, despite the fact that our government will do what it wants to do, which is to make this war," she said.
Hanusz said she was ashamed that the Bush administration "is making this illegal, immoral war against Iraq. They are selling us a pack of lies."
Hanusz joined others who marched along Ala Moana and through part of Waikiki before returning to Ala Moana Park for a rally.
The protest was organized by Not in Our Name Hawaii, and organizers said as many as 1,200 people participated. Police estimated the crowd to be about 600.
Those at the demonstration included infants carried by their mothers and elderly men with canes. They followed the route in rubber slippers, running shoes and wheelchairs.
Unlike protests elsewhere in the nation, where hundreds of people were arrested, there were no arrests or incidents during the two-hour march on Oahu.
Police officers with bicycles walked alongside the protesters, smiling at them and even passing them water bottles. The officers' bicycles became a moving barrier that kept the protesters from spilling into traffic.
Lt. Frank Fujii, of Honolulu Police Department's civil affairs unit, greeted some protesters at the end of the march, asking, "Did you have a good march?"
Fujii, referring to the mainland arrests, said, "We don't want to have happen here, what's happening on the mainland. There's no need for that."
Fujii, carrying a water bottle and dressed in a sage-green aloha shirt, said, "Our mission is to respect everyone's constitutional right to free speech and provide them a safe forum to do that."
Among yesterday's protesters was Bill Sakaguchi, 59, a Honolulu architect, who carried a neon orange sign that read: "Support the Troops, Bring them home."
Sakaguchi, who also protested the Vietnam War, said the war in Iraq is "part of American empire-building and people should speak out against it. They should speak out against any American empire movement to economically and militarily dominate the world."
Gwen Kim, 60, from Kaaawa, marched with several members of her family, including her 8-year-old granddaughter, Keaolani Cenido-Niheu.
"The horror of this war is unspeakable. I cried when I saw the death and destruction (on television). I don't like America doing this," Kim said.
Kim said she sees Hawaii as a sovereign nation, not a part of America.
Her granddaughter said, "I don't like America bombing children."
Don Lichty, 62, a retired Honolulu builder, wore a navy-blue cap that said, "Veterans for peace in Vietnam."
Lichty served in the Army, though not in Vietnam, and had protested that war. Yesterday he loudly protested the war with Iraq.
"It's an unjust war," he said. "We simply shouldn't be there. This is for oil and empire, and both are betrayals of the American spirit."
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