Hundreds of protesters took to the streets today in a rowdy unpermitted march in Washington, D.C., Bush’s last day in office. Carrying shoes, in solidarity with Muntadar al-Zeidi, the Iraqi journalist who in a furious outrage removed his shoe at a press conference in Iraq and flung it at Bush screaming “You dog, this is for the widows and orphans.”
So today we marched through the streets calling for the arrest and prosection of the war criminals, Bush and Cheney, brandishing all of our shoes above our heads. We chanted our demands and drew crowds of inaugural revelers. Some even joined in the march, towards the White House.
Passing national guard soldiers, Metro D.C. police we shouted “Gaza to Guantanamo, The War on Terror has got to go.”. “Killing children, war crime, war crime…Torture, war crime war crime!”
Winding around Pennsylvania Ave., we passed through the fences that were built to keep people out. There were hundreds of Obama supporters milling around who saw us coming up to the fence, holding our shoes and signs saying “Arrest Bush!”
With shear defiance and determination we walked up to the fence, which was guarded by Secret Service agents and Parks Police on the inside, and started flinging the shoes we had all carried there. Never in my life did I see such joy and relief in the faces of these anti-war activists who have been waiting for the day that Bush the criminal would leave office.
Shoes were flying over heads through the air, and almost landing directly on the officers standing in front of the gate. [vid] The act of throwing a shoe at the White House was a defining moment on this day when the people of the Country who voted for change, are waiting to breath that sigh of relief when Obama takes office. The demands of the people will not stop, however. If the Obama administration does not pursue the prosecution that the people are demanding, we have a lot more shoes waiting.
