thedrifter
03-05-03, 05:15 PM
Posted on Wed, Mar. 05, 2003
Students gather at City Hall for antiwar protest
By James M. O’Neill
Inquirer Staff Writer
High school and college students from throughout the Philadelphia region converged on City Hall today as part of a nationwide student-run protest against a war with Iraq.
By 3 p.m., several hundred students had gathered, and more were expected: approximately 250 Penn students marched in from West Philadelphia, and other students were expected to arrive by bus later in the afternoon.
Five people handcuffed and chained themselves to an armed forces recruitment center on North Broad Street and others armed with bullhorns blocked off a nearby intersection as police looked on.
Students from Girls High School, William Penn High School, Masterman Middle School and Temple University, among others, held placards and danced to 1960s anti-war music to make their point.
Some students stood on either side of 15th Street at Market Street, holding up signs that read: "Honk 4 Peace." Many motorists did honk as they drove past the students.
Several of the students said that they had been pressured by school administrators not to cut class and that they had been threatened with suspensions if they did so.
"I saw my country going down the wrong path, so I decided to get involved," said Evan Hoffman, 20, a Temple sophomore. "We live in a democracy, and this is what democracy is all about – when you see that what the government is doing in your name is wrong, you need to act..."
Hoffman stood in the crowd wearing a t-shirt with a peace symbol, which, he said, his own father had worn as a student during antiwar protests at the University of Wisconsin.
Students at Swarthmore College decided to hold a stand-in during classes today as their form of protest. A student organizer said that most of their professors agreed with their anti-war stand and that students did not wish to disturb classes by walking out as many students at college across the country are doing today.
Philadelphia City Councilman Angel Ortiz is scheduled to be one of the speakers at the student antiwar rally, which is set to begin at 4 p.m.
While most members of the crowd waited at City Hall, a group of high school and middle school students left there to march by an Armed Forces recruiting office at Broad and Cherry streets.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact staff writer James M. O’Neill at 610-313-8012 or joneill@phillynews.com.
Some of these students were as young as 12...that were there....
I'm glad I wasn't downtown.......
Sempers,
Roger
Students gather at City Hall for antiwar protest
By James M. O’Neill
Inquirer Staff Writer
High school and college students from throughout the Philadelphia region converged on City Hall today as part of a nationwide student-run protest against a war with Iraq.
By 3 p.m., several hundred students had gathered, and more were expected: approximately 250 Penn students marched in from West Philadelphia, and other students were expected to arrive by bus later in the afternoon.
Five people handcuffed and chained themselves to an armed forces recruitment center on North Broad Street and others armed with bullhorns blocked off a nearby intersection as police looked on.
Students from Girls High School, William Penn High School, Masterman Middle School and Temple University, among others, held placards and danced to 1960s anti-war music to make their point.
Some students stood on either side of 15th Street at Market Street, holding up signs that read: "Honk 4 Peace." Many motorists did honk as they drove past the students.
Several of the students said that they had been pressured by school administrators not to cut class and that they had been threatened with suspensions if they did so.
"I saw my country going down the wrong path, so I decided to get involved," said Evan Hoffman, 20, a Temple sophomore. "We live in a democracy, and this is what democracy is all about – when you see that what the government is doing in your name is wrong, you need to act..."
Hoffman stood in the crowd wearing a t-shirt with a peace symbol, which, he said, his own father had worn as a student during antiwar protests at the University of Wisconsin.
Students at Swarthmore College decided to hold a stand-in during classes today as their form of protest. A student organizer said that most of their professors agreed with their anti-war stand and that students did not wish to disturb classes by walking out as many students at college across the country are doing today.
Philadelphia City Councilman Angel Ortiz is scheduled to be one of the speakers at the student antiwar rally, which is set to begin at 4 p.m.
While most members of the crowd waited at City Hall, a group of high school and middle school students left there to march by an Armed Forces recruiting office at Broad and Cherry streets.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact staff writer James M. O’Neill at 610-313-8012 or joneill@phillynews.com.
Some of these students were as young as 12...that were there....
I'm glad I wasn't downtown.......
Sempers,
Roger