1000 verhaftet in san francisco

In San Francisco this morning, hundreds of protesters gathered at different intersections and public buildings, blocking traffic, staging die-ins and temporarily shutting down government buildings in San Francisco.

Attempts to block the bridges linking the City with the East Bay were made. But heavy police presence forced demonstrators to change course.

As we go to press, around 1,000 demonstrators are pushing their way again to block the Bay Bridge. Heavy police presence is reported.

The SF Police Department was out in full force. Police repression was reported in front of the Federal Building and during other non-violent actions. It is estimated that about 1,000 people have been arrested so far, including a group of Black Block activists that gathered at 7th and Market Streets and were immediately surrounded by about 300 cops.

Meanwhile, about 7,000 people started to converge at San Francisco Civic Center at noon in preparation for a large demonstration held today at 5 PM at Powell and Market.

By 6 PM, an estimated tens of thousands of people filled the streets of the City.

As of this writing, tens of thousands of demonstrators are still on the streets in what is starting to look as an uprising against the war.

In Berkeley, hundreds of students were repressed and arrested when trying to occuppy the UC administrative buildings

In Oakland, 2,000 marched in Downtown.

In Washington DC as many as 300 demonstrators temporarily shut down the inbound travel lanes of one of the Potomac River crossings, snarling rush-hour traffic. Some 50 demonstrators bicycled through downtown Washington carrying signs that said, "Bikes not Bombs." Three people were arrested.

Protesters in Philadelphia blocked the entrances to the downtown federal building, forcing police to detour motorists around the area. About 100 were arrested.

"I'm here because this war is going to lead to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi citizens solely because of the United States' greed for oil," said one demonstrator, Rebecca Johnson, 23, of Philadelphia.

Just outside of Washington, more than 2,000 students walked out of classes at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Md. They circled the school playing drums, guitars and even a trombone.

The call for protests, walkouts and marches Thursday followed a day of intense anti-war rallying by people in small towns, big cities and rural outposts decrying war just hours before the United States began its attack.

"I am very ashamed to be an American right now," Lydia Riley, 63, of Washington said Wednesday.

"There's been nothing but lies and misrepresentations by the Bush administration." Riley joined about 200 demonstrators, some wearing red dye on their faces and clothes to represent anticipated Iraqi civilian casualties, blocking rush hour traffic as they marched from a park near the White House to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's house in Northwest Washington.

On the other side, in Carson City, Nev., hundreds of flag-waving veterans and others gathered outside the state's legislative building to back U.S. military personnel poised to attack Iraq.

As of this writing, more than 4,000 demonstrators were in a standoff with the police in Chicago.

There were also demonstrations in Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Detroit and Portland, Oregon where about 5,000 people marched through downtown. Major demonstrations will take place today and Saturday around the country.