I showed up for the gathering part of the vigil that was before they actually went onto the bridge, but when I was there I saw over 200 people. I didn’t realize that the event was actually at the Esplanade, so I wound up looking down on it from the Hawthorne Bridge ramp, but it meant I could actually count the crowd. Besides me up on the ramp, there were passers-by who stopped to watch, and a bunch of folks who were up on the bridge with signs against the war. Passing cars would honk and wave.
The speakers were brief, which was nice. There was a guy who talked about running for Senate (didn’t impress me much) and then they had a sort of open mike where people could say a word or two as long as they kept it to a minute, which folks did for the most part.
- One woman spoke about her fears because her son has already spent a year and a half deployed in our war zones, and could be called back at anytime.
- One man called for mini-protests, where people just got together and hung out with signs against the war in the evenings. I\’m wondering about doing that.
All this is about keeping pressure up as Congress reconvenes. This particular event was organized by MoveOn, and they will be following up with more of these vigils in September.
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