More than 100 area peace groups, community organizations and grassroots projects— the largest local peace coalition since the Vietnam War — are making a final push to bring out people on Saturday, March 18, for protests to mark the third anniversary of the beginning of the Iraq war. Actions will include over a dozen morning and early afternoon feeder marches, a 3PM rally at Union Park, and a 7PM march south on Michigan Ave from Oak Street to the Loop. Activists have been working on the day's actions for months, with a particular effort on encouraging participation from local neighborhoods. Peace groups from throughout Illinois, as well as Indiana and Wisconsin, are also mobilizing for M18.

The real prize for many protesters is Michigan Avenue, down which antiwar activists will be allowed to legally march for the first time since March 20, 2003. On that day, Chicago cops arrested more than 800 who initially had police permission to return south on Boul Mich from a CPD-approved march on North Lake Shore Drive to oppose the beginning of the Iraq war. [Photos] That mass arrest of peaceful protesters [2] — the largest in the city's history — marked the end of free speech rights for three years on some of Chicago's most prominent traffic corridors. But lawsuits [2 | 3 | 4 | 5], public hearings and permit application battles over issues of civil liberties and constitutional rights appear to have paid off, and this year the City of Chicago grudgingly granted protesters a permit for the street. Protesters will stage a "Festival of Rights" march starting at 7PM Saturday along the route previously reserved only for an annual police march and the Disney-sponsored commercial holiday "Festival of Lights" parade every November.