In what is believed to have been one of the largest anti-war protest in the United States, upwards of ten thousand people hit the streets of the Gold Coast Saturday night for the Festival of Rights march — the culmination of a day of activities marking public opposition to the war in Iraq on the third anniversary of the U.S. invasion.

The day began with over a dozen feeder marches throughout the area staged to mobilize grassroots opposition to the war. Those actions converged at a mass rally in Union Park, and protesters reassembled later that evening for the "Festival of Rights" march down Michigan Ave. in what activists described as the return of free speech to Chicago's most high-rent corridor. Protesters won a permit from City bureaucrats for the march, an important victory in the battle to win back civil liberties that have been increasingly proscribed since 9/11. The City effectively banned antiwar speech on Michigan Ave. three years ago after police arrested over 800 peaceful protesters on March 20, 2003.

Video: [ 1 | 2 ] Photos: [ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 (New!)]
Text: Honest Assessment of M18 | Early corporate coverage | Tribune coverage | The antiwar march in Chicago
Radio: Excerpt one from 3/18 Live Radio Webstream | Excerpt two

Other Resources and press coverage: M18 Coalition, and assorted corporate press coverage | Indymedia US: Other weekend actions nationwide | Global IMC: Worldwide protests