Washington DC protest demands ‘Hands off Iran!’

Washington, D.C. – On February 28, DC residents awoke to the news that the Trump administration had begun a bombing campaign on Iran overnight. Within hours, the DC Against the Trump Agenda Coalition (DCATA) made the call for people of conscience in the DMV area to join in protest at the White House.

DCATA had been preparing for a US strike against Iran for weeks, connecting organizations in advance to mobilize within 24 hours of a strike. 32 organizations demanded, “No war with Iran!” with DCATA at the helm. A few hundred people started gathering towards Lafayette Square, as close as you can get to the White House due to the barricades, at the start of the rally. Protesters were carrying Iranian and Palestinian flags, as well as signs reading, “No bombs on Iran!” and “U.S. out of Iran!”

The organizers of the rally began their program on the bed of a pickup truck with emcees from DCATA and Palestinian Youth Movement DMV.

Merawi Gerima, a member of the DC Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (DCAARPR) and DCATA, started the protest stating, “Unity of action, not of ideas! That’s exactly how we’re gonna stop the United States from pulling us into another war.”

The emcee from PYM DMV stated, “They’re sending Americans to die on behalf of the rich. Americans have made it clear that they do not want another war!”

Elizabeth Paige White, a movement lawyer with the DC Lawyers Against the Trump Agenda (DCLATA) told the crowd, “Donald Trump’s lawlessness has extended to every single resident here. I’m in court every single day defending people who were wrongfully – illegally – arrested, searched, shot at, and almost killed in this city because of these illegal police gangs, these feds riding around with MPD, violating our rights day in and day out. Why do we expect [Trump] to do differently around this country and around the world?”

Earlier that day, 50501DC and others organized a March for Democracy that started on the National Mall. As the DCATA program continued, over 1000 people from the March For Democracy joined the No War on Iran protest. At this point, organizers knew they had to march. As the truck carrying the lead emcees started moving, droves of MPD flooded the streets, and tried their hardest to impede the march. Quickly thinking, organizers stripped the truck of its audio equipment and proceeded on foot, leading the people to the Department of State building to condemn Trump and Marco Rubio’s attacks.

A member of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization – DC also spoke during the march, “I think it’s very ironic that Trump billed himself as the ‘anti-war’ president, and here we are, one year into his regime, and where do we stand? We see that he is funding Netanyahu and funding genocide in Palestine. We see that he has kidnapped the president of Venezuela. He has now created war with Iran. He is threatening war with the greater Middle East. He’s threatening war with China. This president doesn’t know the meaning of anti-war – all he knows is war!”

Thousands of people marched down the streets of DC protesting attacks on Iran, Palestine, Cuba and Venezuela, as well as immigrants and Black people in the U.S. MPD continuously tried to thwart the march by blocking their path at every turn; however, the people stood firm, and marched right through them. The march ended at the Department of State building, and the program closed out with a few more speakers.

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