Fortress Of Freedom Board

[Maurice Ali]

A Day To Remember!


By Maurice Ali, Journalist



Rose colored glasses?


March 19, 2005 was the second anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. I got lucky in that I was downtown with all my equipment here in Toronto and was able to fully document this event. I say lucky as I had completely forgotten the date and I suspect many people did, or we could have been looking at a truly "massive" turnout! The event took place at one in the afternoon on Saturday and started with a march into City Hall with the organized groups front and center.


Several thousands of people gathered in Toronto at Nathan Phillip's Square.

I mostly knew what I was to hear on the podium; so I turned my attention to one of the small people at the event. The young woman you see below is one of the organizers manning a table at the event. I asked her what the event was about and received a concise and intelligent reply. You can hear the audio of that conversation by clicking the link below. She basically said that the people at this gathering just wanted to display their disgust to the war in Iraq and that Canada should continue to stay out.


Click Here For Audio Interview

I should take one moment to mention all the folk wandering the event handing out communist newspapers. Ok, it is free speech, but why do we have to pay for this! My non-communist paper is free! I just thought this point should be brought up.....


The marchers entering the square!

Anyway, the crowds were quite large for an ongoing series of protests. There were many huge banners and organizations represented at the event. I took over 105 photos here, too much to display. This was truly impressive!


A better picture of the marching protestors.

One of the best parts of the protest were the personal speeches of the guest speakers. Most impressionable was the one soldier who told us about how he was ordered to fire upon unarmed Iraq civilians..... Also of interest was the appearance of Jeremy Hinzman who we wrote up earlier with regard to his refuge application based on the illegality of the Iraq war. He also showed me his kids and appears to be doing well in Canada.



I also took out our video camera and recorded some of the action at the event. In the media file that follows; you will hear about the order to fire on unarmed civilians and also see Jeremy Hinzman and family at the podium:

Click Here For Video Of The Protest!



A very large banner at the event!

I should also mention that this protest, like all the protests I have been at; they were completely peaceful with no police altercations I could document. The majority of the protestors were middle-aged and this point should refute the claim that these events are only frequented by young anarchist elements just interested in creating a ruckus.


More photos of the crowds!

People just carried placards and displayed their banners for the passersby and media to document.


This old lady made her point!

The protestors ran the gamut from young to old, rich to poor. The media was also present but more primed to take advantage or anything unusual as opposed to filming something new.....


Spiked hair and a "wanted" poster of George W. Bush on her shirt!

The police were also in presence, but a very small presence at City Hall (Nathan Phillips Square). In contrast, the police/swat team presence and riot fencing were in place in front of the U.S. Consulate where the marchers would later march past. This is more telling as a difference in nationality, as Canada and the States differed in their approach to Iraq. I am almost sure that the police presence at the U.S. Consulate was at the request of the Americans and not from the Canadian side.


This Policeman is actually waving to me and I waved back!



So that was another "Stop The War" protest. Expect more of the same until the United States Of America leaves the country of Iraq with full self-determination for that country. This event probably marks the start of protests in general this year as Canada is really too cold to hold large outdoor events (unless time is essential like the Hungarian election fiasco). Time to dust off all the equipment and be ready to document and catalogue our fellow citizens exercising their right to free speech!