Beginning in late 2002 and continuing after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, large-scale protests against the Iraq War were held in many cities worldwide, often coordinated to occur simultaneously around the world. After the biggest series of demonstrations, on February 15, 2003, New York Times writer Patrick Tyler claimed that they showed that there were two superpowers on the planet: the United States and worldwide public opinion.
These demonstrations against the war were mainly organized by anti-war organizations, many of whom had been formed in opposition to the invasion of Afghanistan. In some Arab countries demonstrations were organized by the state. Europe saw the biggest mobilization of protesters, including a rally of three million people in Rome, which is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest ever anti-war rally.
According to the French academic Dominique Reynié, between January 3 and April 12, 2003, 36 million people across the globe took part in almost 3,000 protests against the Iraq war.
In the United States, even though pro-war demonstrators have been quoted as referring to anti-war protests as a "vocal minority",Dueling Demonstrations As Thousands March to Capitol to Protest Iraq Conflict, 189 Arrested; War Supporters Take on 'Vocal Minority' Michelle Boorstein, V. Dion Haynes and Allison Klein, The Washington Post, Sunday, September 16, 2007; Page A08. Retrieved September 16, 2007. Gallup Polls updated September 14, 2007, state, "Since the summer of 2005, opponents of the war have tended to outnumber supporters. A majority of Americans believe the war was a mistake.", The Gallup Poll. Retrieved August 7, 2007.
From the protests before and during the Iraq War, this was one of the biggest global peace protests to occur in the early 21st century, since the 20th century protest of the Vietnam War. Throughout several rallies spanning throughout 2002 until 2011, an unspecified number of people were arrested. Even though the United States had already withdrawn the troops from Iraq by December 2011, another anti-war protest led by veterans of the Iraq War took place in May 2012 at Chicago during the NATO Summit at the Hyatt Regency, regarding the War in Afghanistan.
Scope and impact in the United States
A March 2003 Gallup poll conducted during the first few days of the war showed that 5% of the population had protested or made a public opposition against the war compared to 21% who attended a rally or made a public display to support the war.Public Opinion and the war in Iraq P. 177 An ABC news poll showed that 2% had attended an anti-war protest and 1% attended a pro-war rally. The protests made 20% more opposed to the war and 7% more supportive.Public Opinion and the war in Iraq P. 178 A Fox News poll showed that while 63% had an unfavorable view of the protesters, just 23% had a favorable view. According to Pew Research, 40% said in March 2003 that they had heard "too much" from people opposed to the war against 17% who said "too little".Public Opinion and the war in Iraq P. 179
Some observers have noted that the protests against the Iraq War were relatively small-scale and infrequent compared to protests against the Vietnam War. One of the most often cited factors for this is the lack of conscription.
Prior to the Iraq War These protests are said to be the biggest global peace protests before a war actually started; the peace movement is compared with the movement caused by the Vietnam War.
September 2002 On September 12, 2002, U.S. President George W. Bush spoke to the United Nations General Assembly. Outside the United Nations building, over 1,000 people attended a protest organized by Voter March and No Blood for Oil.
On September 24, Tony Blair released a document describing Britain's case for war in Iraq. Three days later, an anti-war rally in London drew a crowd of at least 150,000.
On September 29, roughly 5,000 anti-war protesters converged on Washington, D.C., on the day after an anti-International Monetary Fund protest.
October 2002 On October 2, the day President Bush signed into law Congress' joint resolution authorizing the war, a small-scale protest was held in Chicago, attended by a crowd of roughly 1,000 who listened to speeches by Jesse Jackson and then-Illinois State Senator Barack Obama. Obama's statement, "I am not opposed to all wars. I'm opposed to dumb wars," was barely noted at the time, but became famous during the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries when the Obama camp used it to demonstrate his courage and good judgment on the war.
On October 7, Bush delivered a major speech justifying the invasion of Iraq at the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal. Outside, approximately 3,000 people gathered to protest the coming war. Later, a few hundred protesters blocking the Museum Center exits were dispersed by mounted police, and six people were arrested.
On October 26, protests took place in various cities across the world. Over 100,000 people took part in a protest in Washington. 50,000 people took part in a demonstration in San Francisco. Both protests were called by the ANSWER Coalition.
On October 31, around 150 protests took place across the United Kingdom, including Critical Mass bike rides, occupations, and mass demonstrations in Brighton, Manchester, Glasgow and London. Protests also took place in the US.
November 2002 On November 9, demonstrations were held against the war at the end of the first European Social Forum in Florence, Italy. According to the organizers, 1,000,000 people were in attendance. Local authorities put attendance at 500,000.
On Saturday, November 16, in Canada, an anti-war demonstration of about 2,000 people occurred at Queen's Park in Toronto.
On November 17, a large anti-war coalition held a peace march in Vancouver, marching from Peace Flame Park as part of a Cross-Canada Day of Action. In Vancouver, about 3,000 people gathered in the rain. Washington must take any complaints against foreign governments to the United Nations, they said. Many accused the White House of targeting Saddam Hussein in order to try to take control of valuable oil reserves. About 1,000 marched through a shower of ice pellets in Montreal, and about 500 showed up in a blur of white snow on Parliament Hill. Rallies were held in several other cities, including Halifax, Winnipeg and Edmonton.
January 2003 On January 16, 2003, protests were held worldwide in opposition to a war with Iraq, including in Turkey, Egypt, Pakistan, Japan, Belgium, the Netherlands, Argentina, and the United States, where Americans attended a rally in Washington, D.C. The U.S. Park Police, which oversees activities on the National Mall, stopped providing estimates of crowd size after being threatened with lawsuits by the organizers of the Million Man March, but said that protest organizers only had a permit for 30,000 demonstrators.
On January 18, anti-war demonstrations, focusing particularly but not exclusively on the expected war with Iraq, took place in villages, towns, and cities around the world, including Tokyo, Moscow, Paris, London, Dublin, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Cologne, Bonn, Gothenburg, Florence, Oslo, Rotterdam, Istanbul and Cairo. In New Zealand, thousands rallied in Dunedin and Christchurch, while in Auckland protesters rallied at the Devonport naval base on January 28, opposing the deployment of the frigate HMNZS Te Mana to the Gulf.
NION and ANSWER jointly organized protests in Washington, D.C., and San Francisco. Other protests took place all over the United States, including various smaller places such as Lincoln, Nebraska.
Upwards of 50,000 people demonstrated in San Francisco. The day started with a waterfront rally at 11 am, followed by a march down Market Street to the civic center.
In Seattle, a surprise turnout on a sunny Saturday saw over 45,000 people (Organizer and observers reports) march from the Seattle Center (after several speeches) to King Street Station-the local media all came up with nonsensical crowd numbers, from 200 up to 1,500 people. People were still vacating the starting point at the Seattle Center while the front of the march was piling up at King Street Station, the terminal point of the march; Over 5 miles of solid people-as was evidenced by one aerial photo courtesy KING-TV, showed the true scope of the march. Most of the media downplayed the numbers by taking photos at the front of the parade, on flat ground-which usually showed just a few hundred people. For some reason there was no speaker awaiting to what would have been a crowd of possibly 50,000 people-it simply ended...casual shoppers and walkers joining the crowd-the largest march of any kind in Seattle's history at the time (surpassed by the Women's March in Seattle in 2017).
In Washington, "at least tens of thousands", people demonstrated through the city, ending with a rally at The Mall. Among the speakers was Rev. Jesse Jackson who told the crowd that "We are here because we choose coexistence over coannihilation."
The protests were planned to coincide with January 15, the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr.
February 2003
On February 15, millions of people protested, in approximately 800 cities around the world. Listed by the 2004 Guinness Book of Records as the largest protest in human history, protests occurred among others in the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Syria, India, Russia, South Korea, Japan, and even McMurdo Station in Antarctica. Perhaps the largest demonstration this day occurred in London, with up to one million protestors gathering in Hyde Park; speakers included the Reverend Jesse Jackson, London mayor Ken Livingstone, and Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy. A large demonstration, also attended by perhaps around a million, took place in Madrid.
March 2003 Such prominent figures of demonstrations against Vietnam War in the 1960s and 70s as Pete Seeger, Tom Hayden, Joan Baez, Norman Siegel, William Sloane Coffin took part in the protests against the invasion in Iraq in the USA.
On March 8, three separate marches converged on Manchester Town Hall, UK. Official estimates put the number of participants at 10,000 (although this was disputed by organisers), making it the biggest political demonstration in the city since the Peterloo Massacre in 1819.
On March 15, Spanish and Italian cities showed some of the largest turnouts against their governments' pro-war stance, with more than 400,000 protesters in Milan, more than 300,000 in Barcelona forming a mile-long human chain, and more than 120,000 in Madrid. Marches also took place in Seville, Aranjuez, Palencia, and in the Canary Islands.