‘No War in Iran’: Demonstrators cover intersection with signage promoting peace

People protesting military conflict in Iran stood on all four street corners at East Wellesley Avenue and North Division Street early Saturday afternoon, wrapping the intersection with banners, signs and flags pleading for peace.

The demonstration coincided with more than 80 protests around the country opposing escalation of violence in the Middle East in the wake of a U.S. drone strike at Baghdad’s international airport early on Friday that killed General Qasem Soleimani of Iran and an announcement that the U.S. is deploying nearly 3,000 soldiers to Kuwait.

President Donald Trump said he ordered the drone attack “to stop a war.” Iran has since promised to seek revenge.

“We’re just going to keep hitting back at each other,” said Spokane Vets for Peace associate Jay Larsen, who played a purple trombone during the demonstration. “Somebody has got to step up. … One of us has got to quit.”

Protests in the U.S. occurred at the White House, Times Square and downtown Chicago, as well as Philadelphia, San Francisco and other major cities.

In Spokane, outside Red Lobster on Division Street, Bart Haggin stood among about 20 other protesters and held an anti-war sign from a 1967 march against the Vietnam War in San Francisco. Vets for Peace members waved their organization’s flag alongside him.

Across the street, a woman in front of NorthTown Mall solicited honks for peace with a rainbow-colored sign. More than 60 people were wrapped around the corner behind her.

About 15 people stood on each of the remaining corners to ensure each car passing through the intersection had a chance to receive their overarching message: No war in Iran.

Liz Moore, director of the Peace & Justice Action League of Spokane, said she started organizing the protest Thursday evening as news reports about the attack in Iran flashed across her television. Moore stood on the same street corner she was on in December 2009 while protesting then-President Barack Obama’s decision to send 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan.

“This is opposing the way the U.S. engages and escalates military action in the Middle East,” said Moore, noting the long conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. “We can see there is no military solution.”

Moore said PJALS reached out to demonstrators through social media, text and email. The group also provided the phone numbers and office addresses of elected officials on its website.

“We know we are doing our part here to make sure this is a national, grassroots effort,” Moore said.

Spokane Vets for Peace President Rusty Nelson said the demonstration felt like déjà vu.

“Here we are again,” said Nelson, who recalled thousands gathering in Riverfront Park to protest the invasion of Iraq in 2003. “People were really ready to get out here today.”

Janet Baxter said Saturday’s protests reminded her of activism in the late 1960s and ’70s. She remembers taking the bus to downtown Spokane as a 14-year-old to protest the Vietnam War in Riverfront Park, and she later demonstrated against President Richard Nixon at Expo ’74.

“Our generation was very aware,” said Baxter, who hoped to inform people through the protest. “For a long time people didn’t care, and I think that’s changing.”

She added, “I think if they’re educated enough, they won’t want a war either.”

Lewis and Clark High School senior Mattie Hartman said she doesn’t understand how people could support military conflict in Iran after seeing the results in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“I’m terrified for the people in Iran,” said Hartman, who is also concerned about her peers pursuing careers in the military.

Eastern Washington University senior Sarahi Gutierrez said she hoped the protest might motivate others to think about ways to find peace without violence.

“We’ve already seen in past history how war impacted the U.S.,” said Gutierrez.

Whitworth University senior Adi McNally and Eastern Washington University junior Ashlyn Wiker, who learned about the protest from social media, stood along the roadway with anti-war signs as passing cars honked in support of the protest. Other people rolled down their windows to proclaim their loyalty to Trump.

“I’m anti-war, so I thought I’d come and share my opinion,” said McNally, who believes it is unethical for soldiers to die while others profit from war.

Wiker added, “I thought I might as well try to make a difference.”

Also among the protesters was the Rev. Heather Tadlock, a pastor at Bethan Presbyterian Church, and a few members of her congregation.

“I’m here because peace is a Christian value,” Tadlock said. She said her congregation is vocal about “speaking out for peace and justice and love.”

And the Congressional candidate looking to unseat Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers in the 5th District, Chris Armitage, gathered more than 100 signatures during the protest to put his name on the 2020 ballot.

“We don’t need another forever war,” Armitage said, noting that he served with U.S. Air Force security forces during two deployments to the Middle East. “We need health care and good jobs.”

Armitage added, “I’m really proud of the people in the community who decided to come out today.”