WSHINGTON, Oct. 25 — In the largest antiwar demonstration since President Bush declared an end to active combat in Baghdad, more than 10,000 people marched through the streets of the capital on Saturday to demand the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq.
Many of the same demonstrators gathered here months ago to urge the White House not to go to war in Iraq. The demonstrators reassembled here in the shadow of the Washington Monument because they said they wanted to let the president know that they remained deeply opposed to the American military's continued presence in Iraq.
"Don't give Bush 87 billion dollars — don't give him 87 cents," implored the Rev. Al Sharpton, a Democratic candidate for president, referring to the administration's spending plan for military aid and reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan. "Give our troops a ride home."
On a bright autumn day, the mood of the demonstration borrowed heavily from the imagery of 1960's peace protests over Vietnam, as college students and other young people in tie-dyed shirts and bandanas waved placards bearing peace signs and exhorted the White House to "make love, not war."
The Bush administration has made clear that it has no intention of pulling out of Iraq and that it is working to secure billions of dollars in international support for the Iraqi reconstruction effort, despite continued resistance from some nations. In recent weeks, the administration also has begun an aggressive effort to turn around rising public concerns about Iraq by publicizing positive strides that it says the media has failed to report.
"The president respects the opinion of those who protest and exercise their democratic rights," Jimmy Orr, a White House spokesman, said on Saturday of the demonstrators. But he added that "the president has been very clear about the reasons for our involvement and the need to protect our country."
Organizers in Washington said that 100,000 people took part in the rally. But a close inspection put the number who marched past the White House at about 10,000 to 15,000 people, with about 200 to 300 demonstrators a minute passing an observation point during the march's half-hour peak. The police gave no official crowd count but noted that the permits for the event anticipated a crowd of about 35,000 demonstrators.
Organizers in Washington said that more than 150 cities were represented at the demonstration. Joint protests also were held in several dozen cities in the United States, Mexico and Europe.
In San Francisco, organizers estimated several thousand protesters came to the plaza near City Hall and then marched to Jefferson Square Park. Scheduled speakers included the actor Danny Glover, the Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic, on whose life the movie Born on the Fourth of July is based, and former Representative Cynthia McKinney of Georgia.
Marchers in the decidedly mature San Francisco crowd said that unlike earlier "stop the war" rallies, the focus had now turned to bringing troops home. Amid the familiar placards reading "No Blood for Oil" were signs with the latest antiwar sentiments: "Bring Them Home Alive."
That was the message on a black and white poster carried by Paul Shumett of Palo Alto. Mr. Shumett, 56, said: "They said the war was over but more people are being killed now than before. This war was wrong from the beginning. It seemed a Hatfield versus McCoy war, like a family feud so President Bush could vindicate his father."
Like Mr. Shumett, many speakers and demonstrators in Washington said they had opposed the war before it began in March. And they said events of recent months, including the United States' failure to find unconventional weapons and questions about the reliability of its intelligence, have deepened their concerns.
Kathleen Folwell, 64, who works in medical research and traveled to the protest from Pennsylvania with a busload of several dozen demonstrators from the Bryn Mawr, Pa., area, was taking part in her fourth major Iraq protest. This was her first since the war was declared over.
"The focus of the opposition has changed now," she said. "People are concerned about both how we got into the war and how hard it is to get out."
Elden Montagne, 21, traveled to the Washington demonstration from Vermont with a couple of friends. Mr. Montagne said: "It's just cool when people come together like this. It shows the rest of the world that we're thinking about this stuff and not just going along with it."
Alan McLaine and his wife, Pat, of Columbia, Md., also were at the demonstration. They have a son, a daughter-in-law, a nephew and a niece all stationed with the military in Iraq, but they turned out to voice their opposition.
"We're not anxious for this effort to continue," said Alan McLaine, 57, who is an education consultant. "We want our family back."
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