Demonstrators march through downtown Detroit opposing the U.S. war drive against Syria. Hundreds took to the streets demanding no war on Syria., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.
September 8, 2013 at 8:37 pm
Sunday marchers in Detroit voice concern about Syria
Oralandar Brand-Williams
The Detroit News
The Michigan Emergency Committee Against War and Injustice protested a threatened U.S. military attack on Syria
Detroit — Hundreds of people marched downtown along Woodward Avenue on Sunday to voice their concerns about possible U.S. intervention in war-torn Syria.
Chanting “Hands off Syria” and “No More Wars,” about 200 people marched south on Woodward to Hart Plaza, where speakers addressed the group.
Some of the protesters, who represented Syrian-Americans and anti-war activists, draped themselves in red, white and black Syrian flags.
Syria native Georgette Haddad, who came to the United States from Homs, carried a poster with a picture of Syrian President Bashar Assad and wore a white T-shirt with his picture.
Haddad marched to urge the United States not to attack her homeland, she said. “I don’t want them to fight,” Haddad said Sunday as she prepared walk about a mile to Hart Plaza in downtown Detroit. “I don’t want them to kill innocent children.”
Detroit community activist Abayomi Azikiwe, an organizer of the march and a member of the Michigan Emergency Committee Against War and Injustice, urged the marchers to contact their elected officials in Washington, D.C.“We need to let Congress and the White House know we oppose war,” Azikiwe said.
The march follows rallies Friday in Birmingham and Dearborn and in Grand Rapids on Saturday.
President Barack Obama is asking for Congress’ support to launch an attack over what proponents claim is the Syrian government’s use of chemical weapons that allegedly killed more than 1,400 people. The president is meeting resistance as doubts linger over who is responsible for one of the deadliest chemical attacks in Syria’s civil war.
Osama Siblani, publisher of the Dearborn-based Arab American News, said a U.S. strike against Syria would be “deja vu,” referring to the 2003 invasion of Iraq which, he said, resulted in a torn nation with depleted infrastructure.
“We are going to the same thing in Syria,” Siblani said. “We have no plan. We should use diplomacy in Syria.”
Sunday’s rally came the same day as two Michigan Republicans offered opposing positions on the issue on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
“The decisions we make here will impact those decisions that those countries make on the use of these kinds of weapons,” said Mike Rogers, R-Howell. “That’s why this is so important to the world national security and U.S. national security.”
U.S. Rep. Justin Amash, R-Cascade Township, who opposes an attack, said public sentiment is against U.S. involvement. “When you are dealing with an issue like war you must to take into consideration what the public thinks,” Amash said on “Face the Nation” in a separate interview.
bwilliams@detnews.com
(313) 222-2027
Detroit News Staff Writer Marisa Schultz and Associated Press contributed to this report.
From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130908/METRO08/309080036#ixzz2eM7owERw
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