Peace Activists Take to U.S. Streets : Opposition: Most demonstrations are spontaneous, outracing the plans of national organizations.

Peace activists took to the nation’s streets Monday, decrying the prospect of a Persian Gulf war in public outbursts not seen since the Vietnam era.

National anti-war activists said most of the demonstrations were spontaneous, outracing the ability of a fledgling national anti-war movement to coordinate them. Instead, a patchwork of unconnected, grass-roots demonstrations took place in some cities, largely in response to Saturday’s congressional vote granting President Bush authorization to use force in the Middle East.

In Chicago, for example, as many as 3,000 anti-war demonstrators protested for three hours at the Federal Building plaza, blocking morning rush-hour traffic. Police said more than 130 protesters were arrested for mob action and a few for resisting arrest.

“We planned to block the doors (of the building) so they couldn’t go into work,” said Mary Ann Corley, one of protesters.

When she and other demonstrators failed to reach the doors, they marched to Dearborn and Jackson streets to sit cross-legged, holding arms and chanting: “No blood for oil!”

In a scene from the ‘60s-style protests, demonstrators in Minneapolis burned an American flag in a garbage bin and blocked entrances to the old Federal Building, which includes recruiting stations for the armed services. Two protesters were arrested. Police estimated the crowd at 800 to 1,000.

New York’s Roman Catholic Cardinal John J. O’Connor delivered a prayer for peace, remarking that, since talk of war in the gulf began, he has been haunted by the memory of seeing five men die in Vietnam. “War is not inevitable,” he said during Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. “Peace and honor and justice is possible. We must pray like we never prayed before, and let us pray with our deepest sincerity.”

In Washington, black-clad marchers paraded with a flag-draped coffin through downtown at noon and during the afternoon rush hour in a “symbolic death procession.” Organizer Bill Howells said the march, which will be repeated today, “is meant to serve as a stark reminder of the unavoidable consequence of war: death.”

Ira Shorr, program director for SANE/Freeze, a Washington-based peace and disarmament organization, said only a few national groups have plans for national demonstrations to protest U.S. involvement in the Persian Gulf, including a pair of Washington marches later this month.

But he said that many anti-war activists were so upset by Congress’ weekend vote to grant the President authorization to use military force to remove Iraqi troops from Kuwait that protesters organized demonstrations in advance of the national marches.

“Clearly, a large part of the response is a spontaneous reaction,” Shorr said. “A number of networks are active, including our own, where there will be a coordinated effort. But we haven’t fully organized the demonstrations yet.”

A “march for peace” set for tonight in Atlanta is expected to be among the first of many nationally planned demonstrations. The Coalition of Conscience, an organization formed from the nonviolence and civil rights communities, has called on anti-war activists to march for peace in celebration of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday.

The group, led by the Rev. Joseph Lowery, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and a former aide to King, seized upon the irony that the U.N. Security Council’s deadline and King’s birthday coincide. The federal holiday to observe King’s birth is next Monday.

“The birthplace of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. will not stand idly by while the world contemplates war on the birthday of the slain civil rights leader,” Lowery said in an announcement of the candlelight march and religious services.

Two other national demonstrations are being planned by separate New York-based organizations. The Coalition to Stop U.S. Intervention in the Middle East, a radical leftist group, is organizing a Saturday march on Washington to condemn Congress and the Bush Administration.

“We have to bring this country to a halt,” said Teresa Gutierrez, national coordinator for the coalition. “We have to go to the streets. We’ve got to do whatever it takes to make the government sit up and listen to the people.”

Another organization, The National Campaign for Peace in the Middle East, a more centrist coalition of unions, religious leaders and peace groups, has called for a separate Jan. 26 march in Washington.