YKU Joined 500,000 in NY to Say No to the Bush Agenda
YKU participated in the 8.29 protest in NY, site of the 2004 Republican National Convention (RNC). The protest march, organized by United for Peace and Justice, was was the largest protest ever held at the location of a political party convention. YKU raised the Korean American voice against Bush's foreign policy on the Korean peninsula and his domestic policy against immigrant rights and civil rights. Once again, YKU rocked with its signature poongmool performance - we were the "noisest" of the 500,000 protestors!!
The New York Times Coverage
[Click here for the original text]Marchers Denounce Bush as They Pass G.O.P. Convention Hall
By CHRISTINE HAUSER
Published: August 29, 2004
On bicycles, on foot, and some with their children in tow, hundreds of thousands of people moved through areas of Manhattan today in rallies or mass demonstrations, carrying messages against war and the Bush administration.
In the largest demonstration ever at a political convention, people swarmed through the midtown area of Manhattan in a march organized by United for Peace and Justice, passing by Madison Square Garden, where this week's Republican National Convention starts on Monday. At the height of the march, it took more than an hour to move one block.
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Outside Madison Square Garden, about 100 people from a group called Young Koreans United stood banging drums for about 20 minutes chanting that it is time for Bush to go.
Inbo Sim, 40, said he was from Los Angeles and that most of the group were from out of town. "We're against Bush's war policy," he said. "We're against any escalation of tension with North Korea."
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Authorities braced for protests by hundreds of thousands of people, including the largest rally, that planned by United for Peace and Justice, which had expected about 250,000 people to take part.
The huge demonstration wound its way north through steamy streets just around noon, when temperatures climbed to about 88 degrees Fahrenheit, starting in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. The route took them past Madison Square Garden before turning south again to finish in Union Square.
The Irish Times Coverage
[Click here for the original text]250,000 protest against Bush and Iraq war
US: It was the elderly pair in straw hats who summed up the peaceful defiance of anti-Bush protesters in New York yesterday, writes Conor O'Clery in New York.
Strolling side by side across the Great Lawn in Central Park to protest a ban on a mass rally there, their message was clear. Written on one hat were the words, "George Bush", and on the other, "Go Back to Texas".
Over 250,000 protesters who were banned from the park instead followed a route from W 14th Street past the convention site at Madison Square Garden, and back downtown to Union Square. The massive crowds and the police operation to control the noisy, colourful but largely peaceful march brought the centre of Manhattan to a standstill for most of yesterday afternoon.
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The noisiest group on the march were several dozen Koreans protesting against the Bush administration's failure to support the South Korean "Sunshine policy" towards unity with North Korea.
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30/08/2004
The Irish Times