Some protesters held signs that read, \u201cNo bombs on Iran\u201d and \u201cNo New US War in the Middle East.\u201d<\/p>\n
Less than a kilometre away, near the World War I Memorial, a group of people waving American and Israeli flags chanted, \u201cThank you Trump\u201d, appearing to celebrate the strikes. <\/p>\n
Earlier in the day, the US President told the Washington Post the strikes were an effort to bring \u201cfreedom for the people\u201d in Iran.<\/p>\n
The protests in the US capital joined demonstrations that erupted in New York, Chicago, Denver and other US cities, as well as abroad.<\/p>\n
In New York City, where several hundred people marched through Midtown Manhattan, organisers described the demonstration as just the start of a sustained movement to push back against the attack on Iran.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sick to my stomach about us going into another war,\u201d said Aisha Jukaku, 41, an Indian American who is also Muslim.<\/p>\n
Fanaeian, an organiser with the Freedom Road Socialist Organisation, helped co-ordinate the protest near the White House with leaders from other groups, including 50501 DC and Code Pink. <\/p>\n
They initially gathered near 16th and H streets NW by Lafayette Square before marching through the city.<\/p>\n
People wave US and Iranian pre-1979 Islamic Revolution flags during a rally expressing support for US and Israeli military action against Iran’s Islamic Republic government in Atlanta, Georgia. Photo \/ Elijah Nouvelage, AFP<\/p>\n
\u201cNo hate, no fear, Iranians are welcome here,\u201d many in the crowd chanted. \u201cFrom DC to Iran, stop the war, stop the bombs,\u201d others said in unison.<\/p>\n
\u201cAmericans have made it clear that they do not want another war,\u201d Mimi Ziad, a 27-year-old with the Palestinian Youth Movement, said in a speech from the bed of a pick-up truck. <\/p>\n
Ziad and other demonstrators drew comparisons between the strikes on Iran and involvement by the US military in other conflicts in recent years.<\/p>\n
As the crowd swelled and began to march, Secret Service agents and police officers were on patrol, with some officers blocking roads to let demonstrators pass through the streets.<\/p>\n
DC police said earlier that while there were no known threats to the city, the department is \u201cprepared to increase our presence as needed\u201d. The department said it was co-ordinating with local, state and federal partners.<\/p>\n
Metro Transit Police said there will be an increased presence at rail stations in the District for the next several days \u201cin response to military operations abroad\u201d.<\/p>\n
Sign up to Herald Premium Editor\u2019s Picks<\/a>, delivered straight to your inbox every Friday. Editor-in-Chief Murray Kirkness picks the week\u2019s best features, interviews and investigations. Sign up for Herald Premium here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Some protesters held signs that read, \u201cNo bombs on Iran\u201d and \u201cNo New US War in the Middle…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":307797,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2840,74,9092,12587,95,3246,2841,67072,168095,168094,2109,168096,2082,42,1345,16609,5873,3331,1357,43,90,7811,9939,6100,19063,40,38,41,39,9938,3040],"class_list":{"0":"post-307796","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-across","9":"tag-after","10":"tag-against","11":"tag-america","12":"tag-and","13":"tag-both","14":"tag-country","15":"tag-demonstrations","16":"tag-ermiya","17":"tag-erupt","18":"tag-family","19":"tag-fanaeian","20":"tag-for","21":"tag-headlines","22":"tag-home","23":"tag-iran","24":"tag-israel","25":"tag-launch","26":"tag-lived","27":"tag-news","28":"tag-on","29":"tag-since","30":"tag-states","31":"tag-still","32":"tag-strikes","33":"tag-top-news","34":"tag-top-stories","35":"tag-topnews","36":"tag-topstories","37":"tag-united","38":"tag-us"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307796\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}