A day of protest across Bay Area WAR IN IRAQ / FIVE YEARS 150 arrested in day of marches, speeches, civil disobedience - and a die-in outside Feinstein's office

Protesters filled Civic Center Plaza to listen to speaches before a march into the Mission district. The five year anniversary of the Iraq war was remembered by protesters at San Francisco's Civic Center Wednesday, March 19, 2007. Photo by Brant Ward / San Francisco Chronicle less Protesters filled Civic Center Plaza to listen to speaches before a march into the Mission district. The five year anniversary of the Iraq war was remembered by protesters at San Francisco's Civic Center ... more Photo: Brant Ward Photo: Brant Ward Image 1 of / 30 Caption Close A day of protest across Bay Area 1 / 30 Back to Gallery

War protesters converged in San Francisco Wednesday for the five-year anniversary of the war in Iraq and, from early morning to late evening, rallied, marched, shouted, sang, danced and committed acts of civil disobedience to demonstrate their opposition.

Roughly 150 people were arrested, many of them in front of the office of U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein. Many of those arrested were participating in an afternoon "die-in" - collapsing en masse to evoke deaths in Iraq - though a few actively scuffled with police.

Demonstrators gathered in the evening at Civic Center Plaza to hear speeches and take an evening march to the Mission District. They carried signs with slogans such as "impeach" and chanted mantras like "money for health care, not warfare."

In the morning, a crowd of about 500 people snaked its way through the Financial District, periodically prompting police to shut down intersections and city blocks and Muni officials to reroute buses.

Yet, despite the often creative costumes and messages, the protests were a far cry from the large and dramatic protests that marked the buildup to the war as well as the conflict's early months. Tens of thousands came to San Francisco in those days, making it an epicenter of the anti-war movement. Roughly 2,150 protesters were arrested during the first three days of the war, Mar. 19-21, 2003. The city's hotels were crammed, and mobs tried to shut down the Bay Bridge.

Wednesday's biggest demonstration in the city occurred in the evening. Answer coalition organizer Richard Becker estimated the crowd of participants at 7,000.

Some yearned to renew the hope of those early days, emboldened in part by an upcoming presidential election that does not include the candidacy of George W. Bush.

"There's been a lot of despair, a lot of feelings that the protest movement couldn't do anything and a lot of complacency," said Venee Call-Ferrer, who protested on the first-year war anniversary but hadn't done so again since Wednesday evening.

Veils of mourning

The 42-year-old Berkeley woman and three of her friends dressed in black, wearing veils of mourning. They wore red ribbons around their wrists to symbolize blood on their hands as U.S. citizens.

"This year, there's a feeling that things are going to change," she said.

It wasn't just San Francisco. Sparse attendance marked anti-war demonstrations nationwide, from Washington, D.C., to Syracuse, N.Y. to Hartford, Conn.

With song, signs, chants, costumes and even physical scuffles, the many expressions of protest in San Francisco seemed to reflect the eclectic and varied feelings among those opposed to the war.

The most dramatic acts were committed in front of the Feinstein's office at Market and Montgomery streets. About two dozen demonstrators staged a "die-in" at about 12:15 p.m., but were quickly surrounded by 80 police officers in riot gear.

As protesters were arrested, more demonstrators from the scores who were watching from the sidewalk rushed to fill their places.

Among those taken away were 20 people, calling themselves Act Against Torture, who were wearing orange jumpsuits with black hoods over their heads. They were costumed as prisoners at the controversial U.S. Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay, where "enemy combatants" of the "war on terror" have been held.

President Bush declared in 2003 that prisoners suspected to be terrorists didn't merit the protections of the Geneva Conventions.

After more than two hours of protests - and about 100 arrests - authorities finally cleared the intersection and reopened Market Street to traffic at 2:30 p.m. Among the arrested were three demonstrators who wrestled with police. One officer was knocked to the street.

Left-wing activist Daniel Ells-berg told the crowd, "The symbolism of people lying in death appears to symbolize the life and death seriousness as we enter the sixth year of this crime against the American people." He soon sat down in the street and was arrested.

Biggest protest

The largest protest of the day came after work hours in front of San Francisco's City Hall.

"This is America," said State Sen. Carole Migden, D-San Francisco. "We are not proud. So we say to the world, to the people who are watching, we are Americans, we are against it, and we are sorry."

The protesters stood elbow-to-elbow on Civic Center Plaza, occupying roughly half the space between the plaza's two main rows of trees. Businessmen in suits and fathers with children on their shoulders were among those gathered, as well as Marxists and 9/11 conspiracy theorists, who had booths set up nearby.

The protesters included three men wearing only purple peace signs painted on their chest

An officer told the men "Put a towel or jacket around yourselves. People don't want to see that." But they simply moved.

"Protesting like this is no better than some other way," said San Francisco resident Rusty Mills. "But it's our way."

A large portion of the crowd appeared to be in their teens, many in leather studded belts and Mohawks.

Luis Martinez, 17, held a sign that read "no se puede la paz con la guerra" - "you can't get peace through war."

"I'm against the war because of all the killing," he said," and the military is made of young people like me."

At least 27 people were arrested at a die-in at Market and Third streets around 10:30 a.m. As officers encircled the group, they briefly pushed other protesters onto the sidewalk and confiscated at least one bicycle and a sign.

Across the bay in Berkeley, about 100 demonstrators gathered at the Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park at noon to hear peace activist Cindy Sheehan speak. About 80 people marched afterward to the Marine Corps recruiting station on Shattuck Square, where demonstrators had gathered earlier.

Elsewhere in San Francisco, more than a dozen people were arrested in nonviolent actions at the Federal Reserve Bank on Market and the Chevron building at California and Battery streets.

The main group of protesters carried signs, shouted slogans and blasted music as they roamed the Financial District. Some threw play money in the air and waved pink flags.

One large sign carried by four people read: "Was it worth it?"

-- For a video from the downtown San Francisco protests, go to sfgate.com.