Thousands of people will be marching on the Pentagon this weekend to voice their opposition to the Iraq War in what some are saying could be a turning point for the anti-war movement.
But the protest, scheduled for this Saturday, is occurring without the approval of state authorities. The march's organizers are refusing to pay a fee to the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) to receive a state permit for their event.
The march on the Pentagon is being organized by the Act Now to Stop War & End Racism (ANSWER) Coalition, a social action group that was formed shortly after the 9-11 attacks. ANSWER National Coordinator Brian Becker said that the group expects tens of thousands of people from all across the country to attend the march.
"The war will only end when people take matters into their own hands," he said.
The protest will begin at noon on March 17 at the Lincoln Memorial. From there, the demonstrators will walk across the Memorial Bridge and down Route 27 to the Pentagon’s north parking lot where a rally will be held.
Bill Hackwell, ANSWER Coalition spokesman, said that there would be "a little bit" of road closures on Route 27 on Saturday. But he said that, because the rally is being held on the north side of the Pentagon, no neighborhoods or businesses will be disturbed.
At a press conference last week, organizers of the rally stressed that they anticipated a peaceful, incident-free march.
However, Steve Gomez, a spokesperson for the Arlington County Police Department, said that contingents of the civil disturbance unit and the SWAT team will be on hand at the rally in the event of a riot, although the police "don’t anticipate that [they] will be necessary."
Several notable speakers will be attending the protest to address the throngs of people. Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) and Washington Wizards power forward Etan Thomas are all scheduled to speak along with Cindy Sheehan, the anti-war protester whose son, Casey, was killed in Iraq.
Sheehan said that the march was not just in opposition to the Iraq War but also in opposition to the Bush Administration.
"They are the enemies of humanity," she said. "George Bush has made us the detested laughingstock of the world. We [will be] marching for impeachment and accountability."
Sheehan, disagreeing with accusations that the march would dampen troop morale, said "We support the troops because we want them to come home alive."
Mahdi Bray, director of the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation and another featured speaker at the rally, was indignant at the claim that war protests are damaging to the U.S. armed forces. "How dare you tell us that we’re not respecting [the] troops," he said, "When you send them to die?"
ORGANIZERS SAY THEY HAVE all the necessary permits for their event. But they said they were not able to obtain these permits without some serious wrangling with government officials.
The ANSWER Coalition knew that having their protest approved by state authorities was vital to the safety of the demonstrators. Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, an attorney representing ANSWER, said "The reason we sought a permit is so… people can march without fear."
But when the protest organizers went to VDOT to obtain a permit for their march, they were told that they would need to sign a contract obligating them to pay an unspecified fee.
VDOT permits manager Dorothy Purvis said in an e-mail that this is standard operating procedure for VDOT and that they "require that the event promoters reimburse [us] for expenses for personnel and equipment."
But the organizers said that this was a violation of their first amendment rights.
"VDOT is used to working with contractors and commercial entities," Becker said. "But this is a free speech demonstration and you can't legally put a price tag on free speech."
George Mason University Law Professor Ron Rotunda said that this is true but only to a point. He said that the government can charge demonstrators a nominal fee as long as it is reasonable and is applied in a "uniform, nondiscriminatory" way.
This means that the state cannot base its fee on the content of the demonstrators' protest or on how expensive it would be to protect the demonstrators.
"That would be a heckler's veto," Rotunda said. "You cannot charge [demonstrators] more because they have a message that is unpopular and it's going to cost more to protect [them.]
"[Charging a fee] is legal if you don't charge too much, that's the general rule," he said. "And the courts determine what is reasonable."
AFTER VDOT REQUIRED a fee for a permit to march on the Pentagon, the ANSWER Coalition encouraged its supporters to send letters and faxes to the Virginia Attorney General’s office demanding that VDOT grant them the necessary permits for their march. After what protest organizers said were more than 2000 letters, Becker said that ANSWER was contacted by Arlington County Police who told them that Route 27 would be closed for the march and that "everything is done."
However, Morris denied that VDOT ever granted the organizers their permission. "[VDOT] did waive their $40 administrative fee as we do for [other similar events]," she said. "But we did not waive their personnel and equipment fees."
Morris said that VDOT will not know exactly how much ANSWER will be charged until after the march takes place. But she said that the Department of Defense-sponsored Freedom Walk, a rally supporting U.S. troops that used an identical route as the March on the Pentagon, cost approximately $4,000.
As of now, ANSWER does not have a permit from VDOT. Morris said that even if they do not agree to pay the fees and march without a permit, VDOT could still charge ANSWER for personnel and equipment costs after the march. She also said that "If [ANSWER does] not have a permit they will be exposing themselves to liability if anyone gets hurt."
But Becker said that his group has no intention of paying any fees to anyone. He said that the ANSWER Coalition received permits from the National Park Service and the Pentagon, the two other organizations with jurisdiction over their demonstration areas, and that all fees were waived in those cases.
Verheyden-Hilliard said that ANSWER has not been able to obtain a permit from VDOT because VDOT does not have a permit that would be applicable to them.
"All they have [are] land use and construction permits," she said. "We would be happy to get a permit if there was one [but] there isn't even one to be given.
"The people [at VDOT] just have no idea what to do and they told us that. They only deal with businesses. I've never encountered anything like this."
Despite the back-and-forth, the march will go on. "The anti-war movement has the permits it needs," Verheyden-Hilliard said. "The march will be safe, permitted [and] lawful activity."
For more information on the march as well as the ANSWER Coalition, visit www.marchonthepentagon.org.