Roland Sheppard on the San Francisco protest: est. 400,000

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

(On DC, my initial feel -- which tends to be conservative -- would be at
least 200,00 and very likely significantly more.  Some media estimates were
500,000.  I was never at a point where I could see the thing whole, too
crowded.  The march was slowed by the size. So large that I ran into only a
couple people that I knew, aside from people at SWP literature tables.
People who attended the October 26 deni in DC (I was marching elsewhere) all
said this was substantially larger. I really never got a feel for the whole
demonstration, despite trying to get around some, it was too large and
sprawling. The college and high school participation seemed enormous.  I
hope reports come in from labor, people of color, Arab and pro-immigrant
rights, and other contingents.
Fred Feldman)

This was a huge demonstration. Public transit trains, buses and trolleys
were jammed from the starting point going to the start of the march. People
who could not get on public transportation marched down Market Street  in a
vain attempt to get to the beginning of the march.

Th march filled all lanes and the sidewalks of Market Street. After one and
one half hours the civic center rallying point was jammed to capacity as
marchers kept coming and demonstrators were leaving. All over the five
square block area surrounding the civic center, the sidewalks were crammed
with demonstrators!

Some friends of mine, never made it to the rally, since it was so crowded.
(One friend marched for three hours and decided to go home--never getting to
the rally.)

Roland Sheppard


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