Occupy Movement protests at War Rhetoric against Iran

The Occupy Movement protestors staged a rally outside the Washington Convention Center on the first day of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference to voice opposition to the war rhetoric of the US and Israeli officials against Iran. The protesters, part of the nationwide Occupy movement, held placards reading "No War on Iran" and "They Lied about Iraq, They're Lying about Iran" as they rallied outside the Washington Convention Center on the first day of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference on Sunday. "After 10 years of war, the American people need a foreign policy that focuses on diplomacy, not military intervention," said Medea Benjamin, one of the protesters. "We are rallying to demand that our current leaders not take us down the same patch as past leaders did in Iraq," Benjamin said. The protesters also called on US President Barack Obama to reject Israel's push for war on Iran. However, while addressing the conference, Obama recalled a number of occasions in which Washington had stood by Tel Aviv no matter the atrocities it had committed, adding that "When the chips are down I have Israel's back." In addition, the protesters slammed the atrocities committed by Israel against Palestinians, calling for Tel Aviv to end its occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Protesters have vowed to remain outside the convention center until the last day of the conference on Tuesday. On Sept. 17, 2011, a group of protesters gathered in Zuccotti Park in New York City. Their intention: to expose Wall Street greed and corporate domination over the lives of working and middle class people, the 99%. Almost immediately, police responded to the protesters with repression and pepper spray. This caused thousands of New Yorkers to flood to Zuccotti Park. Occupy Wall Street was on. Protesters camped in the park and did not leave for 59 days. Support for the protest built quickly and spread across the country and around the world. Within weeks, almost a thousand cities had Occupy protests. US cities big and small had Occupations, including Chicago, Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Oakland, Salt Lake City, Seattle, Tampa and Winston-Salem. Despite police crackdowns and mass arrests, the Occupy movement has now spread to many major US cities as well as to Australia, Britain, Germany, Italy, Spain, Ireland, Portugal and other countries.