Lexington, KY: Observance of 5th Anniversary of the Iraq Invasion (March 19th)

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Observance of 5th Anniversary of the Iraq Invasion

(Lexington, KY). The Central Kentucky Council for Peace & Justice's Peace Action Task Group is calling on central Kentuckians to "observe, mourn, & protest" on the 5th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Demonstrators will gather from 5:30 - 6:30 p.m. Wednesday March 19 at Lexington's Triangle Park. Similar events are being held the same day in Frankfort and Berea (see below). United for Peace & Justice's 5YearsTooMany campaign (click here for more information) currently lists 5th anniversary events in 490 cities in all 50 states.

Spokesperson Richard Mitchell summarized the group's goals: "We want to go beyond statistics. The statistics are numbing: 3,984 U.S. dead, 29,314 U.S. wounded, at least 100,000 Iraqi civilians dead, and an unknown number of Iraqi insurgents dead."
"On the corner we will hold a solemn ceremony focusing on the 63 Kentuckians and 63 randomly selected Iraqi civilians who have died in the war and occupation. To the rhythm of a slow drumbeat, one demonstrator after another will read one of the names and then place a flower on a coffin that is draped with U.S. and Iraqi flags. We will alternate between Kentucky and Iraqi names. After each pair of names is read, we will chant in unison "End this war, No More Killing." After all these dead are honored, we will end the observance by singing together "Where Have All The Flowers Gone."

The Frankfort event will take place earlier Wednesday between 11:45 a.m. & 12:45 p.m. in front the Watts Federal Building, 330 West Broadway.

The Berea event will take place 5:30 - 6:30 p.m. simultaneously with the Lexington event. Activists will gather in Berea's College Square.