While thousands of demonstrators across the world protested the US-led war in Iraq this weekend, marking the war’s third anniversary, 27 Paly students expressed their own outrage in a walkout on Monday, March 20.
“I’ve been opposed to the war since it started,” a participant said, whose name is not disclosed because of possible persecution of truancy. “Americans are dying and I just want to let the public know that people here at Paly are also against the war.”
This protestor was one of the 22 students from Gunn and Foothill Middle College participating in the Paly walkout. The small group, joined by the Paly students who walked out of class at 2:30 and met on the quad, was immediately dispersed by Campus Supervisors Mary Puorro and Scott Reese, as the non-Paly students did not have permits to be on campus.
“You have to go, you have to leave right now,” Reese said.
After waiting for ten minutes for more people to show up, the group headed over to Town and Country to decide what to do.
“We were planning on walking downtown,” a junior participant said. “But then it started raining, so we decided not to go. Instead we are doing something Friday.”
She blamed the poor turn out on the rainy weather.
Gunn held a walkout earlier today, at 12:30.
“At the Gunn rally they were going to walk through Lucky, but it was raining. It was really embarrassing,” another junior participant said.
According to him, even fewer people showed up for the Gunn walkout.
The event was publicized by word of mouth and papers given out instructing students to “Take Action!” and “Join Paly’s effort to remind the government that killing people doesn’t solve problems.”
The walkout was announced by protestors who ran into classrooms, opening the doors and yelling for students to walk out.
“To have done this successfully they [protestors] needed actual media attention and needed to have been better organized,” junior observer Lauren Guthrie said. “The handouts they gave out at lunch said to meet at two-thirty, while the ones they put under car windshield wipers said two-fifteen.”
The group plans to reconvene Friday and march downtown, weather permitting.