Protests against the Iraq War

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Protests against the Iraq War
Part of the opposition to the Iraq War
(top-to-bottom, left-to-right): protests in Washington, D.C. in January 2007; protests in London, United Kingdom on February 15, 2003; protests in Damascus, Syria in September 2005; protests in Barcelona, Spain in February 2003; anti-occupation protests in Samarra, Iraq in April 2003.
Date	September 12, 2002 – May 26, 2011 (main phase) May 20, 2012 (Chicago, Illinois) March 18, 2023 (Washington, D.C.)
Location	Global
Caused by	Criticism of the Iraq War
Goals	Demonstrations against the US and allied involvement of the Iraq War. Withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq (in effect on December 2007–11)
Methods	Street protests, sit-ins, die-ins, civil disobedience, occupations, mass strike, more+
Status	Ended
Number
36 million protesters (January – April 2003)[1]
Casualties
Death(s)	Unknown
Injuries	Unknown
Arrested	100–1,700+ protesters
The protest began on September 12, 2002, and raged on throughout the Iraq War from March 2003, until December 2011.

Beginning in late 2002 and continuing after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, large-scale protests against the Iraq War were held in many cities worldwide, often coordinated to occur simultaneously around the world. After the biggest series of demonstrations, on February 15, 2003, New York Times writer Patrick Tyler claimed that they showed that there were two superpowers on the planet: the United States and worldwide public opinion.^[2]

These demonstrations against the war were mainly organized by anti-war organizations, many of whom had been formed in opposition to the invasion of Afghanistan. In some Arab countries demonstrations were organized by the state. Europe saw the biggest mobilization of protesters, including a rally of three million people in Rome, which is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest ever anti-war rally.^[3]

According to the French academic Dominique Reynié, between January 3 and April 12, 2003, 36 million people across the globe took part in almost 3,000 protests against the Iraq war.^[1]

In the United States, even though pro-war demonstrators have been quoted as referring to anti-war protests as a "vocal minority",^[4] Gallup Polls updated September 14, 2007, state, "Since the summer of 2005, opponents of the war have tended to outnumber supporters. A majority of Americans believe the war was a mistake."^[5]

From the protests before and during the Iraq War, this was one of the biggest global peace protests to occur in the early 21st century, since the 20th century protest of the Vietnam War. Throughout several rallies spanning throughout 2002 until 2011, an unspecified number of people were arrested. Despite the fact that the United States had already withdrawn the troops from Iraq by December 2011, another anti-war protest led by veterans of the Iraq War took place in May 2012 at Chicago during the NATO Summit at the Hyatt Regency, regarding the War in Afghanistan.