Protesters crowd a New York City street Saturday to demonstrate against a potential war in Iraq. Over 50 Harvard students participated in the rally, part of a day of anti-war protests around the world.

NEW YORK—More than 50 Harvard students braved the cold and a maze of police barricades this Saturday to join thousands in New York City protesting an impending war against Iraq.

The avenues of the city teemed with demonstrators as they wove their way to the main rally site near the United Nations, chanting and holding signs.

The New York rally—which drew around 100,000 people according to the New York Police Department and close to 500,000 according to the organizers of the protest—was part of a day of anti-war protests in over 15 countries called “The World Says No To War.”

Members of the Harvard Initiative for Peace and Justice (HIPJ) left for New York at 6 a.m. Saturday morning with homemade banners and equipped with emergency phone numbers in case they were arrested.

The students carried everything from a large sign that read “Harvard Students Want Peace” to a poster bearing photographs of Arab children and the words “Free Bodybag With Every Fill-Up!”

The system of police barricades—which forced some to march over 30 blocks to reach the rally site on First Avenue—created another issue for the crowds to protest.

Protesters said the crowd flow problem was exacerbated by a complex system of “holding pens” that prevented them from moving south on First Avenue.

Protesters walked up Second and Third Avenues to 70th Street where they were permitted to walk over to First Avenue and then down to the rally stage.

Throughout the streets, protesters chanted a battle cry of “Whose streets? Our streets!” at the police who manned the barricades.

HIPJ member Alyssa M. Shell ’05 said she decided to go to an unofficial rally in Times Square because she heard itwas impossible to reach the rally on First Avenue.

Matthew R. Skomarovsky ’03 said he spent an hour-and-a-half on Second Avenue just trying to figure out a way to get to the rally.

“People’s right to cross the street and just to freely assemble was systematically violated,” Skomarkovsky said. “It made me pretty frustrated and angry.”

One man, who said he was a veteran of the Vietnam War and the peace protests against it, led the chorus of shouts against the police on 53rd Street and First Avenue.

“This is insanity,” he said. “These fences are made for animals, not human beings.”

One female police officer said she recognized the crowd’s right to protest—but had to maintain order.