Hundreds Protest Against Syria Strikes in Pershing Square

Johnny Ashi, cofounder of Arab Americans for Syria (pictured center, in white) marches with fellow Syrian Americans against the recent US strikes on Syria. Ashi spoke to the crowd before the march, encouraging them to question the official US explanation behind the strikes. (Reed Curtis/Corsair Photo)

The decision of the United States, the United Kingdom, and France to launch strikes on Syria led to a protest at 5 p.m. on Saturday, April 14. Hundreds gathered in Pershing Square the day after President Donald Trump announced his order to launch strikes on Syria.

The trilateral attack on Syrian chemical facilities came in response to the alleged chemical attack on the rebel held Syrian town of Douma, by Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, which had occurred six days prior to the strikes. The western attack led to organizations Answers Coalition and Arab Americans For Syria to organizing this protest together.

Chanting protesters stood on the south west corner of S Hill St and W 5th St, with many of them holding posters up that read, “No U.S. War on Syria!” In the middle of the growing crowd stood Johnny Ashi, co-founder of the Arab Americans For Syria Organization. 

“So, we [are] just trying to [spread] awareness… all the evidence that was coming out that this was an alleged [chemical] attack and it was not, it was more staged than [a] real chemical attack,” Ashi said. 

The suspected chemical attack killed approximately 40, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Regarding the incident, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said, "They fabricated the whole story in order to have a pretext for the attack."

The crowd stepped out of the perimeters of Pershing Square and on to Hill St heading northbound, causing standstill traffic at times. The protesters chanted “Hands off Syria” as they made their way through the streets of downtown, one of them being Julie Levine. "I’m here today because I’m pretty outraged that Trump laterally decided to bomb Syria. And also the fact that, one, we haven’t actually gotten the evidence that there was chemical attack." Levine went on to say, “even if there was a chemical attack, why is it that attacking Syria is any better for the people than being attacked by their own government. What would justify our government going and doing that.”

Tim Treadstone, otherwise known as “Baked Alaska”, was another character within the crowd protesting the airstrike, “I’m a Trump supporter, I’m a Trump voter, and when Trump campaigned he said he was against the middle eastern wars. He said it would be foolish to in and to strike Syria,” Treadstone said.

He also brought up the fact that in 2013, Trump tweeted, “The President must get Congressional before attacking Syria-big mistake if he does not!” referencing former president Barack Obama. According to Treadstone, Trumps tweet about what a “mistake” it would be if Obama did not get congressional approval does not align with the decision Trump made on April 13, as he did what he told Obama not to do. "[Trump] said that Obama needed congressional approval before striking Syria and he called him out on twitter about that. Yet Trump himself isn’t getting congressional approval, he’s just going rogue."

The crowd of protesters looped their way around the streets of downtown LA, ending back at Pershing Square at approximately 6:30 p.m. Although Los Angeles Police Officer Denny Jong stated, "[LAPD officers] weren't aware of [the protest] until it actually occurred," the protest attendees remained safe as they walked through the traffic-filled streets, ending the event with no official counts of violence or injuries.