I just got a phone report from my friend Dody about today's demonstration in moneyed Kent, CT, where war criminal Henry Kissinger and his wife Nancy were hosting a Republican fundraising lunch (actually at the $1000 a plate level, it's probably a "luncheon"). The bash starred another Nuremberg Trial prospect, George W. Bush himself, as diaried here on Sunday.
Folks who've been working on the Iraq Moratorium in Cornwall, CT, the somewhat less posh rural town to Kent's immediate north, were part of a demonstration that they estimated at 60 or 70 at the start, when they tried to get close to the Kissinger residence. An arranged system of shuttles was to take folks inside the State Trooper blockade to protest, but when passengers on the first shuttle were bumrushed by the law when they tried to get out, plans were quickly adjusted.
Protesters, both locals and those organized by COW (Connecticut Opposed to the War) and mobilized through the statewide My Left Nutmeg website, wound up forming up a very slow car caravan, 45 vehicles strong, which drove through the area. The lead car towed a larger-than-life Bush effigy atop a missile mockup. The caravan then parked in the Kent town center where an improvised march down the main drag was held, numbering up to 200 by this point.
Dody was jazzed by the range of participants--a solid turnout from the Iraq Moratorium: Cornwall Edition and other neighbors, and also one of Connecticut's Iraq Veterans Against the War members, high school students from Torrington, a gritty declining industrial city nearby, and anti-war activists from around the state.
I've checked in with several participants by now, and all report very favorable responses overall from Kent residents and Route 7 motorists.
UPDATE
There's a bunch of great photos by Glenn from the Cornwall Moratorium crew here, like the one below. Looking at the pix, it's striking how many young folk were at this protest. And heartening.