A mile-long (1.5-kilomter) procession of protesters marched through downtown San Francisco on Saturday, decrying US president George W. Bush's handling of everything -- from Iraq to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Demonstrators ranging in age from children to seniors were ringed by police as they crammed into a block-square park for a rally calling for Bush to be ousted from office and US soldiers brought home from Iraq.
Protest organizers from the group Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER) estimated the crowd peaked at 250,000 people, while police said attendance was probably closer to half that number.
"We need a new paradigm of leadership in this country," said Hollywood actor Delroy Lindo, who attended to lobby for support of proposed US legislation banning permanent military bases in Iraq.
"It was clear after Hurricane Katrina that an incredible number of poor people are disenfranchised in the United States," Lindo told AFP. "It is not just a social problem. It is a political problem."
A 28-year-old bicycle who went by the disc jockey name "Agitate" pulled a trailer loaded with a colossal stereo speaker.
From an iPod taped to his bicycle handle bars, Agitate played a song that blended dance music with Bush speaking the lyrics to "Imagine" and "Wild Thing."
Nearby, Maria Diaz walked holding her 6-year-old son's hand. The boy wore a yellow shirt bearing the plea "Mr. Bush, please don't draft me" on the front and "Books not bombs" on the back.
"We want to end the war now," said Diaz, whose brother is a US Marine stationed in Iraq. "We think it is a joke."
A group of marchers carrying towering poles topped with peace signs and strung with Origami cranes in a patriotic red, white and blue color scheme.
Inside each paper crane was written the name of someone killed in Iraq due to the US military presence.
"The message is peace, not war," Carolyn Gautier said as she marched with the origami-adorned standard. "We can't create peace in the world by killing more people."
Placards waved by marchers bore messages including "Get your rosaries out of my ovaries" and "Bush is taking us for a ride and wants us to pay for the gas."
Women dressed in bright pink clothing and wigs carried a mock casket topped with pink flowers and adorned with the Spanish words "Viva para Paz."
The women were from "Code Pink," a group created in response to the colour-coded alert system established by the US government after the terror attacks of September 11, 2001.
"Instead of the testosterone-driven fear reaction from the White House, we wanted a more understanding, feminine response level," said Dawn Legg of "Code Pink."
Marchers laid out on the park grass, soaking in the heat of the sun and the venom of the speakers' words.
The window of a television news van parked on a street behind the stage had been smashed and a cursing insult to "corporate news" scrawled on the side with black spray paint.
The demonstration was otherwise peaceful, with no arrests made or mayhem reported, according to Neville Givens of the San Francisco Police Department.