About 500 protesters representing 40 local groups gathered at Robinson Park to mark the one-year anniversary of the war in Iraq on Saturday morning.
With signs stating "End U.S. Occupation in Iraq" and "Another Patriot for Peace" the crowd walked up Central Avenue, through Old Town and stood in front of the Red Stone missile at the National Atomic Museum. The event remained calm and organized as protesters assembled in Tiguex Park.
Bob Anderson, an adjunct faculty member at UNM and organizer of the event, said the protest's tranquility was due partially to the cooperation of the Albuquerque Police Department. He said APD was initially hostile toward the organizers, but for some reason the department decided to work with them.
"I think they turned around because we have more public support than we did before," he said. "It's basically the mayor's office. I guess he decided not to have a replay of last year when the police were gassing everybody."
Marta Bonilla said she was in the "one that went bad" - the protest last March in which marchers were shot with pepper balls and tear gassed.
"This one is way calmer," she said. "It seems more organized, and the cops are helping direct and protect."
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Bonilla said tensions were lower this year, but it's not because people don't care anymore. There weren't as many passersby heckling the protesters this year either, she said.
"Maybe there aren't as many extreme patriots," she said. "Back then, they were saying you're not patriotic for protesting, but that's dying down a little bit. We've had more time to understand and get more information and come to terms with it. It's like, 'wait, maybe it wasn't as clear cut as we thought it was.'"
Mary Oishi, an underwriting marketing specialist at KUNM who spoke at the protest, said her daughter Aja was in Spain during the March 11 train bombings, and the perspective Aja gave her was invaluable.
"Instead of people sitting in front of their TV's isolated and angry, they came out into the streets and grieved together," she said. "Three days later they went to the polls and took democratic power."
Oishi said Albuquerque has an interesting political climate because of its strong military presence and history of grassroots activism.
"In the past the police have really overreacted here, maybe because we are in such proximity to military installations and nuclear weapons," she said. "Today they seem much more restrained, so maybe they've come to realize that we're not the threat. We're the ones trying to work for them and for everybody."
