Peacenik pressure

Police arrested more than 1,000 people in San Francisco on Thursday — the most taken into custody on a single day in the city in decade...

Police arrested more than 1,000 people in San Francisco on Thursday — the most taken into custody on a single day in the city in decades — as thousands protested against the US war in Iraq. ‘‘If this was happening in every city, there would either be martial law or an end to war,’’ said a Berkeley student who chained himself to 16 others on a San Francisco street.

Protests took place in other cities across the US and in European capitals. Morning rush hour in Washington DC saw more than 100 demonstrators shut down the Key Bridge, a major route from Virginia into Washington and three were arrested.

In New York, “September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows” condemned what they called an illegal and immoral US war. Demonstrators overflowed police barriers during rush hour in Times Square, completely shutting New York’s Broadway for two blocks below 42nd Street. Police arrested 21 people. ‘‘A year and a half ago you were heroes,’’ an onlooker shouted as police led away a demonstrator. ‘‘Don’t become enemies.’’

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San Francisco protesters started early and continued into the night choking off traffic across the city. Police in riot gear made between 1,300 and 1,400 arrests. ‘‘I’ve been around for 30 years, and there have never been more people arrested in one day,’’ acting police chief Alex Fagan told journalists.

Many towns in America displayed support for the troops, although in a quieter way. Towns like Waxahachie, Texas, South of Dallas, put up yellow ribbons in support of US troops and waved homemade signs that read ‘‘Go Marines,’’ and ‘‘Send Saddam to Martyrdumb’’.

Students gathered at campuses across the nation, including Harvard, where hundreds walked out of classes at noon and at least 1,500 people gathered at a rally.

Students at the University of California’s Berkeley Campus, a hotbed of dissent against the Vietnam War in the 1960s and early 1970s, occupied the main administration building for several hours before 120 were arrested. Police in Pittsburgh fought with some protesters and arrested about 50 people, some as young as 14.