CHICAGO -- Thousands of Chicagoans gathered Saturday at Union Square Park to represent the city in a mass mobilization in hope that it will send the message to the Bush administration that Americans want an end to the war in Iraq and our troops home.

From Union Square Park, the protesters marched south on Ashland Avenue, east on Jackson Boulevard to Federal Plaza at Dearborn and Adams streets, where they held another rally.

More than 150 local groups joined hands to speak out against the war in Iraq. Veteran, labor, immigrant, environmental, religious, student and community groups took part in the rally. In addition to the groups, a number of community and religious leaders also voiced their opposition to the war.

Similar protests took place simultaneously across the county in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, New York City, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Boston, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Chattanooga and Jonesborough (Tenn.), Salt Lake City, Denver, South Dakota, Rochester and elsewhere to voice their dissent.

The rally was organized by United for Peace and Justice, a coalition of more than 1,400 local and national groups throughout the United States that protests the war effort. According to the coalition, each month, staggering numbers of Americans and Iraqis are killed in the war and some $12 billion of U.S taxes are spent on it. They believe it is time for it to end.