Renowned writers Alice Walker, author of ??The Color Purple, and Maxine Hong Kinston, author of ??The Woman Warrior, and over 20 other women were arrested in Washington, D.C. on Saturday.

The women were among thousands of women who marched on Washington on International Women’s Day, protesting the Bush administration’s plans to invade Iraq.

The protest was organized by a new group called Code Pink, a play on the Bush administration’s color-coded system of terror alerts.

Also arrested were magazine publisher Nina Utne, Authors Terry Tempest Williams and Susan Griffin, CodePink Co-founder Medea Benjamin, Reverend Patricia Ackerman and musician Rachel Bagby.

Police also arrested Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman while covering the event.

Similar rallies were held yesterday in 50 other cities, from Anchorage to Honolulu.

There were also massive anti-war rallies held around the globe.

Tens of thousands braved torrential downpours in Britain, including 20,000 in Manchester in what some believe was the city’s largest peace protest in 150 years.

In Italy, tens of thousands marched from Pisa to nearby Camp Darby, a U.S. military base that is one of Europe’s biggest munitions bases for U.S. and NATO forces. In Indonesia up to 800,000 gathered in city of Surabaya. In the Lebanese city of Tripoli, 8,000 Lebanese and Palestinians protested.

• Recording of Park Police arresting the Code Pink protesters as well as Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman.
• Alice Walker, author of ??The Color Purple.

Related link:

• Code Pink for Peace