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Leonore Lee was among the thousands rallying in Chicago on Saturday to protest the war in Iraq. Amid the crowd carrying signs marching down Ashland Avenue, the 65-year-old from Milwaukee called the event "the most powerful expression of power to the people."

"It shows our solidarity and makes me love this country even more," she said.

The day of speeches and demonstrations was part of a national day of action demanding an end to the five-year-old conflict.

Police estimated about 5,000 people attended the event, which began in Chicago's Union Park before winding through the Loop and ending at Federal Plaza.

The Chicago rally, one of 11 planned nationwide, drew protesters from eight Midwestern states and included local political figures such as U.S. Reps. Danny Davis, Luis Gutierrez and Jan Schakowsky.

Police arrested three protesters, who were charged with disobeying an officer and resisting arrest while on their way to join the rally, said Chicago police spokesman Pat Camden. One of the arrests involved damage to property and another involved battery to a police officer, Camden said.

During the rally in Union Park, where about 2,000 protesters assembled, Schakowsky called for cutting off funding for the war and an immediate decrease in the number of American troops stationed in Iraq.

"The American people have had it with this war," she said. "We've given war a chance. Now let's give peace and negotiation a chance."

After turning on Jackson Boulevard, protesters marched into the Loop and descended on Federal Plaza, where they were met by more than 20 counterprotesters waving American flags and holdings signs that read, "You keep fighting there, we've got your back here."

Counterprotester Beverly Perlson, 50, of Oak Lawn, said her son was on his fourth deployment in Afghanistan with the 82nd Airborne Division.

"I'm proud of my son's service," she said. "Just in case he sees this on TV, I want him to know that we still love him and support him."

James Redden, 31, a former soldier from Oak Park, sided with the anti-war protesters, saying he was against the Iraq war from its inception because he didn't believe the Bush administration's link between Al Qaeda and Iraq.

"The whole idea that we can establish democracy there through the barrel of an M-16 is just bogus," said Redden, who said he served in Kuwait during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003.

Among the other protests nationally, the one in San Francisco appeared to draw the largest crowd, as more than 10,000 labor union members, anti-war activists, clergy and others rallied near City Hall before marching to Dolores Park. Other rallies were planned for New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Salt Lake City Seattle, and Los Angeles.

In Chicago, the protesters spanned generations, ranging from 11 Oak Park and River Forest High School students to more than a dozen members of the activist group "Raging Grannies." One member, Nancy Guenther, 62, of Pardeeville, Wis., feared the Bush administration planned to invade Iran next.

"It's the same rhetoric as Iraq," she said. "They're playing their war games behind closed doors."

During the Vietnam War, George Reeber of Ludington, Mich., took his daughter, Beth Valone, 44, to protests in Washington and Detroit. On Saturday, he stood with Valone and her 13-year-old son Connor, who wore a bandanna that said, "Where's the rage?"

"Why aren't more people mad about the war?" Connor said. "Some people just don't seem to care."

Marsda Conner, 72, of Oak Park, held a sign saying "Billions for War: No More!" Conner complained that Democratic lawmakers were ignoring voters who gave them a majority in Congress with the hope that they would bring a swift end to the war.

"We're here to provide them with some backbone so they'll deny funds for this war and start negotiating with Iran and Syria," said Conner, who is a member of the anti-war group Code Pink.

Also attending the rally was Iraqi Raed Jarrar, 29, who fled the violence in Baghdad two years ago and now works as a Middle East consultant in Washington.

Jarrar, whose father is Sunni and mother is Shiite, said the conflict in Iraq is more political than sectarian, and that most Iraqis are in favor of a timetable for an American troop withdrawal.

Debbie Volonec, 54, who arrived at the rally with 50 other protesters from West Lafayette, Ind., said such events needed to be more frequent if they were going to have an impact.

"We are going to keep it up until we get the guys home and get out of this mess," she said.

gfsmith@tribune.com