Demonstrators toting colorful banners and shouting "no more Bush" marched in Manhattan on Sunday the day before the Republican convention opens to decry the Iraq war and President George W. Bush's economic policies. The marchers, estimated by organizers to reach as many as 250,000, passed the Madison Square Garden convention site as Republicans and visitors arrived in the city for the four day gathering where Bush will be nominated for another four years in the White House. Police declined to estimate the size of the crowd but it stretched out more than a mile down one of the city's main thoroughfares. Thousands of police -- many clad in riot gear, some on bicycles and others on horseback -- turned out to control the crowd, who carried signs saying "Osama Loves Bush" and "Bush Lies Who Dies?" and "Hate is not a Family Value." Police said there were more than 50 arrests within the first couple of hours of the march, taking the total since Thursday to 364 people. "He (Bush) is ruining the country that I knew as a child growing up," said Joan Azulay, a retiree from Austin, Texas, who complained of the president's policies on health care, the environment, taxes and foreign policy. --MORE 2334 Local Time 2034 GMT
