Protesters jeered President Bush - some called for his impeachment - and a diverse-but-united crowd chanted "no more war" in a demonstration reminiscent of the Vietnam era that participants hope will further boost the growing anti-war movement.

"This is one more way to support bringing the troops home," said Utahn Laura Bonham, who traveled to Washington to represent her state's residents who are disenfranchised with the war.

"Every voice counts," she said, recalling the protests of the Vietnam War. "It was the mass mobilizing in cities across America that began to turn the tide" against the Vietnam campaign.

Bonham, who dispensed "End the Occupation of Iraq" stickers on Constitution Avenue, was part of a burgeoning crowd near the White House that was peppered with protest banners. "Troops out now," "No blood for oil," "Shut the War Down," the handmade signs demanded.

Washington's rally, mirrored in smaller scales in major cities across the globe, drew a mixed scene of hippies, kids and grandparents. In the front row of the crowd, a man donned handcuffs and a Bush mask; anti-war pamphlets and those for various causes were unavoidable; T-shirts and Bush-bashing buttons were being hawked at nearly every corner.

Organizers had hoped for 100,000 participants, and at one point announced there were 250,000 taking part. However, D.C.'s Metro police said they don't estimate crowd sizes, and there was no official tally.

There were at least three arrests - two for destruction of property and one for disturbing the peace - but there were no major incidents reported by police at the rally or the subsequent march, the ending point of a bus tour by Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a fallen soldier who became the face of the anti-war movement this summer when she refused to leave her stakeout near Bush's Texas ranch.

"Not one person should have died; not one more person should die," Sheehan shouted to the audience on Saturday, prompting chants of "not one more." She called the administration an "out of control, criminal government," and added, "We mean business, George Bush; shame on you."

The Rev. Jesse Jackson urged the protesters to keep up their efforts. "It's a long road, but keep marching," he said.

Bonham, a Democrat and two-time unsuccessful Utah House candidate, acknowledged the protest rally wasn't meant to get Bush to listen as it was to focus on other Americans who are unsure whether they want to

continue supporting the Iraq war. "It occurs to me our president only hears what he wants to hear," she said.

Bush may have been listening via news outlets, but he wasn't home. The president spent part of Saturday in Colorado Springs, Colo., at the U.S. Northern Command Post before flying to Texas.

Colorado Springs resident Dennis Apuan, who flew to D.C. for the rally, said that was fine.

"We must loudly and persistently raise our voices," he said, noting that Bush may not be listening, but "it matters to me that I did something."

Same for Charles Cooper, 50, of Lyons, Colo. "I don't expect it to have any effect on the president," he said.

Instead, the protest is "what one has to do," he said. "People have to say, 'Stop!' It might not stop after this action, or even the next action, but we have to keep saying it. That's why they call it movements, not moments."

A few blocks away, at the U.S. Navy Memorial on Pennsylvania Avenue, about 100 people gathered for a counterdemonstration with a backdrop sign that read, "Honor their sacrifice - complete the mission."

Mindy Grundy, a Wisconsin-turned-D.C. resident whose husband, Tyler, is an Army soldier stationed at nearby Fort Myer, said she was there to show the troops they have support.

"I think it's ridiculous" over at the war protest rally, she said. "We are trying to democratize a country and they want us to stop?"

Organizers of the anti-war rally are planning an interfaith service today and on Monday hope to lobby Congress and start a civil disobedience effort by surrounding the White House and clogging entrances.

tburr@sltrib.com