There may have been larger, more forceful anti-war protests around the country yesterday, but there probably weren't any more diverse than the one in Honolulu.

The upbeat 300 or so marchers who strode down Ala Moana in the late afternoon sunshine seem to represent just about every age group, background and social cause in the world today.

While the march and rally were ostensibly to mark the fourth anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq, there were calls for justice for Korean, Palestinian, Filipino, South American and Hawaiian people, too.

"It's all about standing up for freedom," said Kan'eohe resident Christyna Ivers, holding up a full-size American flag as she joined the protesters in the street in front of Ala Moana Center.

The flag, Ivers said, was her way of showing that the core values of America, including the freedom to protest, still remain strong at a time when many are dying in a far-away war.

"This is our symbol, too," she said. "There should be more of them out here."

Jan Bappe, 81, said she came to the march because "I've seen lots of wars, and I just can't take it anymore."

Seeing her fellow protesters, some of whom were in strollers being wheeled by young mothers, gave her hope, she said.

"Even if being here isn't going to change anything today, it sends a message to the people in power," she said.

What the march lacked in numbers, it made up in noise makers. People banged snare drums, cymbals, tambourines, bells, metal pipes, garbage cans, congas and other makeshift percussion instruments as organizers kept up a steady chant of political slogans.

Then there was Oliver Lee, walking along by himself, not-so-quietly using a wooden spoon to bang a well-worn Teflon-coated frying pan that had seen duty in many other war protests over the years.

Lee, a retired University of Hawai'i professor who was almost denied tenure because of his anti-Vietnam War activism, said the Iraq protests have been growing as the war drags on and more and more people oppose it.

"You don't have the same anger that you had in the Vietnam days, but the lies of the politicians are still the same," Lee said. "Pretty soon, we'll see 70 or 80 percent of the people opposing the war and then the politicians are going to have to do something about it."

Many of the people at the march said they were there to feel part of something larger, including the other protests around the country.

"There's nothing like standing together," said Virginia Beck, a Honolulu Symphony employee wearing a tie-dyed, power-to-the-people T-shirt with a peace symbol on the back. "You know there are a lot of people not here today but who feel the same way we do."

Police accompanying the protesters said there were no confrontations and no arrests.

Reach Mike Leidemann at mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com.