A crowd of hundreds of people gathered downtown around midday Saturday to protest the war in Afghanistan, now in its 10th year.
With signs and banners emblazined with the words "troops home now" and "bring out money home now," several groups gathered near Michigan Avenue & Congress Parkway before marching throughout the area and making a stop outside President Barack Obama's 2012 campaign headquarters.
Many of the protesters merged with about 100 people affiliated with another group -- Occupy Chicago -- which has been rallying in the financial district against corporate influence in government for more than two weeks. That group is a spinoff of anti-wall Street protests in New York.
Chicago police reported no arrests.
A similar anti-war event was held at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
In Washington, protestors forced the closure of the National Air and Space Museum when they tried to protest a drone exhibit.
