It's Illegal, It's a War Crime: Chicago Protesters Against U.S.'s Strikes in Syria

Hundreds of protesters gathered in downtown Chicago Saturday to condemn the U.S.'s missile strike on Syria, particularly about the legality of the strike and the alleged use of chemical weapons.

Protesters held signs such as "No to U.S. bombing of Syria", "U.S. lies, people! Stop war on Syria", "U.S. out of Syria! No wars for empire! to condemn the U.S. government's military attacks on Syria.

"We believe the U.S. lies and comes up with false pretenses to justify military intervention in sovereign foreign countries. So we believe that for people in the U.S., it's especially important for us to oppose wars abroad, because we have the loudest voice to influence the U.S. government to stop killing people, to let people determine their own destinies in their other countries," explained one protester, Billy.

He further pointed out that the U.S. has an imperialistic interest in Syria where they want to set up a puppet government so that they can control the oil pipelines and the resources in Syria, which are the supposed true reasons for the war.

Moreover, many protesters contended that the U.S. military strike on Syria was a violation of international laws.

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"It's illegal. It's a war crime. Even if we could verify there were chemical weapons. There is nothing in international law that allows for these independent air strikes. This should have been taken to the United Nations and debated there," remarked another protester, Dave.

The U.S. launched airstrikes on Syria in the name of punishing President Bashar Assad for a suspected chemical attack against civilians in Syria, as announced by U.S. President Donald Trump on April 13.