Speakers gathered at Santa Barbara City Hall last week to call for an end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and to promote a rally planned for this Saturday.

A local coalition will hold an “economic wake-up call” rally on Saturday, the eight-year anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. Participants will gather at De la Guerra Plaza about 11 a.m. and march down State Street to Arlington West about 11:45 a.m.

“You know your way of living was not what it was 10 years ago,” former Councilman Babatunde Folayemi said Friday.

Speakers said the wars have gone on too long, cost too much money and have taken too many lives.

“We could stay within the budget if we stopped bombing people,” said Marty Blum, former Santa Barbara mayor and recently elected SBCC trustee.

Representatives from the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, SBCC’s Peace Now, Veterans for Peace and other community organizations were present Friday and are organizing the upcoming march.

— Noozhawk staff writer Giana Magnoli can be reached at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk or @NoozhawkNews.