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Nine people were arrested following what was otherwise a peaceful and uneventful Veterans for Peace rally and march in St. Paul Sunday afternoon. The rally on the State Capitol lawn drew several hundred attendees, including a father pulling a flag-draped coffin commemorating his son who died in the Marines in Iraq, a contingent of Guantanamo Bay “prisoners” in black hoods and orange jumpsuits, and a 70-some-year-old nun who was arrested for civil disobedience.

The rally also attracted an unwelcome visit from five noisy and menacing Blackhawk military helicopters who used the occasion to circle over the capitol grounds and downtown several times in an obvious attempt to disrupt the activities.

Scores of St. Paul Police, Ramsey County Sheriff’s deputies and State Troopers were on hand as well but displayed admirable restraint, despite their intimidating presence.

Veterans for Peace activist David Harris of Red Wing led off a series of brief speeches in front of the capitol by various peace groups that included Women Against Military Madness (WAMM), the American Friends Service Committee and Code Pink.

“We’re going to be angry. But our anger is going to be something that leads to positive action,” Harris told the crowd. He then led the rally in a solemn march from the capitol toward the Xcel Center as he read aloud the names of soldiers and civilians killed in Iraq. The crowd responded to each name with “We will remember you.” Marchers also carried cardboard tombstones bearing the names of Iraq war victims.

A silent and powerful reminder of the human price of war rested on the capitol lawn off to the side of the stage: rows of worn combat boots and memorabilia commemorating Minnesota soldiers killed in the Iraq war. The display, “Eyes Wide Open,” is a project of the American Friends Service Committee and also features a collection of empty shoes honoring the deaths of Iraqi citizens. More boots from other states will be added to the traveling exhibit on the capitol lawn on Tuesday.

Joining the march downtown were a group of about 20 protesters from Tackling Torture at the Top, a committee of WAMM, dressed as Gitmo prisoners. Carlos Arredondo pulled a flag-draped coffin commemorating his son, Marine Corp L/Cpl Alexander Arredondo, who died in the Iraq war. Bruce Berry, a 1968 Vietnam War vet, carried a sign urging “Arrest Bush” on one side and “Arrest Cheney” on the other. Twenty-year-old Katelin Peck, a student at California State University in Monterey Bay, came all the way from California to protest with a pink parasol emblazoned with a peace symbol.

Drums beat a constant metronome beat that echoed against the building walls as the march wound down Cedar St. and up 7^th St. When they reached St. Peter, a contingent of marchers took an illegal detour down St. Peter and off the approved parade route in a planned act of civil disobedience.

Police allowed them to pass their line-up and escorted them down St. Peter, asking only that they to one side of the street. The marchers turned up 6^th St. to Washington St. between the Landmark Center and Travelers Insurance building. There, they ran into tall steel-mesh barricades that marked the perimeter of the sealed-off convention zone.

Several protesters, led by Harris, crawled under the barricades into a secured area on the back side of the Landmark Center. Two others, including Jeanne Hynes and Betty McKenzie, a nun, walked around the barrier into the secured area. All were met by baton-wielding, helmeted cops. A mostly symbolic attempt to get through the barrier on the other end of the area was thwarted by police, but that was the closest the entire event came to being the least bit disruptive.

After reinforcements were brought in—why they were needed wasn’t readily apparent—police escorted the civil disobedients into the Landmark Center. Still more police arrived on the scene—between 60 and 70 total by the end—and began clearing the intersection at 6^th and Washington until what remained of the marchers reversed course.

A much larger rally at the capitol—March on the RNC—begins at 11 a.m. Monday, September 1, and proceeds down the same route at 1 p.m.