 "Photo: Bryan Haertlein")
 "Photo: Bryan Haertlein")
Anti-war protesters rallied outside the U.S. Armed Forces recruitment station in Dobie Mall Tuesday afternoon, resulting in the arrests of two protesters for criminal trespassing.
Upon arriving at the recruitment center, supporters of the Campus Anti-War Movement to End the Occupation, or CAMEO, faced locked office doors and were asked by the police to leave the building.
Protesters Sylvia Benini and Spencer Crowels were both escorted out of the building and arrested after refusing police warnings to leave.
"This is a place of business," said Sgt. Cory Corwin, an Army recruiter. "If we know there is a protest coming, our policy is that we just close our doors."
He said the station locked the office doors to avoid business interruptions and to protect the large amount of personal information within the center.
Due to its convenient location, he said, the office has witnessed other protests, including a civil liberties sit-in last September, which also resulted in the arrests of two local residents.
In the wake of CAMEO's "10 Days of Defiance," a series of anti-war and anti-recruitment efforts, the organization's members continued the protest outside of the Dobie Center with banners and chants against the war in Iraq.
"How can you go to a war defending democracy, when you won't even let us enter the building and have a conversation in an office paid for by our tax dollars? So much for democracy," said Lisa Fithian, a local anti-war activist.
Todd Engstrom, the Dobie Center's building manager, said he notified the recruitment center and the police prior to the rally to avoid disruptions within the privately owned building.
Engstrom said he was against protests that block entrances and create business disturbances inside or outside the Dobie Center.
"I'm not anti-First Amendment or against free speech. Just take the message somewhere else," Engstrom said. "This is a privately owned building to lease space and conduct business."
Protester Tabitha Spence, a geography sophomore, said the goal of the peaceful protest was to "let our voices be heard."
She said many who are against the war are afraid to use their fundamental right of free speech in fear of being seen as radicals.
Mathematics junior Anwaar Huk said he joined the protest to express his personal sentiment against the war and to help gather support. Huk said students should be able to reach out within their communities, including the Dobie Center.
"Our protests are not meant to antagonize anyone or create disturbances," he said. "It is meant to get our voice across, to express our opinion and disgust in the concept of war, whether in America or anywhere else."
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