 "Photo: Dean Sagun")
An antiwar protest held Thursday on the West Mall progressed from a "typical anti-war rally" to a protest involving criminal trespassing warnings.
"Stop the War Day," sponsored by the Campus Anti-war Movement to End the Occupation and Youth Activists of Austin, concluded with a march to the Dobie Mall Army recruiting office, where Austin Police Department officers met protestors with requests to take the rally outside.
Robert Jensen, a journalism professor, spoke at the rally briefly, reviewing and denouncing the "facts" of the war.
"Does it matter to the people in a democracy when the president of the United States takes us to war based on lies?" Jensen said. "All of this is a lie. Weapons are a lie, terrorists are a lie, democracy in Iraq is a lie, bad intelligence is a lie."
Hart Viges, an Iraq war veteran, attended the rally and said he won't join the Army again, but he doesn't regret his participation because of the life lessons he learned.
"All of the texts of faith and religion that we are given, from the Quran to the Bible, tell us to love your enemy," Viges said. "We must call out for love and peace or else the curse of violence will never end."
During the speeches, a crowd of about 30 people listened quietly, only speaking if questioned. The Young Conservatives of Texas, arguing with a few opponents of the war, were making more noise than the actual rally. YCT members, who were recruiting on the West Mall, said they had no idea that the rally was going on.
An impromptu march to the Army recruitment offices in Dobie Mall sparked more energy in the protesters, who were heard in classrooms throughout the Six Pack. CAMEO and YAA did not publicize the march because in a previous attempt to protest recruitment at Dobie, the offices closed for the day, ending the action.
Protestors blocked the entrance to the recruitment office with two coffins, one draped with an American flag and the other covered with an Iraqi flag, taped posters on the window of the office and chanted, "No more war and occupation. You don't have to die for an education."
Almost immediately after the protesters arrived, Dobie Mall security began threatening to call the police. A few protesters dispersed to different entrances of the mall, on surveillance for police officers.
Recruitment officers who were on duty during the protest had no comment and told protesters who tried to enter the recruiting office to leave unless they want to enlist.
The on-duty manager of Dobie Mall, who refused to give his name, gave protesters a criminal trespass warning and called police to the scene. It was not until Mike Corwin, co-founder of CAMEO, appealed to protesters that the crowd went outside.
"I feel like we've made a statement, and we are part of a bigger wave toward freedom," Corwin said. "We don't want to put anyone in a situation that they are not prepared to be in right now."
Officers on the scene were not active or physical in pursuing protesters but did reiterate the manager's requests.
"Our goal here is not to put them in jail," APD officer Jonathan Martin said. "We'll let them voice their opinion and go home, but they'll get arrested if they come back."
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