Protesters ejected from GOP rally

BANGOR – At least six protesters were thrown out of a campaign rally Tuesday afternoon as President Bush made an appearance at Bangor International Airport, according to witnesses.

At least 30 other protesters were denied access to buses that transported rally-goers from a parking area at the edge of the airport to a hangar on airport property where Bush made his appearance.

For the most part, however, the roadside protest by about 150 people against war in Iraq was peaceful and no arrests were reported.

Of the protesters kicked out of the hangar, only one may have been seen by the president. Bush was thanking the efforts of Republican grass-roots activists when Graham Platner, 18, of Sullivan made his move.

“Since he was talking about [activists] I thought it was the perfect time,” Platner said. He unfolded a small sign he had hidden in a pants pocket and raised it high to display the words “No war.”

“I started yelling, ‘Don’t attack Iraq. If our best generals tell us not to go to war, why should we,'” Platner said. “Bush looked right at me and people started yelling for me to shut up, but he saw me.”

Platner said a rally-goer ripped the sign out of his hand as he was escorted out of the hangar and directed back up the road a few hundred yards to the parking area at the corner of Maine Avenue and Godfrey Boulevard where other protesters were centralized, he said. That was the area Secret Service had set aside for the protesters to demonstrate.

Members of the Secret Service and event staff refused to comment on their interaction with the protesters. Bangor Police Department spokesmen were not immediately available for comment.

Just before Bush’s appearance in the hangar, Jon McCormack, 20, of Harpswell and Chris Fitzpatrick, 20, of Waterville removed their sweat shirts to reveal T-shirts announcing “Not My President” next to a picture of Bush, and “I didn’t vote for George Bush. Don’t blame me.”

McCormack, Fitzpatrick and three friends sat on the floor when they were approached by event staff and Secret Service agents who told them to leave, Fitzpatrick said. The agents and members of the Bangor Police Department grabbed them by their shirts and dragged them outside where they were given verbal disorderly conduct warnings and told to leave, members of the group said.

Members of the event staff, local police and Secret Service also kept a close watch on picketers in the parking lot and prevented more than 30 of them from boarding the buses that periodically transported rally-goers to the hangar.

“They said it was a CIA thing and that the Secret Service wouldn’t let us in,” said Bree Blaylock, 22, of Old Town. Blaylock said she was attempting to get on a half-empty bus when she was told there was no more room and the door was shut briefly on her hand before she removed it and the bus drove off. Blaylock did not appear injured.

The protesters had begun gathering at the corner of Maine Avenue and Godfrey Boulevard about 10 a.m. in preparation for Bush’s 3 p.m. address in the airport hangar.

The dozen or so activists grew to about 150 by 1 p.m., and represented groups that included Veterans for Peace, Island Peace and Justice of Deer Isle, Pax Christi of Winterport, Work for Peace of Harrington, Peninsula Peace and Justice of Blue Hill, and PICA of Bangor.

The protesters waved their signs in the air, banged drums and chanted their opposition to war in Iraq. Tensions between rally-goers and demonstrators ran high at times but never escalated beyond verbal taunts.

“Try demonstrating in Iraq. You can’t do it there. There’s no freedom there,” said rally-goer Craig Knight, 44, of Eddington as protesters chanted “Tell the president no war. ”

“We don’t want a war that causes more problems than it solves,” said Catherine Foxson of Orono, who was at the protest with a group from the Peace and Justice Center of Bangor.

In the end, 200 Bush supporters were left to empathize with being shut out of the rally when officials announced that the capacity of about 4,000 people had been reached and no one else would be allowed into the event. The number of protesters dropped off to about 30 shortly before 3 p.m.

The public protest was a warm-up for Saturday when thousands of anti-war demonstrations are scheduled to be held in state capitals nationwide.

“It’s our patriotic duty to express our concerns,” said Peace and Justice Center program coordinator Ilze Peterson. “I would say this was a successful day.”