PORTLAND – More than 200 people rallied against war Wednesday just hours before the U.S. deadline for Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq or face attack.

Police arrested 22 people who failed to heed an order to clear a downtown intersection and charged them with obstructing a public way, according to Police Chief Michael Chitwood.

The demonstrators blocked traffic for about 20 minutes before police ordered them to move. Officers put plastic handcuffs on them and took them to a waiting county jail bus. The protesters on the sidelines let out a cheer each time one was led away.

Olive Pierce, 78, of Camden was one of the last protesters arrested.

“Saddam Hussein is not a threat to us, so I’m very suspicious when I’m told that. I think it has do with power and presence in the Middle East,” Pierce said before parking her wheelchair in the intersection.

Pierce, who spent 10 days in Iraq in 1991 with a group that opposes sanctions on the country, said there are viable alternatives to an attack, such as allowing weapons inspectors more time. Pierce said war would inflict more suffering on a people already devastated by the 1991 Gulf War and economic sanctions.

Chitwood spoke to Pierce before she was arrested. He said he offered her the option of being given a summons rather than being arrested but that she chose to be arrested. She walked to the bus with the assistance of an officer.

The protesters planned to stage a demonstration in the Portland office of U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe to ask that she introduce a resolution to return troops to the United States. Some people planned to shroud themselves in fake body bags and said they were prepared to be arrested. But the protesters were unable to enter the building. The outside doors of the building were locked and two policemen stood inside.

A bright pink negligee hung around the neck of Marji Greenhut as she approached two Snowe staff members in front of the building.

“I want you to give Senator Snowe this pink slip,” she told them. The message on the lingerie read: “You are fired for supporting an immoral war.”

Snowe spoke to war opponents for more than an hour last week, said her spokesman Dave Lackey.

“I know she understands that there are very strong positions on all sides of this issue and she appreciates having the chance to hear from her constituents,” Lackey said from Snowe’s Washington office.