BANGOR – Saying it’s time for American youth to voice their opposition to the war in Iraq, a small group of young protesters lined up along Broadway on Sunday afternoon for a peaceful demonstration.

“We’re youth, and we care about the youth fighting in Iraq,” said co-organizer Miriam Kates-Goldman, who is 17 and about to enter her senior year at Bangor High School.

According to protester Hazel Stark, 18, of Winterport, many service members in Iraq are between 18 and 25 years old. Yet most non-military youth don’t realize how many of their peers are being killed, or being forced to kill other people in the war, she said.

“It’s time to bring our friends home,” said Stark, who soon will enter her freshman year at College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor.

Although teens and young adults care, it’s easy to ignore the reality of the war when there’s no mandatory draft and when federal law prohibits the media from showing coffins coming back to the U.S. from war zones, she said.

Justin Lad, 14, said innocent Iraqis and American troops are dying because “the Bush administration lied to get us into Iraq.” Lad, who lives in Glenburn, said some of his friends agree the war should end but they haven’t wanted to get involved in demonstrations.

“I want to make a difference in this war,” he said. “I think the Iraqis need to work [their differences] out.”

About 15 demonstrators carried signs and waved at passers-by during the two-hour vigil at Broadway Park. According to Kates-Goldman, the group counted 480 expressions of support – thumbs-up, honks, waves and peace signs.

“Quite a few people gave us the finger and yelled at us, too,” she said Sunday evening. At one point, she said, some people from a nearby business set up a small counter-protest across the street, displaying an American flag and chanting “pro-Bush” slogans.

A few war protesters crossed over to engage them in conversation, but the interaction was calm and eventually the flag-wavers went back indoors, she said.

Kates-Goldman said she hopes the Bangor area will see more youthful demonstrations against the war in Iraq, but predicted it would be harder to organize such events once young people start school.