Opposite Sides of War Issue Clash Noisily in Center City

What was planned as an orderly protest for peace turned disruptive Thursday night after a splinter group of about 300 demonstrators broke away from a larger cluster of 3,000 and blocked traffic on downtown San Diego streets with three separate sit-ins.

Car horns honked and police kept a close watch as protesters, reacting to swift-changing events in the Middle East, banged drums, bongos and gas cans and chanted anti-war slogans as they confronted 300 counter-demonstrators at the Federal Building downtown before taking to the streets.

The crowd of protesters was less than half of the estimated 8,000 who held a similar protest Monday night, the eve of the deadline for Iraq to pull out of Kuwait.

But Thursday night’s protest, which coincided with Iraq’s attack on Israel, was no less vocal. Chaos reigned as anti-war activists and counter-demonstrators mingled in city streets, taunted each other with homemade signs, pushed each other and tried to drown each other out by yelling as loud as they could.

“I’ve never been arrested in my life, and I can’t think of a better reason,” said Colleen Fetters, 26, an art model who lives in Hillcrest and sat in the street to protest.

One person was arrested for crossing police lines, and two others were arrested for public drunkenness, but police said those were not related to the demonstration.

About 85 police officers, on motorcycles, horses and on foot, watched the group march north up Front Street and turn east on Broadway, where they spilled into the street and moved back onto the sidewalks several times.

The splinter group took the Coalition for Peace in the Middle East, a group that had organized the protest, by surprise.

“This was not planned, not on our end,” said spokeswoman Carol Jahnkow. “There is no civil disobedience sanctioned by the coalition, but we don’t want them to get hurt.”

Police spokesman Dave Cohen said department officers met with coalition representatives earlier in the day and were told that “civil disobedience wasn’t something they would foster. But we weren’t naive enough to think there wouldn’t be any.”

At Front and Broadway, 40 protesters sat around a handmade sign that said: “Bring my brother home.” A lit candle sat on top of the sign.

Nearby, a counter-demonstrator yelled: “We support our troops and our country. Who do you support?”

The demonstration for peace attracted at least one woman whose son is fighting in the Persian Gulf.

Isabel G. Wilson, an elementary school teacher in Oceanside who lives in Carlsbad, has a 24-year-old son in the 24th Infantry Division who is a private first class.

“I feel very sorry for the Kuwaitis, but two wrongs don’t make a right,” she said. “This is the first time I’ve been involved in a peace movement. With my son over there, I felt so impotent. My son knows I love him, but I’m telling him what I’m doing. I’m fighting for his life. I can’t sit back and let this happen without raising my voice in protest.”

The splinter group stopped three times for several minutes: once at 7th and Broadway, once at 4th and Broadway and a final time at Front and Broadway.

As they moved east on Broadway, they called out, “No blood for oil!” as traffic slowed behind them. One bus driver made a fist. A female driver made a peace sign with her hand. Some people were leaving work.

“It sounds like a Hare Krishna convention,” said Bret Bennet, a real estate broker from Mission Beach, wearing a suit and tie.

Andrew MacDonald, 19, a sophomore from UC San Diego clad in a tie-died T-shirt, said he was participating in the sit-ins “to block off what’s going on in the city. It will draw attention and make people think about what’s going on in the world.”

At 4th and Broadway, during the second sit-in, someone burned a small U.S. flag and then trampled the ashes. A 68-year-old veteran of World War II who had joined in the demonstration could only nod.

“I think it’s great,” he said of the protest. “It’s what we need. I wish we didn’t have to do it, but we’ll do this, and do a lot more to end this war. We have no business over there, it’s not our concern.”

Back at the Federal Building, a group of seven people laid in white body bags splattered with red paint. ID labels were attached to their wrists and dollars bills were tied to the body bags.

The organized march unraveled about 90 minutes after the start of the 4 p.m. protest rally as a group of 300 broke away from the others. They headed first for the area where the Federal Building bridges Front Street, where they were met by counter-demonstrators. The building overhead amplified the bang of drums and the shouts between the two groups.

By early evening, while a sit-in took place at Broadway and Front, yet another group of about 150 took off on its own towards Horton Plaza, followed closely by about 100 counter-demonstrators and dozens of police officers.

At times, the opposing sides drifted into one another as police on horses tried to keep the groups separated. Youthful counter-demonstrators, many of them in the Navy, held up their military ID cards and screamed, “I hope your ass gets drafted!” and “Four more years!” in support of President Bush.

One person held up a sign: “All We Are Saying . . . Is Give Tactical Air Support a Chance.”

Anti-war protesters held their own signs aloft. “If Iraq Loses, Who Wins?” said one. “Bring Troops Home in Peace, Not in Pieces” read another.

Police were forced to divert traffic at Front and Broadway by lining their motorcycles in a long row. Law enforcement officials said they wanted to give both sides a chance to vent steam but to keep events from turning violent.

Although both sides pushed back and forth at time, no outright fighting broke out.

As protesters passed in front of Horton Plaza, a homeless Vietnam veteran looked on.

“I’m all for it,” said Charles Thomas, 44, who served in the 82nd Airborne Infantry Division in Vietnam during 1968 and 1969. “This is a war for avarice. That’s all it is. This marks another phase in history.”

Times staff writer Mark Platte contributed to this story.