Security tight, protests defused
WASHINGTON -- The unprecedented security blanket surrounding President Bush's second inaugural was pierced by hundreds of protesters shouting anti-Bush slogans and by scattered demonstrations along the parade route, including dozens of people kept back by police with tear gas after the group threw debris and tried to break through the cordon.
Federal and local authorities coordinated thousands of law enforcement and military personnel monitoring the nation's capital by air, land, and sea -- the most intense security ever for Inauguration Day, the first since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The protests centered upon opposition to Bush's policies, especially the war in Iraq. There were several isolated confrontations with police, the largest when some tried to cross metal police lines along the parade route, according to witnesses.
Lobbing bottles, trash, and snowballs at police, approximately 50 demonstrators overturned metal barricades and a handful broke through just after Bush's limousine passed. More than 100 police officers were at the scene.
Meanwhile, other protesters set a small fire close to the barricades. The president's motorcade was forced to speed up on at least two occasions along the 1.7-mile trek as it passed the commotion, which included one protester pelting the limousine with what looked like a piece of fruit.
Some protesters carried coffin-like cardboard boxes to signify the deaths of US troops in Iraq, covering them with black cloth and American flags.
''Worst President Ever" and ''Four more years: God help America" read some of their signs.
At one demonstration on the Mall during the inauguration ceremony, supporters of the president engaged in a shouting and shoving match with some war opponents. An antiwar group called the Rhythm Workers Union banged on steel drums and danced in mud-caked boots.
Andre Byers, a 26-year-old doctoral candidate in political science at Howard University, said he was disappointed to see that protesters were vastly outnumbered by Bush supporters. Nevertheless, he asserted that opposition to Bush's second-term agenda runs deep.
''I'm opposed to the Iraq war, and I know that there are millions of other people out there who feel like me," he said.
Even the president's speech on the west side of the US Capitol did not go uninterrupted by opponents of the nation's 43d president. A half-dozen protesters seated among the crowd at the swearing-in ceremony were led away by police.
At least three of the protesters were pelted with snowballs by other attendees after loudly demanding that Bush ''bring our troops home now." They were escorted away by police.
Moments later, two other protesters held up a banner reading ''No War." They too were led away by security personnel.
Near the finale of Bush's speech, another man began noisily booing from his position directly in front of the inaugural podium -- so loudly that his boos were apparently heard by Bush and other dignitaries seated on the Capitol steps. As the man was being escorted from the lawn area, he repeatedly shouted, ''Hey, Bush, where are the poor? Did you ship them all off to war?"
Betsy Berger, who was seated near the first group of protesters who were escorted out by police, said she was angry they had chosen to carry their protest inside the ticket-holders' area.
''They could have stood by the Washington Monument instead of getting up here and destroying it for the rest of us " said Berger, who came from Allen Park, Mich., to witness the inauguration. ''We waited for this moment a long time. Why take it away from us?"
Others said the largely peaceful display of opposition was a positive sign. ''It's important to show that when Bush's second inauguration goes into the record books, there was healthy dissent" said Jared Maslin, 19, of Hanover, N.H.
Raphael Lewis and Joseph P. Kahn of the Globe staff contributed to this report, which also contains information from the Associated Press.
