Susan Beaty, a sophomore at Brown University, is taken to a squad car by Providence Police Patrolman Gary Slater after Beaty and others refused to leave an Army National Guard recruiting center on Weybosset Street.

The Providence Journal / Andrew Dickerman

PROVIDENCE — Antiwar protesters picketed the Army National Guard recruiting office on Weybosset Street yesterday in a noisy, 90-minute demonstration that included an act of civil disobedience that resulted in eight arrests.

The group Students for a Democratic Society organized the protest on the fifth anniversary of the start of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Many of the 30 or so people who demonstrated yesterday were students from Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design.

Eight demonstrators made their point by intentionally risking arrest. They walked into the recruiting office around noon and plopped down in front of the door.

“We’ll be here until we’re arrested or until it closes” for the night, said Susan Beaty, a Brown sophomore, participating in the sit-in.

Outside, demonstrators paced in a circle on the sidewalk and chanted antiwar slogans.

“You guys want some water? Something to drink?” Master Sgt. Leonard Pimental offered protesters at the sit-in.

In a statement, the students said they support “individuals serving in the military,” but object to “the role of the military in U.S. society and foreign policy.”

“We are trying to empower the majority of Americans and Iraqis whose voices have been consistently silenced and ignored in the national dialogue,” said SDS member James Dean Stefano.

Across the street, 26-year-old Milton Stevenson waged a one-man counterprotest. His handmade sign read “Hey Hippie! Shut up — nobody likes the war.” He said he was protesting the protesters for being cliché and ineffective.

The antiwar protest was peaceful and the arrest of the eight students was orderly.

Providence Police Capt. David Lapatin spoke at length with the demonstrators, who refused to budge from in front of the door inside the recruiting office.

Then, before the police arrested the students, Lapatin spoke to Vale Cofer-Shabica, a Brown University student who served as the protesters’ point man with the police. Lapatin suggested Cofer-Shabica speak to the students to be sure they wanted to be arrested.

They did.

“We gave them every opportunity” to avoid arrest, Lapatin said. He told Cofer-Shabica he was concerned about people on the sidewalk interfering with the arrests. Cofer-Shabica assured him the group would remain peaceful.

With about 10 police officers at the scene, the protesters were arrested and led out of the recruiting office one at a time to the cheers of friends. Some of the demonstrators were handcuffed at the curb before being placed in waiting police cars. None of them appeared to resist.

Lapatin said the students probably would be charged with disorderly conduct.

The student group claimed that the arrests were the first instance of civil disobedience in Providence against the war. “If our actions hinder the ability of the politicians to wage this war for just one day, then we’re one step closer to ending this injustice,” said SDS member Mike Urso.

As of yesterday afternoon, 3,992 U.S. service members had died in the Iraq war.

The Rhode Island National Guard, in a short statement, said it appreciates the group’s point of view and respects the right to peacefully demonstrate. “We regret that those protesters eventually sought to block the means of entrance and egress at our recruiting station, after having been in the building peacefully for more than an hour,” said Lt. Col. Denis J. Riel. “Their actions and subsequent failure to heed our request to clear the entranceway caused our recruiters to notify nearby Providence police officers.”

Riel said the Rhode Island Guard has served in the war with distinction since 9/11 and “will continue to answer our nation’s call to duty… to ensure [that] the rights of those who choose to speak freely and assemble peacefully are preserved.”

marsenau@projo.com