PROVIDENCE — At least 70 protesters marched outside the federal courthouse yesterday during the visit of Chief Justice of the United States John G. Roberts Jr., demanding that the United States close its detention center at Guantanamo, and “put an end to torture.”

Many dressed in symbolic orange jumpsuits, signifying the detainees held at Guantanamo.

Holding signs that said, “Shut Down Guantanamo,” “Waterboarding is Torture,” “Guantanamo is a Disgrace,” and “Habeas Corpus for All,” the protesters shouted, “They say Gitmo — we say Hell No!”

The protest was loud — loud enough that Roberts acknowledged it from inside the building — but without incident.

Marchers rallied in Burnside Park at 10:30 a.m., then moved across the street to the U.S. District Courthouse, on Kennedy Plaza, where Roberts was attending a centennial celebration for the building. The rally ended at noon.

“The present administration in Washington does not believe in the rule of law. Our country is in the business of torture,” said Martin Lepkowski, a member of Witness for Peace. “Torture is American as apple pie.”

(Lepkowski referred to the School of the Americas, now renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, as an example. Demonstrators annually protest outside the academy at Fort Benning, Ga., against alleged abuses committed by graduates, including torture and other contraventions of the Geneva Accord.)

The Rhode Island Spring Mobilization Committee to End War and Occupation, a coalition group, distributed leaflets that said Roberts “has played a key role in the judicial legitimization of the War on Terror abroad and at home,” and has a “long history of attacking civil rights and enlarging government powers.”

“I think the chief justice is making wrong decisions,” said Constance Allen, a member of a group called the Raging Grannies. “I think prisoners should have rights. Torture is wrong. We should close Guantanamo — it’s a shame on America.”

Financial planner Bruce Carlsten said he took time away from work “to expose what we are doing at Guantanamo prison and other prisons around the world, how we have removed any human rights.”

“We have taken people and dehumanized them and taken totalitarian control … they scoop people up and put them into isolation,” Carlsten said. “This is not what my United States believes in.”

kziner@projo.com