With a larger-than-expected first-day crowd at the annual protest of an institute at Fort Benning, tensions amped up Saturday after the Army and protesters engaged in a day of electronic and legal jousting.

As protest leaders took to the stage with speeches and music, Fort Benning blared anthems and martial music from loudspeakers positioned just inside its gates, about 50 yards away.

Also See: School of the Americas Watch SOAW Protest News via Atlanta Indy Media

SOA Watch, which conducts the annual protest against the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, called the move a "psychological operation," and said it planned to file suit against the Army.

"There's a lot of ill will being caused that's not necessary," said SOA Watch founder the Rev. Roy Bourgeois. "The closer we get to shutting that school down, the meaner they get. We see this as a form of psychological violence."

"Why can they play music and we can't?" Fort Benning spokesman Rich McDowell said. "We're not participating in political action; we're playing patriotic music."

Security on alert

A day removed from a contentious Miami protest against a meeting of the Free Trade Area of the Americas, a fog of uncertainty hung in the air Saturday morning.

Authorities barricaded the protest area along Fort Benning Road and searched demonstrators with hand-held metal detectors. And, for the first time in the 14-year history of the protest, gas masks were at the ready, affixed to legs of Columbus police officers and Muscogee County sheriff's deputies.

Other than protesters' complaints about the Fort Benning music, public safety and post officials reported few problems on the first day of the two-day demonstration.

Police Maj. Julius Graham, head of the department's protest security detail, put the number of protesters at about 8,000, possibly the largest first-day gathering in its history.

Four protesters were arrested after they entered the post, a Fort Benning spokesman said.

McDowell said the four arrived at Fort Benning's Interstate 185 checkpoint and identified themselves as protesters. They were told to make a U-turn off the post. When they didn't, they were pursued and caught by post military police, who turned them over to U.S. marshals.

The four were charged with criminal trespassing and taken to the Muscogee County Jail.

And, in another first for the protest, police and sheriff's deputies began enforcing a state law rooted in anti-Klan legislation of the post-Civil War era prohibiting the wearing of masks in public.

"We won't block them from doing it during their religious events," said Columbus police Assistant Chief Ricky Boren, referring to today's solemn procession when demonstrators don death masks. "But if they're wearing them to conceal their identities, we're asking them to remove them or leave."

Call to action

The buzz of the day, however, was the noise. Protest leaders and musicians found their speeches and performances accompanied at times by "The Army Song," "God Bless the USA" and other songs.

After being approached by SOA Watch leaders, police said they asked the post to stop playing the music. But it continued.

SOA Watch attorney Bill Quigley said the group may file suit under a so-called "Bivens action," accusing the Army of violating the civil rights of demonstrators by abusing its power.

"We clearly think the government's actions are unconstitutional," Quigley said. "We're going to file suit. Whether today or after the protest is over is the question."

SOA Watch countered that strategy later Saturday afternoon. It sent e-mails to some 10,000 people on its mailing list urging them to flood Fort Benning's phone lines. From the stage, protest leaders told demonstrators to use their cell phones to call family and friends, encouraging them to call the post.

The music from Fort Benning stopped about 3:30 p.m.

The Army said the music came from a CD made by the wife of a soldier serving with the Fort Benning-based 988th Military Police Company in Iraq. The soldier's wife proposed giving soldiers and post law enforcement working the protest an alternative to music from the demonstration, McDowell said. Fort Benning's new commander, Brig. Gen. Benjamin Freakley, approved the proposal, he said.

"It was something to cheer our guys up," McDowell said. "We thought it would be nice to give them something to listen to."

McDowell said the post would not play its music during today's religious-oriented services, including SOA Watch's solemn procession to the post gate.

© 2003 Columbus Ledger-Enquirer

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