OAKLAND - Katherine Johnson stood alone outside the Army recruiting offices in Oakland on Tuesday.

"Where can I get some coffee around here?" she asked a recruiting officer as he walked from the building. "I can't do this without coffee."

Grandmothers Against the War sing in front of the U.S. Army recruiting offices on Broadway in Oakland on Tuesday afternoon to protest the war in Iraq. (D. Ross Cameron - Staff)

"Then maybe I shouldn't tell you where it is," the officer joked before pointing her to a nearby Tully's.

By the time Johnson returned, the recruitment center doors had been locked, the officers had gone, and a company of grandmothers clad in red shirts and camouflage hats had begun assembling on the street.

Johnson's grandson will turn 21 in March and has been receiving Army recruiting posters and fliers in the mail for months.

It is largely for this reason that Johnson, a San Francisco resident, said she decided to join Bay Area Grandmothers Against the War and attend Tuesday's protest that combined the efforts of East Bay NOW, Women for Peace, Mourning Mothers and Progressive Democrats.

Similar protests were held at 14 recruitment centers across the country.

In response, military officials shut down the recruitment office at the request of the Oakland police, although recruiters were still in the field and at local high schools. But that did not deter the more than 300 people who participated.

Coordinator Marge Lasky of Berkeley said the women were inspired by the New York Grandmothers Against the War, whostaged a similar protest in October, as well as the actions of Cindy Sheehan of Berkeley, who lost her son in the Iraq war. The Bay Area group was formed in November.

"We have a lot of old Baptists," Lasky said. "People who have been involved in the Civil Rights Movement, the women's movement and the anti-war movements. We wanted to do something big, which is why we talked to the New York grandmothers and tied in other cities."

The Rev. Judy Tergis from San Francisco's Natural Grace Church took part in the demonstration. She said grandmothers have a distinct advantage when protesting.

"By being peaceful and full of love, we're not as threatening, and people don't shut down in front of us," she said. "In the'60s, protests often polarized people, and it never helped."

On this day, however, the grandmothers' plan to enter one at a time and volunteer themselves for Army service in place of young men and women currently serving was foiled.

"We have no interest in a confrontation with the police or the recruiter," said spokeswoman Joan Levinson of Berkeley. "We're not trying to be provocative. We're trying to make a statement that we are deploring the number of young people that have been killed and wounded."

Levinson and Lasky told both the police and recruitment center employees about the protest days in advance. Oakland police Lt. Lawrence Green said a discussion between him and the center's director led to the decision to close down during the protest.

Undeterred, the group knocked on the door and chanted "Our hearts are broken, take us instead" and "Open the door now, we want to enlist."

Singers Ronnie Gilbert and Barbara Dane led a chorus of folk songs and reworked standards, and another group read from prepared statements.

Lasky said she was "invigorated by the turnout" and praised the Oakland police.

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