Another onlooker criticized the marchers for clogging the streets around Mass. General Hospital. "I'm not going to waste my time blocking traffic, especially with ambulances in it," said Whitman, Mass. resident Kerry Williams.
One woman lay down in a Boston intersection and faked death as her cohort zipped her up inside a plastic body bag. One protester called out, "How many bags left? 49,999."
At Boston City Hall, the protesters joined a group of high school students and chanted as television stations did live reports for their noon broadcasts.
At about 12:15 p.m., some of the demonstrators marched to the federal government's Boston headquarters.
Yelling, "This is our federal building!" a protester tried to enter the John F. Kennedy Building and was repelled by security guards. Officers of the Federal Protective Service attempted to close a door to the office building, but protesters held onto it. A tussle ensued and the glass door was shattered.
As police pushed the crowd back with nightsticks, some demonstrators fought with the officers. Snowballs thrown by people in the crowd broke two windows, sending pieces of glass into the building's lobby. During one scuffle, an officer pulled a tuff of hair out of a man's scalp and dropped it on the ground. Another man pushed the officer and was promptly arrested.
Troubled Lunch Hour
The eight security officers, now reinforced by Boston Police and FBI agents who had filtered down from their offices in the building, stood in the lobby waiting for the chanting crowd to move away. Other federal employees going in and out during the lunch hour had difficulty finding an unlocked door that was not blocked by either protesters or police.
Police identified the arrested man as Jonathan Fischer, 28, of Westville, Conn. He was taken to the Area A station and charged with assault and battery on a police officer, a Boston police spokesperson said.
From Government Center, the group, now numbering about 250, moved on to the State House where speakers discussed the evils of war.
Though they were united in their oppostion to war, the protesters clearly held varying views of the best solution to the Gulf crisis, Leaders of the march called for total withdrawal of U.S. troops from the Middle East and a revolution in the United States.
That sentiment troubled one high school student carrying a banner at the front of the march. "We don't want revolution, we just want to make this war not happen," she said.