The Anarcho-Catholic Syndicate

Most protesters Tuesday shunned the carefully controlled conditions of the First Union Center and opted instead for havoc on the open streets of downtown Philadelphia, among the high-rise hotels where most Republican Delegates stayed.

At two in the afternoon, at the intersection of 13th and Arch Streets--just outside the Pennsylvania Convention Center that housed many convention activities--about 25 protesters, all white youths, squatted on a crosswalk with their arms linked, stopping traffic.

Behind them, 50 police officers stood two rows deep, holding batons across their chests and staring straight ahead. Men and women in business clothes with orange armbands marked "police" walked around the protesters.

Holding one post of the sign was an young woman anarchist with a shaved head and a red bandana mask. Holding the other was a nun in street clothes. She belonged to a group with signs that said, "Catholic sisters oppose the death penalty."

The anarchist shouted at the mob of press and delegates surrounding the scene. "Can you believe this unity, man? A nun and me." She acknowledged that plans for Tuesday's demonstration were more aggressive than those on previous days, but would not say explicitly whether or not she planned on violence.

"I will not be arrested without showing that I don't believe I should be arrested," she said, and pointed down to a length of wire coiled around the pole she held.

One Republican delegate looking on, Ted T. Barr, a retired police captain and sheriff from West Virginia, wasn't worried by the group.