The seven arrests made by police included four protesters costumed in blood-stained fatigues and traditional Middle Eastern dress who had made their way into the celebration. The remaining three arrests came as police were trying to relocate protesters into the free speech zone.

All seven were later released and will go before a Cambridge judge next month, according to Keith Harvey, the New England director of the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker organization that promotes peace and social justice.

Frank Pasquarello, a Cambridge Police Department spokesman, said that although the June 14 protest did not present the same logistical challenges as other recent protests, arrests at such events are sometimes necessary to keep the peace.

“Unfortunately, we have to make arrests,” Pasquarello said.

Questions over the propriety of Cambridge’s involvement in the celebration lingered after the event, both among protesters and in City Hall itself.

At a city council meeting last Monday, eight of the nine councilors requested that Robert W. Healy, the city manager, discuss with the Council whether free speech zones like the one used at the Army celebration were “appropriate for events in public spaces.”

The ACLU of Massachusetts condemned the zones as violations of citizens’ First Amendment rights.

Vice Mayor Marjorie C. Decker asked Healy to divulge how much the event cost the city, and also questioned whether the city’s co-sponsorship violated municipal human rights codes because of the military’s ban on openly gay and lesbian service members.

Kaveri Rajaraman, a student at the University who participated in the protests but was not arrested, said that the celebration had no “obvious references to recruitment.”

But “it paved the way for future recruitment and positive Army PR,” she wrote in an e-mail.

Fliers for the event touted historical reenactments and performances, but did not mention recruiting activities. The only contact information provided on the fliers, however, was an e-mail address and telephone number for the commander of the Army’s Boston Recruiting Company.

—Staff writer Brendan R. Linn can be reached at blinn@fas.harvard.edu.