The fountain outside the Glenn G. Bartle Library Tower turned into a political battleground Friday as demonstrators declared opposing views of America’s troops.
Chris Carpenter/Staff Photographer
The College Republicans had originally planned a rally called Freedom Friday there ‘to support our troops and the fight against global terror and to support freedom,’ said College Republicans President Ari Feinman. ‘Today in 1989 the Berlin Wall fell. Nineteen years later, we are celebrating.’
But the group was met by members from the Binghamton Political Initiative, Student Action Collective and Veterans for Peace.
The College Republicans ‘ who dotted the north side of the fountain ‘ held signs supporting the troops, waved American flags and chanted ‘USA.’ Group member Robert Menje, a junior history major, held a sign that said, ‘Kick Their Ass, Take Their Gas!’
‘I applaud Bush for securing our oil futures for the next 30 years,’ he said. ‘I’m a big supporter of the war.’
College Republican Mikey Klein, a senior English major, held a sign that said, ‘Support The Troops.’
‘You can disagree with why we’re there,’ he said, ‘but you still need to support our friends and families out there fighting for our rights.’
But on the south side of the fountain, a woman carrying a sign that said, ‘Don’t Support The Troops,’ protested pro-war sentiments.
‘Supporting the troops is wrong,’ she said. ‘I think it should say, ‘Bring Our Troops home and Support Them.’ If you’re against war, supporting the troops supports the military machine.’
University police stood in between the groups to ensure peace, but that didn’t stop an exchange of bitter remarks.
SAC took names for a petition to impeach President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. But when one member on a megaphone asked passersby to ‘sign our petition to impeach President Bush for war crimes,’ a member of the College Republicans said, ‘Shut the hell up because you’re retarded.’
A group of women also asked a man in a black hooded robe to cover the word ‘pussy’ on his sign which read, ‘War = good, Peace = pussy-boy afraid to fight.’ The hooded man, who would not identify himself, wore the American flag as a cape and chanted, ‘Yes more death! Cheer for more death.’
The man later did cover the word on his sign.