Although the details of President Bush's recent visit to Buffalo were withheld until shortly before his arrival, the Western New York Peace Center organized a last-minute show of opposition that drew several hundred protesters with a variety of social and political messages .

About an hour before the president spoke at Kleinhans Music Hall, dissenters of all ages and backgrounds gathered at the northwest corner of Symphony Circle to voice their displeasure with the current administration. Although city officials estimated the crowd's size to be between 100 and 500 people, organizers said there were as many as 700 participants at the demonstration's peak.

“I was pretty pleased,” said Colin Eager, director of the WNY Peace Center. “I thought that the turnout was great and I thought the message was strongly presented. The most encouraging thing was the way that groups from all over the city, people from all walks of life, all different sorts of political backgrounds, managed to come together and speak with one voice.”

The demonstrators sharply criticized not only U.S. involvement in Iraq, but many of President Bush's social and political programs as well.

“I don't like his position on war,” said Jean Sylvester of North Buffalo. “I don't like his position on the environment, I don't like his position on health care and I definitely don't like his position on public assistance and civil rights.”

Representatives from numerous local organizations – including the United Auto Workers, Civil Service Employees Association, Food Not Bombs and the Church of Scientology - were also on hand to incorporate their messages with the overall call for global harmony.

A number of political speakers and entertainers performed from a small stage facing the crowd. Buffalo's Raging Grannies delivered a cappella protest hymns, and the Rev. Darius Pridgen and UAW arbitrator Herb Fulsom spoke about how the president's policies have adversely affected their communities.

Fulsom lost his job at Trico Products Corp. after 31 years due to outsourcing. In his speech, he said the president's policies “support the rich, not the working people who go and make money for the country.”

Demonstrators chanted and displayed a variety of homemade signs . Some of the more memorable messages and slogans included:

• Patriot Act = Police State
• Spare the trees, ditch the Bush
• Osama bin Ashcroft
• Let's bomb Texas, they have oil too
• Somewhere in Texas a village is missing their idiot

Though easily outnumbered, a small group of Bush supporters stood just beyond

the fence that bound the demonstration, waving American flags and chanting support for the president.

“I agree with his policies,” said Paulette Hurst of Tonawanda. “I agree with going to war in Iraq and I agree with the Patriot Act. Our president fights for freedom, which allows these protesters to speak their minds.”

According to Eager, the exchange between the president's supporters and detractors never escalated beyond verbal debate and no arrests were reported.

Some crowd members expressed frustration with President Bush's refusal to acknowledge their concerns. With a number of recent demonstrations and protests, none of which seem to have yielded immediate results, some participants said they feel their pleas are falling on deaf ears .

“I think he's going to be ignoring this like he does any other time,” said Pridgen, shortly after delivering a well-received speech to an enthusiastic crowd. “Presidents are very insulated and he'll be far away from this, probably won't hear much about it. But at least those who are voting for him might be aware that there's some people who just don't agree with his policies or issues.”

Regardless, Eager said he feels it is necessary to continue displaying public opposition to the current administration.

“Wherever the president goes, because his policies are so terrible, he should be seeing and hearing protesters,” he said. “But in a larger sense, the president's visit provided us with a platform to push our issues, let's be honest. People have been talking about the Patriot Act and the war and the economy in a way that they wouldn't have been if the president hadn't come.”