Armed with colorful posters, bullhorns, a 15-foot banner and a number to call in case of arrest, about 50 people marched on Friday to protest U.S.-led bombings in Afghanistan.
Ten feet behind them, about 20 protesters marched in support of the bombings.
The two groups marched from the Union to the FBIoffice at 2911 Eyde Parkway.
“We’re trying to show those who oppose the war that terrorists will not respond to a peaceful resolution,” said Marc Stemmer, a political theory and constitutional democracy sophomore. “Force is necessary.”
But Lansing resident Steve Swart said bombing is not the answer.
“Basically, we want to come out and say that it’s not right to kill civilians here or anywhere else,” the 1999 MSU graduate said.
Swart is a member of Lansing’s Direct Action, which sponsored the march with the Detroit Anti-War Network. Both groups were created after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. While attending MSU, Swart helped start a group that became Students for Economic Justice.
“I think our goal is to shake things up and create a discussion,” Swart said. “We want to break the false consensus.
“We want to illuminate the direction of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. Martin Luther King Jr. stood for challenging the status quo.”
Members of Young Americans for Freedom, a nonpartisan conservative activism group, planned their protest in response to the anti-war demonstration.
“We are holding this rally in opposition to them,” said Dan Medford, a political theory and constitutional democracy junior. “We think it’s important to support our country.”
Eastpointe resident Lorraine Beeman said she drove more than 100 miles to the protest. She said she wanted to hear both perspectives, but thinks the United States should continue bombings in Afghanistan.
“The protesters are misguided youth,” she said. “I think Bush is right. We were brutally attacked on our own soil.”
But Okemos resident Geoff Field said violence won’t solve anything.
“Why do we kill people who kill people to stop killing people?” the Lansing Community College student said. “They’re supporting fascists. We’re losing more freedom by being paranoid, and it looks like the clouds of Nazi Germany are heading toward us.”
The two groups exchanged accusations throughout the protests.
“They are open-minded to their own opinions and tolerant of only their own ideas,” said political science sophomore Jon Farley, a member of Young Americans for Freedom. “We should have a diversity of ideas.”
Religious studies senior Rana Chang, who watched the protest, said the groups had many of the same ideas, but the catch phrases they used did not teach anything new. Instead, they muddled the message.
“The worst part is that the (pro-war) group had to pull apart,” she said. “They have a lot of common ground. The attitudes are something we need to work on.”
