Students stage class walk-out for peace

Anti-war protest
causes tense moments between student groups
By charles w. kim
Staff Writer
SOUTH BRUNSWICK — A group of 20 South Brunswick High School students protested the possible war with Iraq as part of an international protest held March 5.

"I was pretty happy with the turnout," event organizer Emma Peabody, 14, said Tuesday.

Peabody said that she came across the Books Not Bombs protest site on the Internet and decided to bring the protest to SBHS.

The worldwide demonstration was sponsored by the National Youth and Student Peace Coalition based in Washington, D.C.

According to that organization, more than 300 schools and universities in the United States planned to walk out of classes last week.

Students in several other countries also took part in the demonstration, according to the organization

In South Brunswick, the protest took place during the third block of classes, between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Emma said that she was surprised to see about 20 participants.

"I only expected a couple of close friends," she said.

According to Emma, the group gathered in the hall outside of the cafeteria before eventually going outside.

South Brunswick police provided two officers to monitor the demonstration, according to spokesperson Detective Jim Ryan.

The demonstration led to some tense moments, however, when a group of 12-15 counter demonstrators went outside to chastise the group.

"They were throwing things at us, like snowballs and a half-eaten apple," senior Subha Ayyala, 18, said.

Ayyala said that the counter demonstrators were chanting pro-war slogans.

"It wasn’t an attack; they were just throwing random things at us. I did not feel I was in danger," Ayyala said.

Others in the demonstration held a different view of the situation, however.

"They were cursing and screaming at us near the front of the school," 10th-grade student Seth Elberg, 15, said.

While he said he also did not feel endangered by the counter demonstrators, he did feel the tension between the groups.

Elberg said that once the students returned to the building, a fight almost broke out between the groups.

"The tensions were really rising," senior Caitlin Hopping, 17, said.

Hopping said that there was some pushing and shoving between the groups before a teacher involved in the protest broke it up.

A total of four police officers responded to the school during the demonstration, but things seemed under control, according to police.

Ryan said that the police officers did not report seeing anything being thrown, and as of Tuesday afternoon there were no reported injuries or arrests resulting from the demonstration.

"People are welcome to come down and make a report. If something happened, we will investigate it," Ryan said.