Not all the action at Washington University took place inside
the debate hall–or even on campus.

Citizens and political activists from as close as St. Louis
and as far away as outlying municipalities in Missouri and Illinois
showed up last Friday night: Some to support, some to
protest.

Republicans and Democrats turned out with signs and slogans
to rally behind their respective presidential candidates while
Greens, Libertarians and a slew of other activists marched from the
Delmar Loop to the school to protest the debate structure
itself.

Later, two third-party candidates crossed police lines, in
protest, and were arrested.

The sparring inside the debate hall at Washington University last
Friday, between presidential hopefuls George W. Bush and John
Kerry, wasn’t the only point of political tension.

In addition to the crowds of Republican and Democratic
supporters that swarm around the two prominent candidates wherever
they go in these final weeks before the election, crowds of
protesters also marched around the school’s campus, in opposition
to the form of the presidential debate itself

“I’m out here to protest, along with so many others, the
corporate take-over of our government, of our society, of our
culture and of our elections…specifically, in this case, the
debate process,” said Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb
as he walked with a mixed crowd of a few hundred protestors from
Skinker Blvd. to Big Bend Blvd., just south of the university.

“These are not real debates,” he added, “these are staged
infomercials, specifically designed to ensure that alternative
voices are heard, and not allowed to be heard.”

Greens were only one faction of the protest group, which marched
from Grace United Methodist Church, at 6199 Waterman Blvd., through
the Delmar Loop, south on Skinker (past Wash U.), west on Wydown
Blvd. and north on Big Bend, to Forsyth, where barricades and lines
of riot police blocked access to the campus.

Some of the protesters gathered at the church early in the
morning and participated in workshops–on a smattering of social
issues, from globalization, to police brutality, to racial
profiling in America since Sept. 11.

Saint Louis University’s own John Slozar, Ph.D., of the school
of social service, lectured on the School of the Americas, in Ft.
Benning, Ga.

Aside from members of the St. Louis October 8 Coalition, which
organized the workshops, the “Parade for True Democracy” and the
rally at Forsyth and Big Bend, Libertarians also had a strong
presence in the crowd of protestors.

Michael Badnarik, the Libertarian presidential candidate,
marched because he felt excluded from the debates.

“I have the freedom of speech and they have no authority to
barricade that,” Badnarik said, according to the St. Louis
Post-Dispatch.

Badnarik and Cobb, the Green candidate, later crossed a line of
about 50 riot police at the university’s Skinker entrance, in an
act of civil disobedience, and were subsequently arrested.

When the marchers reached the police lines at Big Bend and
Forsyth, they were encountered by large crowds of Bush/Cheney
supporters who had gathered at the public viewing area with the
hope of glimpsing the president’s motorcade as it zipped down
Forsyth.

For about 20 minutes the protestors swelled, their drumming and
dancing becoming more vigorous, their chanting and shouting louder
and more passionate.

With no barriers between the groups, protesters crashed over the
edges of the Bush camp, mingling with the crowd as they chanted
“Four more years!”

Some protestors rejoined with “Four more weeks,” some with “No
more years,” until all three slogans sloshed together in a messy,
incoherent shouting match.

Amid it all, a young man sat upon the knoll leading from Big
Bend to the public viewing area with his eyes closed, his legs
crossed, his hands held lightly together in his lap, Bush lovers
and haters stomping all around him. A slightly-crumpled hardbox of
Marlboro Reds lay beside him on the grass.

A woman stood to one side, dressed all in black, draped in a
veil, wearing a sign that read, “Iraq war widow.” She nodded in
assent as the protestors circled in front of the barricades.

A boy stood on the knoll proclaiming, to no one in particular,
“God loves Bush.”

A middle-aged man with a Bush sign observed the shouting
protesters, then turned to the man next to him and said, “Those
that scream the loudest have nothing to say.”

“This is my last chance to protest Bush as president,” joked SLU
junior Charlie Crowley, who was among the marching crowd. “So I
must take this opportunity to tell him goodbye.”

SLU’s more conservative students were out in force at rally,
though; the College Republicans signed up as many as 70 members to
attend the event.

“[We] all recognize the kind of leadership that we need in the
next four years,” said Will Dreiling, the group’s first vice
chairman, “and it’s certainly not going to come from the guys
beating the drums out there in the streets.”

Dreiling said that Sept. 11 showed him the United States needs a
strong commander in chief, “and I recognize strong leadership, and
determination and courage when I see it–and that’s what we’ve seen
in President Bush.”

College Republicans from the University of Missouri-St. Louis
and Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville were also present
Friday.

Many Kerry/Edwards supporters skipped the chance to rally at
Washington University to attend a debate watch at America’s Center,
in downtown St. Louis. More than 6,100 arrived for the event,
sticking around until after the debate to hear from Kerry himself,
who spoke to the crowd for about 15 minutes.

Bush held a post-debate rally at Greensfelder Recreation Center
at Queeny Park in west county.

Katie Childs contributed reporting for this article.