Protesters March in Boston

BOSTON – As delegates arrived Sunday for the Democratic National Convention, protesters clamored for attention, staging demonstrations and marches across the city against the Iraq war, abortion and a host of other issues.

An estimated 3,000 demonstrators, most of them protesting the war, rallied on Boston Common before winding their way through the city and marching past FleetCenter, the downtown arena where delegates will be nominating hometown candidate John Kerry for president this week.

The anti-war demonstrators were accompanied by a ragtag group protesting everything from oppression in Haiti to inadequate funding for schools and health care.

The protesters passed FleetCenter before looping back through City Hall Plaza and returning to Boston Common – a 50-acre park that is the starting point of the Freedom Trail and once was used for public hangings.

“This is just the beginning of a week of protests,” said Larry Holmes, spokesman for Act Now to Stop War and End Racism, the coalition of activist groups that staged the march.

At Faneuil Hall, the historic meeting house where patriots gathered before the American Revolution, an estimated 1,000 anti-abortion demonstrators staged a rally before a smaller group set off on a march toward FleetCenter.

A brief scuffle broke out on the Common between some of the peace demonstrators and a man carrying an anti-abortion sign. Witnesses said the man was pushed to the ground and his shirt was torn, but he was unhurt.

The anti-war and anti-abortion groups crossed paths again a few blocks from FleetCenter and exchanged angry words. A handful of anti-abortion marchers lay in the street in the fetal position as fellow protesters drew chalk outlines around them. Police moved them along, and the marchers continued their separate ways after a few moments of confusion.

Authorities took two people into custody. One was released without charges.

State police in riot gear lined Beacon Street during the anti-war march. A half-dozen cruisers and 18 police vans followed slowly along the parade route.

Representatives of the National Lawyers Guild and other civil libertarians accompanied the march, wearing hats reading “Legal Observer.”

The crowd ranged from teenagers to war veterans. They carried flags, banners and signs reading, “Bring the troops home now,” “Health care, not warfare” and “Veterans for peace.”