Students protest war at recruiting stations

SEATTLE – Students from area universities, colleges and high schools rallied Monday outside a military recruiting station downtown, pounding on windows and demanding an end to U.S. operations in Iraq.

Protests also were staged outside recruiting stations north of Seattle and in the University District next to the University of Washington. Students called for an end to military recruitment in schools and said money spent on the war should be used to better fund all levels of public education.

The demonstrations downtown and in the University District each attracted three or four dozen protesters. There were no arrests.

“The youth of this city and the youth of this country are standing up against this war,” Federico Martinez, 23, a student at Evergreen State College in Olympia, said after the protests. “We want education to be the funding priority of the United States government, not the occupation of a sovereign nation.”

The demonstrations follow the Army’s one-day suspension last Friday of national recruiting efforts after reports of improprieties by recruiters trying to make up for waning recruitment numbers. The Army’s chief of recruiting, Maj. Gen. Michael D. Rochelle, said the reprieve was to allow commanders to emphasize ethical conduct.

But one day isn’t enough, said Ramy Khalil, a member of Youth Against War and Racism, a fledgling national group with two chapters in Seattle. The group did not organize Monday’s protests.

“The military is trying to give the impression that they’re resolving the situation,” Khalil said. “We think the only real solution is to end the war and bring the troops home.”

Several dozen protesters circled outside Army and Marine recruiting stations in downtown Seattle. Students carried signs that read, “Money for tuition not ammunition,” and “I want to learn to read not to kill.”

The Marine recruiting office appeared to be closed for the lunch hour. But when the small crowd approached the Army station, recruiters inside locked the doors and refused to let the students in.

Work continued as usual inside while the crowd “kinda pounded on some of the windows and doors,” said Sgt. Melisa Porter, 23, of Concord, Calif.

“Everybody’s entitled to their own freedom of speech,” said Porter, a recruiter for only five months. “I definitely stand up for what I believe in.”

Groups also staged similar demonstrations at recruiting offices in the city’s Northgate and University neighborhoods.