Inauguration

Its not a party without a protest

Around the festivities leading up to President Bush's inauguration will be those that aren't celebrating anything but their right to free speech.

WASHINGTON - During President Bush's first inauguration, when a smattering of the angry flung eggs at his motorcade, protesters at least could claim democracy had been hijacked in Florida and vent frustration that the guy who lost the popular vote was moving into the White House.

This time, President Bush was solidly re-elected, with hardly a rumble of shenanigans. He can't run again, so there are no voters to convert. Yet once again, the Billionaires for Bush will be sarcastically auctioning off Social Security, the peace activists will be staging die-ins, and the anarchists will organize, however briefly, to deliver their message of disorganization.

No one can accuse them of being quitters.

As buoyant Republicans from across the nation converge on Washington for Thursday's inauguration, booted and coiffed, their considerably less well-appointed counterparts are arriving, too, for what they're calling the counter-inauguration, or the coronation, or simply, the abomination.

Many are from the same groups that have shadowed the president like a scruffy Secret Service detail since his election, and they hope to ensure that the elephant in the ballroom doesn't hog the spotlight.

Some want to make sure dissent is still an option, or at least test the theory. Others contend the bloody chaos in Iraq, tax cuts for the wealthy and weakened environmental regulations - with more of the same promised for the next four years - are scant cause for celebration, and they hope to shine a sobering light on the black-tie balls and posh receptions for megafundraisers.

"He does not have a mandate. A thin majority of votes, maybe, but it was not a mandate," said Dean Mogelgaard, 60, a semiretired psychologist from Clearwater who is driving to Washington to protest. "I'm really upset with the way things are, and I don't think we can give up."

Organizers are aiming for the biggest crowds of Inauguration Day protesters since Richard Nixon's 1973 ceremony, at the height of the Vietnam War, drew about 60,000. Mogelgaard said he's not sure which protest he'll join, but there are no shortage of events from which to choose:

United for Peace and Justice, which led the massive march on the opening day of the Republican National Convention in New York this summer, and the D.C. Antiwar Network expect several thousand people for a rally in Northwest Washington, followed by a march to McPherson Square Park, near the White House.

The Ladies of Liberty, Code Pink and the Raging Grannies will hold a women's march and funeral procession at DuPont Circle, to protest the Bush administration's assaults on abortion rights.

A group called "The 10,000 Jesuses" is asking people to dress as characters from the New Testament and hold signs like, "What Would Jesus Bomb?"

While much of the space along Pennsylvania Avenue is reserved for ticket-holding GOP supporters, the International ANSWER Coalition, an antiwar group, obtained a permit for a plaza on the parade route. It's large enough for 10,000 people.

The public will be admitted to the parade on a first-come basis at a series of checkpoints along the way. But as in New York City for the Republican convention, where delegates were shuttled from their hotels to the heavily guarded zone around Madison Square Garden, Thursday's ceremonies will have a certain bubble feel.

With fears of a terrorist attack running high, thousands of troops and police officers from around the nation will hit the streets of Washington. Fighter jets began patrolling the skies over the city on Tuesday, rattling windows as they screamed overhead, and the first of 100 city blocks were closed near the parade route. The Washington Police Department also activated its network of 14 closed-circuit TV cameras aimed at public areas downtown.

Bush's swearing-in ceremony begins at noon, then he'll join the parade back to the White House. Security along the route will be tight, with no props or poles allowed. Dealing with these restrictions has required creativity; it is difficult to think of a modern leftist protest without giant puppets and big papier-mache heads of characters, in this case, Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

So as in New York, many of the events will happen just off the route, such as the die-ins scheduled for Thursday morning. Meanwhile, a group called Turn Your Back on Bush has tried to recruit thousands to arrive at the parade route early and, well, turn their backs as the president passes.

On their Web site, www.turnyourbackonbush.com organizers warn of a downside: Expect lots of limos, and they all look alike. "To be sure that you turn your back on Bush," they advise, "turn whenever you see a motorcade."

Turn Your Back-ers also have been asked not to wear buttons or flash other political messages, both to increase the impact and to avoid alienating any of the vast menagerie of advocacy groups - peace, hunger, gay rights, environment, anarchy, antiglobalism, globalism - who consider Bush a foe.

"We wanted people to come for their own reasons. We didn't didn't want to tell them why to come," said Emilie Karrick, 30, an organizer for Turn Your Back.

The group's founders began planning their protest the day after the November election, as Sen. John Kerry "literally . . . was making his concession speech," she said. It now boasts a mailing list of 10,000 and says backers will come from 49 states, including a Navy veteran bringing six busloads from Wisconsin, a group of labor activists from Oklahoma and a busload of Christian activists from Mississippi.

"We have felt that in the past four years, the Bush administration has really turned its back on the American people, and has shielded itself from dissent," Karrick said. "We want to show people that there's still room for voicing their opinion."

That's what drives Ryan Velasco, 24, an urban planner who works for a real estate company in Washington. In November, he worked at voter turnout in Ohio for Move On, a Democratic advocacy group. "The security is so high, I don't know how visible the protests will be," said Velasco, who lives on Capitol Hill. "Eliminating these visual presences, it's making the opposition look less than it really is.

"But I want to make sure I live in a country where it's still possible. I just need to know that I can do that."

President Bush takes the oath at noon Thursday. But there's an entire day of pomp. When coverage starts:

8 A.M.: CSPAN

9 A.M.: MSNBC, Fox News Channel

10 A.M.: WFLA-Ch. 8, WTSP-Ch. 10, CNN

11 A.M.: WEDU-Ch. 3, Telemundo

11:30 A.M.: Univision

DEMONSTRATION WEB SITES:

www.counter-inaugural.org

www.unitedforpeace.org

www.turnyourbackonbush.com

OFFICIAL SITE OF THE PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURATION:

www.inaugural05.com

THE WHITE HOUSE:

www.whitehouse.gov

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