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Group Protests N.Y. Peace T-Shirt Arrest

By DAMITA CHAMBERS

GUILDERLAND, N.Y. (AP) - About 100 anti-war demonstrators marched through a mall Wednesday to protest the arrest of a shopper who wore a T-shirt that read ``Peace on Earth'' and ``Give Peace a Chance.''

``We just want to know what the policy is and why it's being randomly enforced,'' said Erin O'Brien, an organizer of the noontime rally at the Crossgates Mall in suburban Albany. ``It's only the people in the recent months who have anti-war or peace T-shirts that are being asked to leave the mall.''

Protesters met with a mall manager and said they would stop protesting when charges against the shopper were dropped and when the mall outlined its policy. A mall spokeswoman did not immediately return calls for comment.

On Monday, Stephen Downs, 61, and his son were asked by mall security guards to remove their peace-slogan shirts or leave. Downs' 31-year-old son, Roger, took off his shirt. But Downs, a lawyer with the state Commission on Judicial Conduct and a former Peace Corps volunteer, refused.

The guards called police, and he was charged with trespassing and pleaded innocent.

Police Chief James Murley said: ``We don't care what they have on their shirts, but they were asked to leave the property, and it's private property.''

The men had had the T-shirts made at a mall store and wore them while they shopped.

03/05/03 17:52