In Hill Offices, Protest Takes a Subtler Form

War Opponents Follow Up Weekend Rally With More Orderly 'Hall of Shame' Inductions

After Saturday's raucous antiwar rally near the U.S. Capitol led to the arrests of 192 demonstrators, police at the Rayburn House Office Building yesterday braced for a confrontation with protesters who showed up to deliver written rebukes to members of Congress who support President Bush's Iraq policy.

As about 150 peace activists gathered by an entrance to the building on First Street SW, chanting slogans and singing protest songs, a dozen officers took up positions by the doors, a duffle bag filled with plastic handcuffs at their feet.

But getting arrested wasn't on the agenda.

Before leading the group into the building, one of the protest organizers, Medea Benjamin, a founder of the antiwar group Code Pink, approached the officer in charge, Capt. William Hanny of the U.S. Capitol Police.

"Okay, if we do anything you don't want in there, would you give us a warning first?" she said. "We don't want to get arrested today. We've got people catching planes tonight."

"We will give you a warning," Hanny replied. "But it's going to be up to you."

"Because sometimes people want to get arrested," she said. "They do what they have to do to get arrested. This is not one of those days."

The captain nodded. "Just don't block the hallways. Don't blow whistles. Don't cause a disturbance. Don't do any of that, and we'll be okay."

"Will you tell them to put the cuffs away?" Benjamin, 55, asked, smiling. She believes the Iraq war is criminal. So she said, "You can take those cuffs to the White House."

Hanny did not smile back.

And so it went yesterday as protesters took their antiwar message to the halls of several congressional office buildings -- an edgy demonstration at times but peaceful in the end.

"I don't believe we made any protest-related arrests at all," said Sgt. Kimberly Schneider, a Capitol Police spokeswoman, after the activists had left.