Protesters come out for Obama's visit

University Avenue acted as an ideological divide when President Obama came to the University of Minnesota on Saturday.
In the hours leading up to the rally, protestors lined the sidewalks on one side watching as supporters filed into the University Field House across the street.
Separated by a stretch of concrete, two groups of protestors broadcast their messages critical of the president until they left their posts around 2 p.m.
Students from the University College Republicans group congregated at 12:30 p.m., holding signs and wearing T-shirts to voice their support for Republican candidate Tom Emmer, and to criticize Obama.
The 20 or so students conversed quietly among themselves, and rarely fired back at hecklers passing by.
“We’re not trying to be here to be rude, disrespectful or rambunctious,” sophomore Jackie Caston said. “We just want to show that we don’t agree with the policies.”
The quiet protest was just one of a litany of events Minnesota College Republican ’s Executive Director Jake Loesch has set up and attended in the past months. He’s been traveling to the other 16 chapters on university campuses throughout Minnesota as the election nears.
“Mark Dayton has got the wrong message for Minnesota,” Loesch said. “We need some fiscal conservatism, and that’s just not what we see.”
Surrounded by college-age students, the middle-aged and jolly Jim Engebretson anchored the group as he waved a “Don’t tread on me” flag.
“I doubt if we’re going to change opinions of people going into the Field House, but there are a lot of people driving by,” he said.
Just steps away, a smaller group of protestors from the Anti-War Committee used handmade banners and a megaphone to get the attention of those waiting in line.
“We’re here to say, ‘You said you supported change,’ ” Meredith Aby said.
Aby was one of six Minneapolis anti-war activists whose homes were raided by the FBI on September 24 .
“I am still kind of shocked and outraged that I personally was attacked for my activism,” she said.
The group chanted over the megaphone and handed out leaflets to call for an end to the war in Afghanistan, and for the president to halt the investigation of the six AWC members.
“We want to educate Obama supporters, because we believe that if we educate his supporters, we can move him forward,” she said.