Pro- and anti-war protestors faced off on the Macalester campus Saturday, when Mac Republicans held a "support our troops" barbecue across the street from the peace camp, which responded with a protest of their own.

Mac Republicans sold "freedom burgers" and "liberty dogs" on the lawn in front of Kagin Commons from noon to four, Mac Republicans co-chair Brett Cramer said. They held the barbecue as a fun way to "show support for our troops, our administration, and action in Iraq," he said.

Mac Greens co-chair Jesse Mortensen said he was sleeping in the peace camp when a fellow peace activist came to his tent and woke him up to protest the barbecue. Peace protestors gathered behind the Grand Avenue fence between the chapel and campus and center.

"There were only about ten of us at first," Mortensen said, but added that by the time the barbecue dispersed around forty people had gathered on the anti-war side.

"Perhaps the most exciting part was when Jared [Lodge] spray painted 'Support Our Troops: Bring Them Home' on a bedsheet," Luce Guillen-Givens '06 said. She and Lodge then ran across the street and held up the sheet, blocking the barbecue from view of Grand Avenue traffic, which responded with enthusiasm for both sides throughout the day.

They held the sheet up for about thirty seconds before a security guard removed them, Guillen-Givens said. "Other than that," she said, "the anti-war protest was not very spirited."

Both pro- and anti-war protests were joined by people from outside Macalester. College Republicans from St. Thomas, the University of Minnesota and St. Cloud State attended the pro-war barbecue, along with five or six Twin Cities area residents who said they saw the event advertised in Saturday's Pioneer Press.

The Mac Republicans consider the barbecue an overall success, Cramer said. He added that he was disappointed with the bickering that went on between the groups of protestors.

Cramer said he was glad the event coincided with the weekend of one of Macalester's Spring Samplers, "so prospective students could see the diversity of political views that really does exist on campus."