Mondays in Davis Square have been getting louder lately, and it's not due to a rowdy bar crowd or those caffeine-addicted Starbucks customers.
People driving through are laying on their horns in support of Honk-to-Impeach, a protest taking place there Monday nights from 5 to 7 p.m. During these hours, protesters stand on street corners and hold up homemade signs expressing their frustration with the Bush Administration.
According to protester and Tufts alum Joseph Ramsey (LA '99, GA '06), Honk-to-Impeach participants are not only local residents, but also Tufts alumni and members from groups such as Somerville and Medford United for Peace and Justice and Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW).
While the displays have virtually no chance of leading to impeachment, Ramsey said that this is not their only goal.
"It's about starting conversations," he said, and noted that the group has no delusions that a Bush ouster would be the result of their protests.
IVAW member Ian LaVallee, who recently returned from an Army tour in Iraq, agreed.
"So many people don't want to talk about [the war]," he said.
Besides holding up signs, the protesters also hand out literature to passers-by, advertising upcoming anti-war events such as the National "Sick of War" Sick Day on Oct. 26.
Honk-to-Impeach is organized by a local organization called Bostonians for the Overthrow of King George.
"Our local grassroots group was started a year and a half ago at a meeting in Davis Square and now has over 240 members online," group organizer Tom Page said in an e-mail.
This organization is in turn supported by a statewide organization known as the Massachusetts Impeachment Coalition.
"Our goal is to push as hard as we can for the impeachment of Dick Cheney and George W. Bush for a myriad of crimes," coalition founder Aaron Dulles-Coelho said in an e-mail.
Dulles-Coelho said he "founded the Massachusetts Impeachment Coalition as a way of coalescing groups across the commonwealth."
Aside from the Bostonians for the Overthrow of King George, the coalition also supports other groups including Veterans for Peace, World Can't Wait and Raging Grannies, Dulles-Coelho said.
He also said that impeachment is more than punishing an individual. It also helps fix current problems so that "future administrations don't inherit and abuse a broken system."
"If Bush and Cheney get away with the crimes we allege against them, it sets a strong precedent for any future administration, be it Hillary, Obama, McCain or Giuliani, to act in much the same way as Bush/Cheney," Dulles-Coelho said.
Others, however, see the protests differently. Junior Dan Hartman, the president of the Tufts Republicans, said that while these groups "certainly have the right to protest against the war," there are "no grounds" for impeaching President Bush.
"I find it despicable that they are calling for the president's impeachment," he said. "Every American wants to get out [of Iraq] but ... it has to be done responsibly."
The protests are drawing attention in Davis Square, but according to Somerville Police Department Public Information Officer Paul Upton, no formal complaints have been filed against the group.
"People are pretty used to that being a place where people go to express themselves," Upton said, referring to the singing performances and other events that often occur in Davis.
Local businesses have had mixed reactions. Baruno Barbose, a waiter at Antonia's restaurant, called the noise "a little annoying" but said that it hasn't really had an effect on the restaurant.
"Customers laugh about it and then talk about the issues," he said. "[It] won't make a difference, [but] it's a good cause."
Leslie Hayward, a J.P. Licks employee and a junior at Tufts, agreed.
"It's not bothering anyone," she said. "Around here, everyone pretty much agrees [with them]," Hayward said.
Though Hayward thinks it is "good that so many people honk," she also felt that it's not very effective.
This won't deter the protesters of Honk-to-Impeach, however. They will continue to protest every Monday in Davis, every Thursday in Copley Square and every Friday at the intersection of Mass. Ave and Beacon St.
