Anti-war demonstrators arrested in Minn.

MINNEAPOLIS, March 25 (UPI) -- Nearly 70 anti-war demonstrators were arrested Tuesday when they linked arms and sat down in front of metal detectors blocking access to the Federal Courthouse in Minneapolis.

About 200 people blocked entrances at the Old Federal Building in a demonstration of nonviolent civil disobedience against U.S. military action in Iraq. The protest followed the arrest 28 demonstrators who refused to leave the St. Paul offices of Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., Monday afternoon. Coleman, who supports the ouster of Saddam Hussein and his regime, attended a Minnesota National Guard deployment ceremony at Fort Snelling and returned to Washington.

Police were ordered to remove a "Support Our Troops" bumper sticker from a patrol car after a complaint was filed, the St. Paul Pioneer Press said.

A 49-year-old truck driver was charged with aggravated menacing, inducing panic and reckless operation of a motor vehicle after he allegedly drove his tractor-trailer rig toward protesters on the Ezzard Charles Bridge over Interstate 75 in Cincinnati.

The semi stopped on the sidewalk about 10 feet from the closest of about 40 protesters during the Monday evening rush hour. No one was injured.

Protesters said the trucker started honking and appeared to make an obscene gesture as he drove toward the demonstrators who were holding "Peace In Iraq" signs and waving to vehicles from the side of the highway.

Several hundred people were expected to attend a support the troops rally Tuesday evening at the Veterans of Foreign Wars hall in Naperville, Ill.