On Friday February 16 a group of around 20 people attended a protest organized by the local anti-war group ACTIVATE (see also: video and photos). The protest took place outside the local military recruiting station on East Beltline and Knapp in the Celebration Cinema complex, chosen specifically because of its direct connection to the war. This protest was part of the group's "Days of Resistance" campaign, which is to serve as a build up to the fourth anniversary and the war in Iraq, and to inject some much needed energy into the local West Michigan anti-war movement. ACTIVATE issued a press release articulating that they were holding this protest to call for the immediate end to the war, to expose the military's misrepresentation of service, and to counter the lies the military uses to attract young people into service. As is usually the case with local events expressing dissent, the corporate media failed to cover the event despite a clear tie-in to the debate over the war taking place that day in the House of Representatives.

Upon arriving at the station, several members tried to enter the recruiting station in order to express their grievances personally with the recruiters. They chanted "Occupation is a crime, from Iraq to Palestine." Recruiters responded to this in a rather aggressive manner, shoving the people out of the door and locking it behind them. Several people taped altered military advertisements to the windows of the station highlighting the prevalence of sexual assault and the deaths of US soldiers, while a heavy trashcan was also placed in front of the door. The recruiters moved to the back of the building to continue their business and the group of protesters followed, opening up the door in order to disrupt interaction between recruiters and potential recruits. Again the recruiters responded by hitting protesters with the door and their shoulders. At this point the recruiters locked all the doors to the station. Several protesters read the names of Iraqi civilians who have been murdered by US forces into a megaphone directed at a potential recruit inside. Other protesters distributed fliers to the public and pounded on the windows, in addition to placing fliers on the government cars in the parking lot. The group continued to make noise outside the station with various chants and drumming until the police arrived. The police informed the group that taping fliers to the window and disrupting the activities of the recruiters could possibly lead to arrest. The police and recruiters also contacted the owner of the Celebration Cinema plaza in an attempt to have him ask the police to remove the protesters, however, he declined.

During the time the police were talking to several recruiters inside the building, some interesting exchanges occurred between protesters and the recruiters who came outside. One particularly zealous recruiter took it upon himself to tell the protesters that they should shower if they wanted to incite. He also told the group of protesters that the Army wasn't there to be nice, but it was there to protect. When confronted with the fact that the Army doesn't protect human rights, the recruiter responded with "you don't know that." After this exchange, this recruiter headed back into the building. Before reentering the building, he shouted to the group of protestors to "go back across the border." This blatant racism is nothing new from the military, however, it is highly ironic that they would choose a derogatory statement targeting Spanish speaking peoples, given their current attempt to "branch out" to that sector of the population with multi-lingual literature and aggressive marketing efforts.

After this brilliant comment from the recruiter, the group of protesters continued to chant and make noise. This drew the same recruiter out of the station for another debate. The recruiter commented to one protester that "he had to kill people in order to make room for his gut." Protestors were somewhat blown away by this comment, a comment so absurd that a police officer requested that the recruiter go back into the station because he was making it hard for the police to defend him.

The police later emerged from the building and talked to the group about what the group could do while at the station. Not wanting to be permanently banned from the complex, the group of protesters decided to head home feeling that they had accomplished all that could be done at this time.