Oct 15, 4:59 PM EDT

At border, Minutemen keep low profile, protesters don't

DERBY LINE, Vt. (AP) -- Members of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps were out patrolling the U.S.-Canadian border on Saturday but they were looking to keep a low profile.

Much more out in the open were the roughly three dozen protesters who turned out near the border station separating Derby Line from Stansted, Quebec, to voice their opposition to the Minutemen in a driving rain.

"We don't like the idea of the militia on our border," said one member of the Raging Grannies, a singing group comprising mostly elderly women from the Montpelier and Plainfield areas. The Grannies are a common feature at Vermont protests.

The protesters were there to criticize the Minutemen, a citizens' militia made up of members who believe the government isn't doing enough to defend the nation's borders.

One member of a group of Minutemen spotted later at a nearby shopping plaza said the group was there "to help protect our borders against illegal immigrants."

Greg LeMay of Long Island, N.Y., said the group was not interested in any kind of encounter with the protesters. "We're nonconfrontational," he said. "What's the sense in picking a fight? ... We're here to spot any illegal activity. It's really no different from a community watch."

LeMay said he had come to the border region Saturday with about a dozen comrades.

The Minutemen started in the Southwest, along the border with Mexico, and recently have made known their intention to begin operations on the northern border.

Hearing that protesters planned to turn out Saturday in opposition to the Minutemen's efforts, Chris Simcox, a co-founder of the militia, this past week called the critics "domestic terrorists."

There were no discernible acts of terrorism during Saturday's protest.

The protest appeared peaceful and the Vermont State Police, U.S. Border Patrol and Customs agents who kept watch did so mainly from a respectful distance.

That was until the protesters approached the international boundary, when the authorities drew closer.

Similarly minded groups on the U.S. and Canadian sides of the border shouted encouraging words to one another. "I'd like to come and shake your hand but I'm afraid of your Border Patrol," someone shouted from the Canadian side.

The groups began kicking a ball back and fourth across the border, a game that concluded when a Vermont state trooper took the ball away.

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