While coronation festivities were under way in Washington for President Bush Thursday, local residents performed a mock inauguration on a live bush — the plant — in protest.

Ducking catcalls and hoots from supporters of President Bush, about 35 students and Athens residents staged a noisy but peaceful “counter inauguration” Thursday afternoon at the Arch.

The group was there to protest Bush’s policies in Iraq, the economy and what leaders described as an abysmal record on civil rights.

Many in the crowd carried homemade signs, urging Americans to speak out against the policies of Bush, who was sworn in for his second term early Thursday afternoon in Washington.

Most marchers were students, but some Athenians who took part were old enough to have protested against the Vietnam War some 35 years ago.

One sign read, “He ain’t my president. Disappointed? Yes. Defeated? No. Continue to speak out.” The sign was held by 55-year-old Drago Tesamoveich, a resident of Colbert.

“People need to continue to speak out to show that the president doesn’t have a mandate,” he said.

Dan Buffington, one of the leaders of the Athens Global Justice Collective group, said “this protest is a testament to the damage the policies of this administration have caused.”

“Bush has the ability to unite people who are more humanistic. It really says something that people are holding a counter inauguration, that’s a rare thing,” he said.

Mitch Jones, a senior from Dacula, held a sign that read, “Stop the war of terror.”

“It doesn’t affect us unless we make it affect us; people should get involved,” he said.

The protesters then marched two blocks to Athens City Hall, escorting a real bush — as in one that grows — that was anchored to the top of a white van and escorted by eight students on bicycles.

The crowd chanted, “Bush says more war, we say what for,” as they marched. Cars honked and people yelled, pumping their fists in the air as the group passed by.

As the protesters made their way, a man yelled from a white Ford Explorer, “Four more years!” The crowd then replied by yelling back, “Four more wars!”

The man in the Ford Explorer was Michael Alexander, a sophomore biology student.

“I respect the views of others but feel Bush will do a good job as he has done in the past,” Alexander said.

Upon arriving at City Hall, the bush was taken from the top of the van to the area in front of the building where the famous double barrel Civil War cannon sits.

There the “coronation” took place to much adulation from the crowd.