WATERVILLE (AP) – The Veterans Day parade Friday avoided a cemetery that was the site of a conflict over a display by peace activists hours earlier.

The city’s observance normally features a stop at the Veterans Memorial Park cemetery, where five people were arrested Thursday night.

This year, the parade skipped the stop.

“I purposely avoided going there,” Allen Libby of the American Legion, which sponsors the annual parade, told the Morning Sentinel newspaper.

Police intervened Thursday night when a small group led by a local Veterans of Foreign Wars post faced off with peace activists and tried to remove 2,000 white flags placed at the cemetery in remembrance of U.S. soldiers who’ve died in Iraq.

Wayne Elkins, a VFW commander who led the protesters, said he had no problem with the peace group, as long as it stays out of the cemetery.

“They desecrated our veterans’ grounds. If they want to protest, let them protest. We don’t mind. But to desecrate hallowed ground is wrong,” he said.

Elkins was one of five charged with criminal trespass. All five were released on the condition that they stay away from the park until Sunday, police said.

On Friday, the display remained despite a threat by at least one of the protesters to return later to finish the job of yanking up the flags. And the parade that concluded with an address by Sen. Olympia Snowe was uneventful.

Across the state, government offices were closed, and parades and other events were held in dozens of cities and towns.

Gov. John Baldacci participated in the traditional parade from Brewer across the Penobscot River into Bangor. In Portland, Sen. Susan Collins participated in festivities in Portland that included a parade and a low-flying jet that rattled windows.

About 12 to 15 veterans including Command Sgt. Maj. Randall Liberty, who recently returned from Iraq, marched 21 miles from Waterville to the Vietnam War memorial in Augusta to show support for those serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In Waterville, though, it was the debate over a display placed in remembrance of 2,000 U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq that caused problems.

It came to a head on Veterans Day eve when about 10 people gathered to deliver on their threat to remove the flags before the holiday. Another eight people – members of the peace group and their sympathizers – gathered nearby.

At 6:05 p.m., under the glare of TV lights, some protesters began pulling up flags.

Police quickly moved in, grabbing by the arm those who removed flags.

“I’m saddened that it has come to this, but I have a responsibility to maintain public safety,” said Police Chief John Morris, a Vietnam veteran. “Veterans don’t behave like that. These people don’t have a right to destroy other people’s property.”

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