KENNEBUNKPORT – Hundreds of peace activists marched down Ocean Avenue on Saturday to within a half-mile of the home where President Bush was spending the weekend, chanting and banging drums in a noisy call to bring troops home.

The group repeatedly shouted “Cut the funding for the war, bring our troops home now!” at a police checkpoint before turning back.

Protesters carried signs with slogans including “No more blood for oil,” “U.S. out of Iraq now,” “War poisons democracy” and “Liar.”

“We want to tell President Bush to bring our troops home. We want him to restore democracy at home. And we want him to stop trampling our civil rights,” said organizer Jamilla El-Shafei, who lives in nearby Kennebunk.

Approximately 700 people participated, Police Chief Joseph Bruni said. Afterward, the group returned to a nearby soccer field for a rally.

The event was planned to coincide with Bush’s visit to his parents’ oceanfront home at Walker’s Point. The president was staying at the family’s retreat for the first time in two years to attend a wedding.

The route chosen by the demonstrators took them past the church where the wedding was scheduled to be held a few hours later.

The protesters were aligned with peace activist Cindy Sheehan, the Berkeley, Calif., mother whose son was killed in Iraq. Organizers had hoped Sheehan would address the group by phone but the logistics did not work out.

The demonstrators sang, chanted, beat drums, waved signs and even engaged in some fiddle-playing to protest the war in Iraq.

Several fiddlers dressed in togas – one wearing a Halloween mask depicting Bush – entertained the group by playing against the backdrop of a large sign with an image of the world in flames.

“Bush is fiddling while the world burns, just as Nero fiddled while Rome burned,” said Pippa Stanley, 15, of Richmond, who helped hold the sign.

The demonstration brought people from near and far.

Robin Washburn of Kennebunk carried a blow-up depiction of Bush with a Pinocchio nose and dressed in a flight suit. “I’m here because I totally oppose George Bush’s policies, especially Iraq,” she said.

Beth Leahy of York said she was protesting not just against the war in Iraq but against future wars. “The whole world has gone crazy,” said Leahy, whose son is in the Air Force and who wore a T-shirt that said, “peacemonger.”

Will Thomas, a Navy veteran from Auburn, N.H., carried a sign that said “honor the troops, mourn the dead, end the war.”

“Silence is complicity. I don’t want to be complicit. I want to speak out,” Thomas said, paraphrasing the words of the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. “I think Bush should be impeached.”

People in the wealthy tourist enclave largely went about their business, stopping occasionally to watch as the procession passed by.

The only counter-protester was a woman who criticized the group for trying to wreck the Bush family’s wedding. Wearing a New York Yankees cap and claiming to be from Brooklyn, the woman carried a sign that said “I’m surrounded by idiots.”

She marched all the way to the checkpoint at the front of the procession. “Help, I’m surrounded by idiots!” she shouted. “Idiots, idiots, idiots!”

Despite the harsh words, the event was peaceful. A few people struggled during the course of the 4.5-mile route and required assistance. There were no arrests.

Tanya Glidden, who’s eight months pregnant, completed the march with her husband and their 2-year-old son, Kai. She wore a shirt with the words “Your war his debt” on her belly. Her son wore a shirt with the words “No War” and a peace sign.

Glidden said she was frustrated about many things, not just the war. She said she was protesting “our entire government at this point.”