After about an hourlong standoff, they retreated to find another way to the convention site. But police also had blocked major roads to the Xcel Center.

Police blocked the bridge, which runs over Interstate 94 about a quarter-mile from the convention site, after the protesters' march permit had expired.

"The important thing is even though we didn't have a permit to march, people have decided they want to keep protesting despite all these riot police," said Meredith Aby, a member of the Anti-War Committee.

Police wore gas masks and riot gear in preparation for a possible confrontation. Protesters chanted "Whose war? Their war. Whose streets? Our streets." Others said: "This is what a police state looks like."

Two people _ a young couple lying on the Capitol lawn _ were arrested before the march began.

St. Paul Police Sgt. John Lozoya said the man was suspected of breaking a window at a Macy's during a march downtown on Monday. He did not know why the other person, a young woman, was arrested.

Protesters circled the officers, chanting "Let them go, let them go," as they made the arrests.

Speakers at a rally, which attracted about 500 people, angrily accused police of trying to intimidate protesters and vowed the march would go on.

"The kids were just sitting on the ground and the police walked up to them and jumped them," said Lisa Stone, 41, of St. Paul, who witnessed the arrests. "This is a demonstration to try to promote peace. That's not going to happen if this is the way they're going to act. All it's doing is hyping everyone up."

More than 400 people have been arrested in the past week, most on Monday, when violence broke out at the end of another anti-war march.

The Anti-War Committee, which organized Thursday's march, urged others to join in and denounced the increased presence of police in riot gear and acts of "intimidation" in the city.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty blamed the week's violence on a small group of "anarchists, nihilists, and goofballs who want to break stuff and hurt people."

"They need to be dealt with," Pawlenty said in a radio interview with WCCO-AM of Minneapolis.

Earlier Thursday, about 150 people marched peacefully from the Capitol across the Mississippi River to a park near the Xcel center, chanting: "Hey hey, ho ho, Bush and Cheney need to go to Guantanamo."

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Associated Press writers Jon Krawczynski, Martiga Lohn and Ryan J. Foley contributed to this report.