NEW YORK (1010 WINS)  -- Eighteen anti-war protesters who call themselves the Granny Peace Brigade went on trial Thursday for staging a rally in Times Square last year, with the prosecution saying the case was about disorderly conduct _ not war.

The defendants, some supporting themselves on canes and walkers, entered the small courtroom packed with about 75 supporters. They are each charged with two counts of disorderly conduct stemming from an Oct. 17, 2005, protest against the war in Iraq outside the military recruiting station in Times Square.

They are being tried as a group in a nonjury trial before Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Neil Ross.

The women _ several in their 80s and 90s and most of them grandmothers, with three boasting to be great grandmothers _ wore buttons that read: ``Granny Peace Brigade'' and ``Love the Troops, Hate the War.''

Some wore T-shirts emblazoned with the words: ``We will not be silent.''

``This case is simple and straightforward,'' Assistant District Attorney Amy Miller said in her opening statement. ``It's not about the war; it's about disorderly conduct.''

She said the defendants sat in front of the recruiting station, obstructed pedestrian traffic and refused to disperse as ordered. Miller said this prevented others from going in or out of the center.

Defense attorney Norman Siegel countered that ``this trial is about the actions of 18 defendants, many of whom are grandmothers. Their intent was to alert an apathetic public about the war in Iraq.''

He said they went to the recruiting station to try to enlist but the door was locked, so they sat and started chanting, ``We insist! We want to enlist!''

``But alas the door remained locked,'' Siegel said.

Prior to their court appearance, the women, some decked out in colorful straw hats chock full of slogan buttons and many bearing photos of their grandchildren, held an early morning rally where they sang to the melody of ``Camptown Races.''

``Bush's policies are wrong.

They're doo doo

Going to rage and roar

Going to stop the war

We're raging grannies

Singing our song

It's all a Doo-da Day.''

Holding up her cane, Marie Runyon, a silver-haired 91-year-old grandmother, angrily shouted that the war ``is wrong as all get-out! And we're against it, and we'll do whatever it takes, whatever we can do to stop it.''

Vinie Burrows, a Broadway actress, playwright and great-grandmother, told the rally: ``We are fed up, we are tired, we are sick and tired of that pre-emptive, immoral, illegal war that is being raged against the people of Iraq.''

Siegel told the judge that the defendants had a right to protest and to sit in front of the recruiting center.

He said the defense has witnesses and a videotape that shows that the door opened for one man who went in.

``They did not break any laws,'' he said. ``They were respectful, orderly, justified and patriotic.''

Prosecutors called three police officers as witnesses. All testified that the protesters refused to move when Lt. Kevin Lee, the first witness, told them to disperse and that the demonstrators were polite and orderly.

Officer Miguel Cruz, who exchanged broad smiles with the three women he arrested, testified that a sidewalk leading to the recruiting center was clear and unobstructed and he did not see anyone try to enter the office.

Earl Ward, another defense attorney, said he expected all 18 of the defendants to testify after the defense begins its case, probably on Monday.

The trial was to resume at 10 a.m. Friday.

Earlier Thursday, the women rejected a plea deal that would have adjourned the case and dismissed it in six months if there were no further violations of the law. They pleaded not guilty to disorderly conduct and vowed to keep agitating against the war.