VESTAL, N.Y. -- About a dozen people were arrested for allegedly pushing police officers during an anti-war protest on the Vestal Parkway. The protest escalated into a face-off with law enforcement.

Dozens of State Troopers, local police officers, and sheriff's deputies were on one side of Vestal Parkway, protestors were on the other side.

"We don't want attention for the protest we're trying to remind the cops that people are dying over there and we are one with the cops. This isn't supposed to be us versus them," said Elisa Selman, a protestor.

But the parkway protest didn't start that way. Earlier on Binghamton University's campus, students, professors, and members of the community held an anti-war protest on the fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq. But 60 of them decided to take their message to the streets and walk on the parkway toward an Army recruitment office.

"They told us to get off of the street, we did that. For some reason people were getting arrested, some were getting pepper sprayed,” said Mari Pfingston Bigelow.

The protest caused traffic on the parkway to be backed up for miles. Police officers said they have never seen anything like this before in Vestal.

"At first we gave them the first lane which was a driving lane and they were walking peaceful. Then they went over to the pass lane and blocked complete roadway. It created a safety problem for the intersections back by the SUNY campus,” said Jerry Mullins with the Vestal police.

Police officers said it's when some protestors started to get physical they took action.

Eight of the people arrested were Binghamton University students. The school said three of them were remanded to Broome County Jail. The rest were released.