BY VINAYA SAKSENA

PROVIDENCE – As the deadline for filing tax returns loomed on Wednesday, a crowd of indeterminate -- but large -- numbers converged on the State House lawn to protest what they said was a national trend toward increased government spending and taxation and away from personal liberty.

The event, dubbed the Providence Tax Day Tea Party, was one of many such events hosted around the country that day, in what its organizers said was an attempt to draw attention to out-of-control government spending, particularly in light of recent the large economic stimulus package recently passed by Congress and the federal bailout funds issued to failing financial institutions. Event Coordinator Colleen Conley said in a statement leading up to the event that the rally was intended to represent the little guy.

“This event is about the teacher who sees mediocrity rewarded the same as excellence and he has had enough," Conley said. "This event is about the businessman who has seen taxes that caused him to lay off employees and he has had enough. This event is about a carpenter that works hard to support his family and pay his mortgage but he doesn't want to be taxed to pay for someone else's mortgage. He has had enough."

Among the audience gathered outside the State House, many of them holding signs emblazoned with slogans such as “Free Markets not FreeLoaders” “Send Geithner to Gitmo.” “Progressive = liberal = fun fascism,” read another sign bearing a smiley face, adding, “Fight friendly fascism.”

The event was emceed by WHJJ talk radio host Helen Glover, who criticized an unidentified radio news report for having indicated that only 500 people were estimated to be in attendance, to strong reaction from the crowd. She said that she believed the numbers to be closer to two or three thousand, adding that she had expected the media to downplay the number of attendees. Walter Muzzy, a speaker identified as a descendent of a colonial militiaman killed at the Battle of Lexington in 1775, drew a parallel between the colonies’ fight for independence then and the movement of which that afternoon’s event was part.

“We Americans stand united and fire our warning shot,” Muzzy said. “Now the question is, will our government listen to us this time?”

Father Giacomo Capoverdi lamented what he said was a movement of people away from religion and toward a dependence on government, adding that he and others were “totally against breaking any of the Commandments, especially the Eighth Commandment, ‘Thou shalt not steal.’” He noted that rejection of religion and faith in government had resulted in catastrophe in at least one noteworthy case, that of the former Soviet Union.

At the edge of the property, volunteers sat at several small portable tables, one of which had a banner hanging over it bearing the elephant silhouette symbolizing the Republican Party. At this table, T-shirts were sold for $10 apiece and political bumper stickers were offered for a minimum $4 donation. A woman working at the table said that she and others there were GOP volunteers, but that the party itself did not have an official presence at the event.

At another table, volunteers from the Rhode Island Statewide Coalition (RISC) conducted voter registration. A volunteer working near that table, Gerry Testa, said she was not against all government-funded endeavors, but had serious concerns about people becoming dependent on government, and politicians taking advantage of that.

“I’ll pay for their education,” she said. “Poor people have to be educated. That’s the problem. They want these people to be dependent on them.”

In the lead-up to the event, allegations had been made that left-leaning organizations, such as the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) had planned to disrupt the Tea Party events or hold counter-demonstrations. During Wednesday’s event, Glover announced that a handful of counter-demonstrators had indeed turned up, and told the crowd to treat them politely.

The Times scanned the area for counter-demonstrators, but did not find many who identified themselves as such. Terrence Cannon, however, said he came to the event by himself carrying his sign, which read: “Carcieri Bush caused this mess,” in hopes of providing some balance of opinion on the site. However, he said that while initial reaction to his sign was not friendly, it did produce the desired reaction from some, which was discussion.

“I was standing pretty much alone with people yelling at me,” Cannon said. “But I pretty much expected that.”

The Times did find one person who identified himself as such, Jeremy Rix, who carried an “End war” sign at the edge of the property. Rix said that he too had a problem with the amount of money being spent by the federal government, but said the nature of his objection was different from what most of the speakers expressed that afternoon, with a focus on what he said was excessive military spending.

Not far away, at the city’s main post office, Martha Yeager of the American Friends Service Committee was engaged in a separate protest intended to draw attention to the same concern Rix expressed. The event, which was also expected to feature an appearance by the Big Nazo puppets, saw Yeager and other demonstrators speaking and distributing pins and bumper stickers bearing political slogans, in an attempt to draw attention on Tax Day to the amount of taxpayer money spent on defense, the social services and infrastructure that could be provided with the same amount of money and what Yeager said was a lack of fiscal discipline on defense projects such as the F-22 aircraft.

“Almost 58 percent of discretionary spending goes to the military, which manage to get away with 300 percent cost overruns,” Yeager said. “We just don’t (tolerate) that kind of irresponsibility with HUD or Department of Energy or anything else.”