San Francisco police said a couple dozen protesters showed up in the city's shopping district this morning to fulfill -- symbolically -- a promise to break windows to dramatize their opposition to the Iraq war.

A police spokesman said the demonstrators apparently brought computer discs with them, along with photos of Iraqi children, to the to deliver their message. The 10 a.m. protest took place at the intersection of Powell and Market streets, and there were no arrests.

"We smashed Microsoft Windows discs,'' explained Jeff Grubler of a small anti-war group calling itself "Think Different Anti-Censorship Collective.'' He said the affinity group, which is linked to a much larger network called Direct Action to Stop the War, has been working for years to bring greater public awareness to the suffering of Iraqis due to the Persian Gulf War and subsequent international sanctions.

Grubler said he notified city police before today's action so that nearby merchants would not be alarmed. The 15 or so people who stood beside the cable car turnaround were hoping to shine a spotlight on the effects of war overseas, he added, rather than get into a "cop-and-mouse'' game on city streets.

The peace advocate said he sought to use "creativity in place of vandalism'' to get his point across, including such tactics as stunts, stand-up comedy and phony products to call attention to issues such as the environmental impact of war in Iraq that he believes are being neglected in the media.