SAN DIEGO ÷ More than 6,000 copies of The Daily Aztec were taken from racks around campus Thursday and piled on the Free Speech Steps by San Diego State University students angry over two recent political cartoons published in the paper.

For about an hour, more than 30 students made requests for an apology from the newspaper and said the cartoons, published on Sept. 25 and Oct. 22, were racist.

The pile of newspapers were closely guarded by the protesting crowd, who told onlookers, "If you want to read The Daily Aztec you have to come through us."

Chants, such as, "What do we want? An apology! Who do we want it from? The Daily Aztec! When do we want it? Now!" could be heard along Centennial Walkway and throughout Aztec Center.

Protesters also taped down a few dozen copies of the paper to outline the word "racism" on the top stair of the steps.

The students were angered over one cartoon where Yasser Arafat and Saddam Hussein were depicted as camels. President George W. Bush is in the middle of the figures dressed as a cowboy saying, "Definitely time for a regime change." The other cartoon, published Oct. 22, showed a large man labeled as China speaking in broken English and denying knowledge of North Korea's nuclear arms.

Omar Behnawa, one of the organizers of the protest, said the Sept. 25 "Camels gone wild" cartoon was stereotypical of Middle Easterners. He said the cartoon turned his stomach.

"It hit my nerve," Behnawa said. "It hurts me to see that more students don't understand."

Behnawa explained that to Middle Easterners, being called a camel or camel jockey is derogatory and insulting. He compared the term to someone calling a black person a nigger.

"We're supposed be intellectual about this ÷ we're supposed to be open-minded," he said. "We shouldn't promote hate and things that fuel that hatred."