About 50 protesters have gathered amid a heavy police presence as thousands make their way to the dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Center.
The protests were restricted Thursday morning to a zone cordoned off by barricades and separated from the center by a highway.
Dallas police tweeted Thursday that three people had been arrested.
3 protestors have been arrested so far. #POTUS — Dallas Police Depart (@DallasPD) April 25, 2013
About 30 protesters are wearing black while holding signs exclaiming, "Crimes against humanity" and "Does America have a conscience?" Other signs list the names of soldiers and others who died in wars launched by the Bush administration.
The protesters included ex-talk show host Phil Donahue, who co-produced and was executive director of the anti-war documentary called "Body of War" about an injured Iraq veteran.
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Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan is also among the protesters. She says she's protesting both Bush and his successor in the oval office.
Sheehan famously camped out near Bush's Crawford, Texas, ranch to protest the war in Iraq. Eight years after her son died in Iraq, Sheehan says she still has a reason to protest.
Sheehan feels that President Barack Obama has maintained much of Bush's national security strategy. She says: "I wake up every day feeling like today's the day to make a difference. I never question the correctness of what I'm doing or the need for it."
Another protester, Coleen Rowley of Apple Valley, Minn., is wearing an orange jumpsuit and yelling "Close Guantanamo," a reference to the U.S. detention facility for suspected insurgents. She directed her comments to some of the 10,000 people heading to the campus of Southern Methodist University for the dedication.
