About a dozen costumed protesters — mostly women dressed as CBC character Marg Delahunty, Warrior Princess — couldn’t trick or treat their way into Mayor Rob Ford’s city hall office Monday.

As they tugged on the locked glass door to the reception area, the young male receptionist avoided eye contact — resisting an offered plate of Halloween cookies — and fled to an inside office, leaving them in the hall.

Thankfully, nobody called 911. Those protesting Ford’s reaction to a comedian on his driveway — he called police and swore at a 911 operator when officers failed to arrive promptly — put down their plastic swords and gave up.

“I think he’s unqualified to be mayor ... he’s not the chief executive of a major metropolitan city,” said Gayle Hurmuses, who organized the bit of pointed whimsy through a http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=208178215920348 Facebook pageEND that said 247 had promised to attend.

“What motivated me was just calling attention to the idiocy of him calling 911 on Marg Delahunty.”

Jack Cunningham, who teaches history at a U of T-affiliated centre, dressed in black as Leonard Cohen and wore a “Stop Ford” button. He said he was protesting Ford’s “contempt for the arts, poor judgment and bad temper.”

The mood brightened when Tom Beyer, Ford’s jovial assistant usually behind the reception desk, came out, accepted two cookies, gave them some Double Bubble in return and said: “Thanks for coming — you ladies look great. Fantastic, very impressive.”

Ford was flying back from Mexico, where he attended the closing of the Pan Am Games.