Thread: 250 Demonstrators Show Up In Laguna Beach To Protest

I heard on the radio one person was arrested for throwing a cup of water in another person's face. No mention which side did it.

http://cbs2.com/topstories/local_story_196161802.html

Jul 15, 2006 12:48 pm US/Pacific

Demonstrators Show Up In Laguna Beach To Protest
(CBS) LAGUNA BEACH About 250 demonstrators showed up to protest at a Laguna Beach day labor center, shouting at each other from both sides of the immigration debate.

The anti-illegal immigration Minuteman Project organized the demonstration to protest a City Council decision to approve a one-year lease with the California Department of Transportation for the small patch of land where the day labor site is located.

Laguna Beach police Sgt. Ray Hauser said about 125 protesters from each side showed up and shouted at each other. About eight officers monitored the protest, which ended with no reports of violence, however one woman was arrested.

Lease details have not been worked out, however workers continued to meet local builders and other employers at the day labor center.

The Minuteman Group says they don't want taxpayer's money to fund projects to help illegal immigrants. Wiley Drake, the group's chaplain, says protesters were "outraged" that the city allowed the day labor center. Drake says the group will encourage a boycott of Laguna Beach.

The California Department of Transportation agreed to a one-year lease with the city for the continued operation of the day-labor site along Laguna Canyon Road (Highway 133).

Caltrans ordered the city to close the site after Minuteman member and illegal immigration activist Eileen Garcia found records showing the land was state-owned and not properly permitted for the use of day labor-related activities.

The Laguna Canyon site has been used by day laborers and their employers since 1993 when the city passed a law restricting day laborers to the road.

Could not the Minutemen file a civil action, and as a part of it, get a temporary restraining order to shut down this site pending the outcome of suit?

Still no confirmation who was arrested but a news report mentioned Jim Gilchrist said they were not in the minutemen group.

http://www.kesq.com/Global/story.asp?S=5155521&nav=9qrx

Anti-illegal immigration protestors gather in Laguna Beach

LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. Anti-illegal immigration activists marched in Laguna Beach today and were met by counter-protestors.

Police say about 250 people gathered at a day labor center and one woman was arrested for throwing water in the face of a protester with opposing views.

The Minuteman Project organized the demonstration to protest the use of tax-payer money to lease a some land for day laborers, many of whom are immigrants.

Laguna Beach police say the protesters were noisy, but largely peaceful.

http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/ne ... 213272.php

Sunday, July 16, 2006

Rallies square off at labor center
Critics, supporters kept apart during contentious but peaceful protests at Laguna site that serves illegal immigrants.





By JOHN GITTELSOHN
The Orange County Register

LAGUNA BEACH - The first protest since the city decided to keep open its day labor center, which helps many illegal immigrants find work, ended mostly peacefully Saturday.

A bicyclist suffered minor road burn when he bumped a car driven by an anti-illegal-immigration demonstrator who was trying to park. A distracted driver rear-ended another car, injuring its driver, who was taken away by ambulance.

And a counterdemonstrator, Danielle Heck of Los Angeles, was cited on a misdemeanor battery charge and released after police said she splattered water on Eileen Garcia, one of the organizers of the "Shame on Laguna" rally.

Garcia, a Laguna Beach homemaker, nearly forced the labor center's closure after she discovered the land belongs to the state Department of Transportation. But the City Council agreed last week to keep the center open by leasing the land, prompting Saturday's protest.

"I don't think those workers are Laguna Beach residents. I don't think the contractors who hire them are Laguna Beach residents," Garcia said. "But Laguna Beach is like an island and it's the rich people here who don't want to pay a fair wage."

David Peck, chairman of the South County Cross Cultural Council, the nonprofit that runs the labor center, said the center provides a safe, orderly and necessary place for residents to hire day workers, a demand that exists outside the immigration debate.

"It's a very pragmatic solution to a very complex problem," Peck said. "It really helps everybody in Laguna Beach."

Police placed traffic cones down the middle of Laguna Canyon Road to separate about 40 anti-illegal-immigration demonstrators from about 60 day laborers and two dozen counterdemonstrators who supported the labor center.

The two sides taunted each other in English, Spanish and with hand gestures that needed no translation. The protesters who dubbed themselves "patriots" waved American flags and placards demanding deportation of illegal immigrants. The counterprotesters waved a Mexican flag and signs calling the people across the street "racist."

"This isn't about racism. They're taking jobs away from our veterans, from our disabled," said Ron Bell, a waiter from Orange whose sign said: "Laguna's City Council is corrupt. They support illegals.' "

Eric Potma, an assistant professor of chemistry at UC Irvine, defended the day laborers, saying they were merely seeking a better way of life. "It's unjust to target these people," he said.

The protest scared most employers away from the site. Only 17 of the 60 day laborers got jobs Saturday, usually one of the busiest days of the week.

Javier Rodriguez, a legal immigrant who works as a roofer during the week, left empty-handed after driving from Santa Ana to look for work.

"I wanted the extra money," said Rodriguez, who usually earns at least $120 for a day job at the center. "I'll come back tomorrow."

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