Thread: Immigration march ends in clash with police

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Immigration march ends in clash with police
By CARLOS VILLATORO, Register Staff Writer
Sunday, April 2, 2006 12:12 AM PST

About 100 protesters clashed with police Saturday afternoon, ending the latest local march against legislation that would turn illegal immigrants into felons and erect a wall at the U.S.-Mexican border.

At its height more than 500 young and old people marched along Jefferson Street and through downtown Napa to show their opposition to HR 4437. Protesters marched down the pavement holding anti-HR 4437 signs and chanting "Si Se Puede," -- yes, it can be done -- whistling and yelling at motorists. The crowd seemed to grow larger as protesters marched through residential neighborhoods, catching the eye of residents. Some motorists followed alongside marchers, honking their horns and yelling.

As the numbers dwindled after hours of protest that was peaceful, according to Napa Police Sgt. Tim Cantillon. Some of the protesters fought with residents before a group of 100 gathered in the parking lot of La Morenita market on Jefferson Street, across from Napa High School, blocking traffic along the way, according to a police report.

The group disregarded requests to leave one lane of traffic open. Twelve police officers responded to the scene. Police arrested one juvenile for failure to disperse, and another for throwing objects at officers, according to Napa City Police. Two officers received minor injuries during the incident.


The crowd responded to the arrests by yelling at the police, questioning the arrest. Officers, including a K-9 officer and police dog, attempted to break up the protesters and "deployed pepper spray" to disperse the crowd, according to Napa Police Sgt. Paniagua. The crowd responded by throwing rocks or chunks of asphalt, water bottles and cola cans at the officers. The demonstrators moved to the back of the market's parking lot and down Brown Street, dispersing over the course of about 20 minutes, Paniagua said.

Advocates of HR 4437 say that the bill is the first step in securing the country's borders. Congress is debating competing proposals to deal with the estimated 10 million to 12 million undocumented residents believed to be living in the country.

The other proposals, and one supported by President Bush, would create a temporary worker program that would allow hundreds of thousands of workers to cross the border and work in selected industries, such as agriculture.

A bill passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee this week would create an 11-year path to legalization through a "guest worker" program, provided undocumented workers are law-abiding, employed and learning about the American system of government. The bill still has to be voted on by the full Senate.

Whatever the Senate passes must be reconciled with the House bill in conference committee in coming months, so it's unclear what the eventual outcome of the debate will be.

The protest is the fourth of the week in Napa. On Friday, a protest rallied more than 250 Napa, Vintage and New Tech High School students to oppose the bill.

Night City Editor Jill Decker contributed to this report.

Throwing rocks, asphalt, drink cans & water bottles at police and they only arrested two? They should have brought in the fire trucks and cooled them off before taking ALL of them to jail.

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I feel like the look-out on the Titanic. I think the Napa California violence at the "immigration" protest is just the tip of a coming iceberg.

I was caught up in the 1/2 million marchers in Chicago. They were "orderly" marching in. But when they left they took many streets not designated for the protest. They blocked intersections and streets. They looked defiantly at anyon trying to steer their cars around or through them.

This is going to finally arouse passions in those who have been sitting on the sidelines---why I don't know--political correctness??? Something bad is going to happen to trigger this mess off and it will not be fun or funny. As a policeman here for 30 years--including 1968--I have seen these things blow-up and they are dangerous.

I feel that you cannot keep shoving yourself in people's faces and not expect to get pushed back. Or maybe we are too "politically correct" and lazy. Who knows??

Bill

Nope..we're not too pc...definitely not 'too lazy'. We're quite heated up over the lawlessness...the in your face arrogance of illegals.

I know how quickly one small spark can set off a conflagration that is not easily stopped. I've seen it with my own eyes. I hope so much that nothing happens to incite riots. With the rancor on both sides it could really be dangerous.

What we're waiting for is the LAW....we're mostly lawful people. God help us if that law comes down on the wrong side of this issue.

MJ