CA: Protesters gear up for Saddleback presidential forum

[Jean]

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Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Protesters gear up for Saddleback presidential forum
Authorities expect 800 to 1,500 demonstrators to line up along sidewalks surrounding church.
By ALEJANDRA MOLINA
The Orange County Register


LAKE FOREST – From opponents of illegal immigration to anti-war activists, demonstrators are gearing up for the presidential candidates' first and only confirmed joint appearance before the party conventions this Saturday at Saddleback Church.

Signs and banners are being made, e-mails are being sent and rally organizers are tidying up last-minute details before the big event.

Authorities expect anywhere between 800 to 1,500 demonstrators to line up along sidewalks surrounding the church, said Lt. Don Barnes, chief of police services for Lake Forest.

Ian Thompson with A.N.S.W.E.R Coalition (Act Now To Stop War & End Racism), said his group is expecting many hundreds to protest the war in Iraq, among other issues.

"We will certainly have a good and vibrant demonstration and we don't plan on having any problems," Thompson said. "Iraq should be for the Iraqi people. We need more jobs and more money for education, healthcare not endless funds for the Pentagon budget which goes to fund war on innocent people abroad."

Its most significant rally this year was on March 15, when about 10,000 hit the streets of Los Angeles to protest the Iraq war. The group also recently participated in the May 1 immigrant rights rally in LA.

At least 15 different protests are expected outside the church, including one organized by a coalition of Minutemen organizations.

More than 100 anti-illegal immigration activists and Minutemen members will rally with specific demands: to free former Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean and to withhold federal funding to sanctuary cities.

"We would like the next president to make the commitment to examine the case, to pardon them because we feel their whole situation is a miscarriage of justice," said Deborah Craig with Campo Minutemen.

Ramos and Compean were convicted in 2006 and sentenced to 11 and 12 years in prison, respectively, for the February 2005 shooting of illegal immigrant and admitted drug smuggler Osvaldo Aldrete Davila on the Texas border near El Paso. Both men claimed they shot at Davila in self-defense.


Sheriff's officials have been in contact with organizations that plan to be at the event, Barnes said. Officials are also considering briefing protest organizers before the event to make sure no laws are broken while the organizations exercise their free-speech rights.

Groups maintain that they will voice their opinions without conflict, including Obama supporters who are also planning on being at Saddleback.

"We're expecting definitely a couple of hundred at least, and from all different areas of South Orange County," said Rancho Santa Margarita resident Karen Garber who will be with her fellow Obama supporters. "We're keeping it positive and respectful."

Groups expected
These groups are expected to demonstrate or protest outside the presidential forum at Saddleback Church:

OC Peace Coalition

OC Greens

World Can't Wait

Code Pink-OC

National Lawyers Guild

Latino Movement USA

Alliance for Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines

Youth & Student ANSWER

Coalition for Equal Marriage Rights

National Council of Arab Americans

Free Palestine Alliance

South Bay Peace Coalition

Party for Socialism and Liberation

San Juan Capistrano Against Racism

US Labor Against the War

Kmb Pro-People Youth

Palestinian American Women's Association

ANSWER Ventura County

www.ocregister.com

[Captainron]

If I were pastor of that church I would tell all of these group to get off the property. They can protest on public property but a church has a right to control who is on its own premises.

More than 100 anti-illegal immigration activists and Minutemen members will rally with specific demands: to free former Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean and to withhold federal funding to sanctuary cities.

What about a demand for No Amnesty?