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The vigil will begin at 2:30 p.m. Sunday in front of town hall on Scott Street.

Clergy gear up for protest in Riverside

By RICHARD PEARSALL
Courier-Post Staff


RIVERSIDE
The organizers of a prayer rally here say they expect 1,500 to 3,000 people to turn out Sunday to protest the township's Illegal Immigration Relief Act.

"We normally get over 5,000," said the Rev. Miguel Rivera, president of the National Coalition of Latino Clergy & Christian Leaders, the group sponsoring the rally against the ordinance, which seeks to punish employers or landlords who assist illegal immigrants.

Police are expecting about 800, based on the turnout at a recent rally to protest a similar ordinance in Hazleton, Pa.

They have been working with the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office to develop a plan that will ensure help from other local departments if needed, Lt. William Eliason of the Riverside Police Department said.

"There have been whispers down the lane" about counterdemonstrations, Eliason said, but no plans to stage such a demonstration have surfaced.

Discussing it Friday, Rivera said he had commitments from close to 200 clergy from five states that they will be bringing contingents.

"It's not to protest or create animosity, but to pray that God will touch the hearts of township officials," the Methodist minister from Hasbrouck Heights, Bergen County, said of the rally.

But he also accused those officials of a "racist and discriminatory attitude toward Latinos" and said "our message is that they will not get rid of us."

Mayor Charles Hilton said this week the ordinance was not intended to intimidate anyone.

"One major objective is to reduce crowding for public safety reasons," he said, pointing to what he believes is a prevalent problem in the township: large numbers of illegal immigrants crowding into buildings intended to be single-family homes.

As for the rally, Hilton said he was not planning to attend.

And, he said, he hoped there would be no counter-rallies.

"We're encouraging residents of Riverside to stay home," he said.

Reach Richard Pearsall at (856) 486-2465 or rpearsall@courierpostonline.com
Published: August 19. 2006 3:10AM