Thread: LA Times/Protest in Baldwin Park Is Peaceful

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...ck=1&cset=true

Immigration Protest in Baldwin Park Is Peaceful

Sixty people from a Ventura County group opposed to words on artwork at a Metrolink station are met by 600 counter-protesters.

By Wendy Thermos, Times Staff Writer

A face-off Saturday in Baldwin Park over illegal immigration, sparked by a piece of public art, was peaceful despite authorities' fears of violence.

Next to City Hall, where about 60 protesters opposed to illegal immigration waved signs and American flags, about 600 counter-protesters sang, danced, chanted and beat drums to urge tolerance.

"It's not a confrontational us-versus-them thing. It's to show unity," said counter-demonstrator Rosa Romero, 25, of Los Angeles, as she took a break from painting signs. "I'm here to show support for the community."

Officials said about 20 people were cited for crossing police lines or trying to outflank officers by walking onto a Metrolink right-of-way.

"They were endangering themselves by being on the tracks," said city spokesman Adan Ortega. Ventura County-based Save Our State has been pressuring the city for two months to remove inscriptions on an archway called "Danza Indigenas" at the Metrolink station. It staged a similar protest last month, which also was met with a large counter-protest. The group has acknowledged that it seeks to put pressure on the city to remove the monument by draining its resources through protests.

The group, which is opposed to illegal immigration, believes some of the monument's engravings are anti-American, specifically, "It was better before they came" and "This land was Mexican once, was Indian and always is, and will be again."

Save Our State supporter Henry Dias, a marketing director from San Dimas, said the artwork represented a "full-scale soft invasion" of California by immigrants from Mexico.

"Racist speech should never be paid for with tax dollars," he said. The group believes the phrase, "It was better before they came" is meant as a slur against whites.

The artwork's creator, Judith Baca, who joined the counter-demonstration, said the words actually refer to jeers directed at Mexican immigrants who began moving into Baldwin Park after World War II.

She said both inscriptions are being twisted by detractors with agendas "that have nothing to do with" the artwork.

Mayor Manuel Lozano said Saturday that his city of 75,000, which is nearly 80% Latino, strongly supports the publicly funded artwork, which has stood without controversy for more than a decade.

He berated Save Our State for bringing disruption to his town, saying, "They are individuals who are full of hate."

Counter-demonstration organizers said Save Our State is fostering hatred against Latinos as part of a broader political agenda.

"Their intent is to create anti-immigrant sentiment as a distraction to the real problems in this country. We're in a semi-recession and spending hundreds of billions of dollars on an unjust war in Iraq," said Alvardo Maldonado of San Gabriel Valley Neighbors for Peace and Justice, which helped organize the counter-demonstration.

Save Our State members said they object to services being given to illegal immigrants and want borders secured.

"No one in this group has anything against immigrants, as long as they're legal," said June Hensley, a bus driver and resident of San Bernardino.

The group's leader, 29-year-old Joseph Turner, said being vastly outnumbered did not bother him. Noting that providing police would be costly to the city and mutual-aid agencies that supplied reinforcements, Turner said, "Our aim is to make this painful. We want this to become expensive so that people will take notice."

Scores of police from Glendale to Pomona joined Baldwin Park officers with batons and riot gear to keep the two sides far apart.

During most of the two-hour demonstration, police kept the two sides at least half a block apart by cordoning off the streets surrounding City Hall. But toward the end, tensions rose as the groups came within about 300 feet of one another.

Using bullhorns, the groups chanted and insulted each other for about 20 minutes. Police in riot gear defused the situation by forming a human chain to escort the Save Our State members to their cars.

Fear Not
=========

Do not fear your enemies.
The worse they can do is kill you.

Do not fear friends.
At worst, they may betray you.

Fear those who do not care; they neither kill nor betray,
but betrayal and murder exist because of their silent consent.

~Bruno Jasienski~

Was it really peaceful or is the LA Times spouting garbage?

"Our aim is to make this painful. We want this to become expensive so that people will take notice."

Illegals are already costing us billions.

Was it really peaceful or is the LA Times spouting garbage?

I wasn't there, but I assume, knowing the LA Times:

Garbage in, Garbage out!!!

Here's another article from a difference source on the protest.


http://www.dailybulletin.com/Stories/0, ... 34,00.html

Monument re-ignites immigration protest
By Marianne Love and Shirley Hsu
Staff Writers


Saturday, June 25, 2005 - BALDWIN PARK - Dueling protests that attracted about 450 poster-carrying people and hundreds of police officers in riot gear on Saturday turned out to be relatively peaceful.

Racial slurs and disparaging remarks, however, flew back and forth in between chants about unfair labor tactics and illegal immigrants in the United States.

Members of Save Our State and their allies who oppose a piece of art at the city's Metrolink station were outnumbered 8-to-1 by counterprotesters defending the artwork, who were separated from them by four city blocks, barely within each other's view.

Ten arrests were made, a majority of which were for trespassing on the railroad tracks, which is a misdemeanor.

No injuries were reported.

This was the second time that SOS, a Ventura-based anti-illegal immigration group, came to Baldwin Park to protest. The first visit was May 14. The group took offense to two quotes on the arch-shaped monument called Danza Indigenas that has stood there for 12 years without much attention. They demanded the inscriptions be removed.

The quotes read: "It was better before they came," and "This land was Mexican once, was Indian always and is and will be again."

SOS members say the quotes support the notion of reconquistathe return of the United States southwest to Mexico. They called them seditious.

Monument supporters say Danza Indigenas speaks of the heritage of Baldwin Park's nearly 80 percent Latino population.

Judy Baca, the artist who designed the monument, says the "It was better before they came" quote was made by a white man.

City officials threw their support behind the monument.

Saturday was the last organized rally against SOS members, they said.

"Today is the end. They have no more recognition," said Mayor Manuel Lozano. "All they are trying to do is recruit more members."

City officials asked demonstrators to sign a nonviolence pledge, but SOS members refused, said Baldwin Park Councilman David Olivas.

Those who signed the pledge wore yellow bracelets. Hundreds were handed out.

"The issue is over. Nothing is going to change and the monument is standing," Olivas said. "Today's celebration was our closure."

SOS leader Joseph Turner remained steadfast in his quest to force the city to remove the inscriptions.

"It was a resounding success. They (the city) lost more money," said Turner, who added he doesn't have another protest planned right now.

People began gathering about 11 a.m. in front of the monument, which was taped off and heavily guarded by police. Some people wore army fatigues, bandanas and carried American and Mexican flags.

By noon, the rally was in full swing and lasted about two hours.

About 25 monument supporters split from the larger group and confronted SOS members several blocks away.

Turner faced them, flanked by about 50 supporters, members of other anti-illegal immigration groups and a sprinkling of white supremacists from White Pride World Wide.

They waved American flags and carried signs that read "Deport All Illegal Alien Terrorists," "Illegal Aliens Bring Terminal TB," and "This land was Mexican once and will be American forever."

"Go home!" yelled SOS supporters.

"We already are!" the counterprotesters retorted.

Dottie Dalton, the 66-year-old Murietta woman hit by a water bottle during the May 14 protest, did not attend, having vowed never to set foot in Baldwin Park again, according to Turner.

He said some SOS members have criticized him for having another protest in Baldwin Park, saying they did not feel safe.

Although many would-be protesters stayed home this time, more SOS supporters showed up at this protest than at the last one, Turner said.

SOS supporter Michael Jackson, 41, of Long Beach, said the support of the monument is evidence the reconquista movement is alive in Baldwin Park, and that the city has become an "invasion area."

"How can you interpret it (the inscriptions) otherwise?" he said.

As the number of anti-SOS protesters who had made their way around police lines to face the group swelled to about 300 by 1 p.m., police separated them by about 300 feet and formed an impenetrable line of law enforcement officers armed with rifles, batons and tear gas.

"Fuera racista!" ("Get out of here, racists!") shouted the counterprotesters, carrying banners reading "Queremos un mundo sin fronteras" ("We want a world without borders") and "Ignorant People Are Racist."

At one point, they started chanting "SOS! KKK! Racist scum, go away!"

Curious neighbors sat on their front porches or peeked out of windows at the commotion.

"It's not right," said Juan Hernandez, 55, a resident of Baldwin Park for 10 years, watching the scene from his front lawn.

"We (Baldwin Park residents) get along good, white people, black people, Mexican people. These people bring problems," he said.

Meanwhile, at the larger gathering by the monument, volunteer performers dressed in native costumes danced on street corners and entertained crowds within the Danza Indigenas complex.

Other performers rapped about social injustice, fascist police officers and pride in the Latino community.

Baca said she has received hate mail and death threats, so she was happy the protest was peaceful.

"Baldwin Park has been assaulted. (SOS) didn't get what they wanted," Baca said. "Ours was a creative response."

About 50 Baldwin Park police officers were on duty Saturday and were joined by officers from surrounding police departments.

Jesse Petrilla, 21, of Burbank, and a member of United American Committee, which promotes awareness of Islamic extremists, was surrounded by angry monument supporters when he tried to walk down Downing Avenue with an 3-foot by 5-foot American flag on a pole.

Officers escorted Petrilla to the Baldwin Park police station and immediately released him, said Baldwin Park police Capt. Edward Lopez.

Petrilla said he was trying to reach the SOS people and took a wrong turn because he didn't know the layout of the area.

"I thought this was a free country, but I guess it isn't," he said.


http://www.sgvtribune.com/Stories/0,141 ... 86,00.html


Differing views

Protest attracts many messengers


By Marianne Love and Shirley Hsu, Staff Writers


BALDWIN PARK -- What started as a demonstration against the Danza Indigenas monument at Ramona Boulevard and Downing Avenue a few weeks ago turned into a protest Saturday over immigration, the Iraq war, police brutality, driver licenses for illegals, terrorism, Proposition 187 and workers' rights.
They were there on the pretense of a ruckus over two quotes inscribed on the monument walls.

The quotes read: "It was better before they came" and "This land was Mexican once, was Indian always and is and will be again."

Members of Ventura-based Save Our State called them seditious and said they conjure up the notion of returning the United States Southwest to Mexico.

Self-interest groups converged on Baldwin Park with fists full of fliers and arms filled with posters promoting their causes. They sold newspapers filled with their ideas along with T-shirts, buttons and other literature.

Their posters convey messages about stopping attacks on immigrants, deporting illegal alien terrorists, advocating socialism and supporting white supremacy.

ANSWER Coalition members called for stopping the war in Iraq. They want the United States out of the Philippines, all U.S. troops to be brought home and racist, anti-immigration and anti-labor offensives in the United States to stop.

They were among the estimated 450 people, some of whom were lead by demonstrators with bullhorns walking up and down Ramona Boulevard shouting "Hitler rose-Hitler fell-SOS go to hell," "SOS and police are the same crap" and "United workers will never be defeated."

About two dozens members from Mexica Movement, a nonprofit organization representing indigenous people against white racists, were demonstrating against colonial occupation.

Nelyollotl Toltecatl, 35, of Los Angeles said 70 million to 100 million indigenous people from Mexico, Central America and Canada have been decimated over the past 500 years and the only reason why others survived was because Europeans needed slaves.

"I want to drag out our history to the light of day. Europeans are here on our land without our permission," he said.

Alvaro Maldonado brought 15 people from Alhambra-based San Gabriel Valley Neighbors for Peace and Justice, which holds a weekly anti-war vigil Fridays at Main Street and Garfield Avenue.

"We are calling people from the working-class community to mobilize and expel SOS from our community. This is the only way in massive number to counter their nascent, fascist movement," said Maldonado, 52, of Alhambra.

Members of the International Socialist Organization held a red banner that read "A World Without Borders" in Spanish.

Yasser Giron of Los Angeles, one of the group's organizers, said they joined the monument supporters because the capitalist system is the cause of economic imbalances that lead to illegal immigration, he said.

"Human beings should be allowed to come over (to America)," he said.

Jesse Petrilla, 21, of Burbank, and a member of United American Committee, which promotes awareness of Islamic extremists, was surrounded by angry monument supporters when he tried to walk down Downing Avenue with an 3-foot by 5-foot American flag on a pole.

Another example of how violent, aggresive and racist the Aztlan and the like minded groups are.

http://www.saveourstate.org/forums/inde ... topic=2851

There are photos all the way to the bottom of page 2, so keep scrolling! The first picture is of Jim Gilchrist being hung in effiagy.

The arrest pictures are on page 2.

http://www.saveourstate.org/forums/inde ... topic=2851

The media downplayed the arrests saying they were for treasspassing. What they fail to mention was that it was clearly an organized attempt to outflank and surround us.

The numbers were easily double what they were for BP1. CCIR was there in force, finally getting some justice for Anaheim 2001.

In addition we had a professional camera man on the other side from Kirkby TV who obtained hours of counter protesters. Can not wait to see that.

In addtion, many formers members of the military where there. Law enforcement was out if force and did an AWESOME job. Much thanks goes to behind the scene members of the immigration reform movement who worked behind the scenes with the FBI, LA County Sheriff and other loaw enforcement to ensure a safe protest.


MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR applause to law enforcement on this one.

These are pictures from the oppostion website:

http://www.la.indymedia.org/news/2005/06/130606.php

http://www.la.indymedia.org/news/2005/06/130632.php

http://www.la.indymedia.org/news/2005/06/130620.php

http://www.la.indymedia.org/news/2005/06/130715.php

Arrests in Baldwin Park

23 anti-hate activists were arrested yesterday at Baldwin Park Demo.

They were arrested for trespassing on railroad property. Of the 23 that were arrested, all but 2 were held for over 12 hours. As of 1 AM the police refused to book 3 of the arrestees.

A private corporation called Corrections Services Incorporated runs the Baldwin Park jail. According to reports the jailers took their time booking everybody and arbitrarily harassed several of the arrestees.

One arrestee was held in solitary confinement for a short time.

Check back for updates later.

GOOD JOB occutegirl!!

I think it was an OUTSTANDING PROTEST!!

The message is getting across--OBL was there in great from, huh, with Spanish signs calling for Open Borders...which as we know ends the sovereign territory of the United States and is the END OF OUR NATION!!

Hopefully there are "films" to record "who" these TRAITORS ARE!!

KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK!!

We are with you 100%!!