Pro-immigrant protesters target Pruitt's store
Sam Nalven
Special for The Republic
Nov. 5, 2007 10:36 AM

Nearly one hundred chanting protesters spanned across the narrow sidewalk in front of Pruitt's Furniture Store while off duty sheriff's deputies looked on nervously and a mariachi group serenaded the midday traffic with songs dedicated to Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Pruitt's owner Roger Sensing.

Saturday's protest at 35th Street and Thomas Road furniture store is the second of its type in response to local businesses hiring off-duty sheriff's deputies to in an attempt to keep undocumented day laborers away from the business property.

"All of this is just a way to try and intimidate laborers without trying to resolve the issue," said protest organizer Salvador Reza. "Last week (Sensing) must have spent many thousands of dollars when he bought the whole force with horses to try to chase away corn vendors, day laborers, and lately even media."

As a counter measure to the noise produced by the protest, a live DJ was hired by Pruitt's to play loud music through speakers strategically positioned around the outside of the store. When the DJ began to play, the protestors reacted by loudly chanting "Yes we can!" initially in Spanish and then later in English. Shortly after this exchange of sound, the Pruitt's DJ turned down his music.

During the protest that spanned from 11a.m. to around 1 p.m., customers gazed at the spectacle below through the latticed glass windows from the second story of his store.

Early in the protest, Sergeant G. A. Powe and Deputy Johnson from the Sheriff's department warned gathering protestors and media in both English and Spanish that any individual who comes on to Pruitt's property faced trespassing charges. Immediately after the warning, the sheriff's deputies hurried back to the Pruitt's store parking lot with other off duty deputies and remained there for the duration of the protest, making themselves unavailable to any media. The Sheriff's department did not send a spokesperson.

The Phoenix Police Department sent spokesperson Detective Stacie Derge and a community response unit specializing in community relations. "We are here to be helpful and available should issues arise," said Derge. "Our goal is to keep the peace."

Sensing didn't hire any Phoenix police officers, yet there were one to five patrol cars present.

Positioned off to the side of the main protest, a group of five counter-protesters held signs that read "Stop Illegal Immigration" and "Protect Our Borders."

"I think that if people would like to work in this country they must do it legally," said counter-protestor Brian Stereberg, 44. "Just because we don't want illegal immigrants working here doesn't mean we are racist."

Reza said that the protests will continue to take place every Saturday until Christmas.
Arrest called unwarranted
The legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona on Sunday said his arrest by Sheriff's deputies at Saturday's protest was unwarranted and occurred only after he identified himself as a high-ranking officer with the organization.

Daniel Pochoda showed up at a Saturday demonstration to observe interaction between protesters and law enforcement officers, he said. He was there at the request of organizer and activist Salvador Reza, who said Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio uses the deputies to intimidate demonstrators.

Pochoda, 65, was taken in handcuffs to the county's Fourth Avenue Jail after off-duty deputies hired by store owners asked him six times to move his car off the parking lot, Arpaio said, and he refused.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/ ... t1107.html