Don't know if anyone will be able to read this with the server issues, but here it is anyways. News from the frontline. There's video at the website.
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/education...07/detail.html




Friday, March 31, 2006, 1:40 pm NBC 7/39 News at 4 P.M.
Thousands of students protest immigration reform on Cesar Chavez Day.


Thousands Of Students March On Downtown
Rallies Continue For 5th Day

POSTED: 11:50 am PST March 31, 2006
UPDATED: 1:17 pm PST March 31, 2006



SAN DIEGO -- Several thousand students rallied in Chicano Park in the Logan Heights district of San Diego on Friday morning before marching through the streets and heading toward downtown San Diego.

The students arrived from 15 to 20 schools, the Associated Press reported. Three students were arrested on charges of truancy and released to their parents. They were flashing gang signs and broke away from the rest of the marchers, according to police.

The California Highway Patrol closed one entrance to the Coronado Bridge to prevent students from blocking traffic. Traffic continues over the bridge.

At the park, demonstrators waved Mexican flags and signs that declared "We are not criminals." Students distributed leaflets explaining a provision for a House bill approved in December that calls for sweeping crackdown on illegal immigration. Several adult organizers rallied the students with bullhorns.

The crowd was largely made up of middle and high school students, but adults, parents and teachers also took part in the march. The marchers filled the street from sidewalk to sidewalk and stretched for about two blocks as they walked. Motorcycle police rode in front of the protesters, stopping traffic at intersections as they passed.

Internet postings on Myspace.com, a social networking site popular with youngsters, listed walkouts and sit-ins in California and other states Friday -- the 79th anniversary of the birth of the late United Farm Workers union co-founder Cesar Chavez.

"We gonna make history this month," said one posting.

Two districts in San Diego County, Vista and Oceanside, closed senior high and middle schools in advance because of potential trouble. San Diego city school officials were pulling some employees out of the school district's offices and placing them on campuses in an effort to "help calm" students' emotions, said spokesman Steven Baratte.