Illegal Immigration Opponents Attacked in California

Sources: Contra Costa Times and Inside Bay Area (H/T Lonewacko)

The national debate on illegal immigration has erupted into fisticuffs and legal trouble in an unlikely seat of political activism: a suburban street corner in Fremont.

For three months, a group of seniors, war veterans, blue-collar workers and students has taken to the corner of Fremont Boulevard and Mowry Avenue every other Friday night to decry illegal immigration. But the rallies of the East Bay Coalition for Border Security, as the 30 or so people are called, have drawn ire from members of the International Socialist Organization and Green Party -- mostly idealistic 20-somethings who drive from San Francisco, Berkeley and Santa Cruz to counterprotest.

On a recent Friday, a fight broke out between the two groups. Four men on the border security side ended up with black eyes, chipped teeth and other injuries. A police officer's ear was split and started bleeding. Six people were arrested.

AND

The anti-illegal-immigration activists were gathered peacefully at Irvington's Five Corners intersection until Perry's husband, Mike Perry, and four teenage neighbors disrupted them, police said. They struck coalition members, some of whom were elderly, and knocked signs out of their hands, police Detective Bill Veteran said.

"I saw the whole thing unfold," he said.

Things have been heating up for illegal immigration opponents for some time now. We've certainly experienced it here in Chicago -- and the ISO is one of the groups who regularly shows up.

"They have surrounded us and held their signs as close to us as possible, and placed their bullhorns close to our ears," said Mary Washington, an East Bay Coalition member. She said that the coalition's First Amendment rights and physical well-being have been threatened.

Unfortunately, that's their methodology, Mary. I, too, have experienced the circling, the yelling, the bullhorns, the cursing, the hatred. I've also had people who don't know threaten me on the street, announce my home address to a crowded bus full of people, and physically intimidate me at protests on other issues.

And all because I have the nerve to try and make my voice heard in my own city, in my own state, in my own country. How dare we (citizens) stand up for our rights and petition our government to actually represent us!

I say keep fighting the good fight as long as you are able. Be watchful but unafraid. And never give up.

Technorati Tags
Illegal Immigration * International Socialist Organization * Violence * Amnesty