March 21, 2003
Teachers struggle with lessons on war By CAMILLA COHEE Peace protesters shut down much of downtown Santa Barbara on Thursday night, and at one point were turned back from Highway 101 by a phalanx of city riot police and California Highway Patrol officers. The march that started at De la Guerra Plaza was the biggest of a daylong series of demonstrations in Santa Barbara. More than 800 protesters snaked up State Street to Carrillo Street and on to the freeway beginning around 6 p.m. The demonstrators, a mix of college students, downtown workers, families and retirees, marched behind a banner that read: "The Bush Mafia. Axis of Evil." At least 10 people were arrested throughout the day. They included four people who lay across the freeway in front of rush-hour traffic about 5 p.m. at the Milpas Street overpass. Elsewhere in the nation, hundreds of arrests were made during protests in Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington and San Francisco, where antiwar activists staged a barrage of street protests, blocking traffic, walking out of class and parading in mock chemical warfare suits. In Santa Barbara, the evening march ended about 8 p.m. with a pledge by protesters to return to the streets today. About 6:30 p.m., 40 Santa Barbara police and CHP officers wearing helmets and carrying batons faced off against hundreds of protesters who were marching up the Carrillo offramp on the southbound side of the freeway, chanting "We want peace now!" "We're blocking traffic to make a difference in people's everyday lives," said Sarah McClure. "We need to do something people cannot ignore." UCSB student Micaela News said: "We are young. The rest of our lives, the quality of it, depends on things like today. People are dying over there, it's not business as usual."
After a 15-minute standoff with police, protesters retreated from the offramp and returned to Carrillo Street.
"We wanted to stop traffic on Highway 101," said Rod Diaz. "But the cops formed a line and tried to push some of us back. They made it clear in no uncertain terms that we would not get across. We turned around because we came down here to do a peaceful protest -- and that's what we did." The tension between police and protesters increased through the evening. The demonstrators turned back down the middle of Carrillo Street, chanting "This is what democracy looks like," as riot police tried to direct them back onto the sidewalk. They continued in traffic lanes down State Street where CHP officers' sirens screamed, and a line of at least nine of their motorcycles bumped protesters, forcing them along. "It should not have to get to this stage," said one young protester who was among those bumped. Throughout the evening the crowd numbers continued to swell. They shut down the intersection of State and Ortega streets near Paseo Nuevo around 7 p.m. and chanted "From Iraq to the Philippines, we're going to stop the Bush war machine," and "Bush, Cheney you can't hide, we charge you with genocide." They rallied for about 10 minutes there before breaking through police lines, climbing over cars and pushing back up State Street. They walked to Figueroa Street, filling a whole city block. In one heated exchange, a group of five American-flag-waving counter-protesters began shouting "Support the troops." Sara Mata, a 26-year-old bank supervisor, got angry after listening to protesters condemn President Bush. "They should be supporting the troops 100 percent," said Ms. Mata, who has a relative in the military. Mark Monzon, 32, whose brother is serving in the Marines in Iraq, said: "I'm proud of my brother and what America is doing. These sons of bitches who come out here and protest don't know the half of what they're talking about. This isn't about oil, it's about a dictator threatening our country." As the shouting match escalated, police officers asked Ms. Mata and Mr. Monzon to leave. Around 7:20 p.m. at Sola Street, demonstrators walked into a line of police, some of whom had their tear-gas guns drawn. They continued on to Victoria Street and again turned south. Soon after, Santa Barbara artist Osiris Castaneda yelled through a bullhorn: "The police are at Figueroa. They are out with their anti-gear. They have a wagon. Everyone who does not want to get arrested needs to get on the sidewalk." Very few people moved. Minutes later, however, he again urged them to move to the sidewalk and proceed peacefully. And many did. At Figueroa, more than 30 officers blocked State Street, forcing the crowd to head east to Santa Barbara Street. After chanting for about five more minutes, some of the protesters headed back to De la Guerra Plaza and the crowd dispersed. During the march, officers arrested a young woman they said fought with a counter-protester. She claimed to have only spit on the ground. The other arrests included four people who dashed out onto the southbound lanes of the 101 at Milpas Street around 5 p.m. and laid down in the roadway, stopping traffic briefly. Two men and one woman put heavy duty bike locks around their necks and cabled themselves together. The fourth person arrested was 27-year-old Jeff Kuyper, a "legal observer" trained to ensure that the demonstrators' rights were respected. Mr. Kuyper, a legal analyst for Santa Barbara People's Law Collective, had been at two earlier protests that day, recording the names of officers and watching for any signs of unfair treatment. "We're here to make sure everyone's civil rights are respected," he said. The four were quickly carted off to patrol cars as they flashed peace signs with their hands cuffed. Just before the arrests, a group of about 50 protesters took over the Milpas roundabout, lying down in the street and blocking the northbound onramp. A dozen CHP officers on motorcycles roared into the roundabout, darting around the protesters. They stood shoulder-to-shoulder on the onramp to prevent them from walking onto the freeway. The demonstrators, many of whom had been staging protests all day in various locales in the city, waited until it seemed the police would start making arrests, and then they quickly got up. At each location local law enforcement were in force -- in some cases videotaping protesters. While there was also a peace protest in Lompoc attracting about 25 people, that was dwarfed by the sheer size and number of demonstrations in Santa Barbara Thursday. They started with a core group of about two dozen at a noon rally downtown. An hour later a group calling itself "Arise" cordoned off a gas station and members staged a "die-in," lying down on the pavement. It was the first time in the last 26 weeks of peace protests in Santa Barbara that demonstrators said they were willing to conduct mass civil disobedience. "We feel it's time to get peoples' attention," said Jim Grippo, a 32-year-old UCSB graduate student and member of the group.
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At least one young woman was arrested in that standoff after walking along the freeway offramp.Are you affected by the possible war
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