THE PEOPLE VS. BUSH
By Amy Taxin
The Orange County Register
Orange County Register, CA
April 25 2006
Carrying American flags and signs chastising the war in Iraq,
demonstrators outside the Hyatt Regency Irvine Monday sparred on U.S.
policies ranging from border control to foreign diplomacy.
IRVINE – Carrying American flags and signs chastising the war in Iraq,
demonstrators outside the Hyatt Regency Irvine on Monday sparred on
U.S. policies ranging from border control to foreign diplomacy.
But they appeared to agree that President Bush’s speech inside the
hotel was unlikely to sway their views of his administration.
“We’re both on opposite sides – they’re for open borders, we’re
for secure borders,” said Robin Hvidston of Upland, a member of the
border-watching Minuteman Project. “But we’re both here protesting
Bush.”
About 250 people from anti-war, border control, immigrant rights
and other groups rallied for more than three hours before and while
Bush spoke to the Orange County Business Council about his plans for
immigration overhauls and a temporary-worker program.
“We don’t need a guest-worker plan. We already have a lot of workers,”
said Lizbeth Antonio, a 20-year-old UC Irvine student from Chicano
group MeCHA. “We want to see legalization for those who are working
here now.”
Aside from shouting matches between immigration enforcement activists
wearing stars-and-stripes jackets and students calling for a broader
legalization for immigrants, the protests were generally peaceful.
One person, a 16-year-old demonstrator, was arrested for challenging
someone to fight and later released to a guardian’s custody, Irvine
police Lt. Jeff Love said.
The demonstrations in Irvine paled in comparison to the 500 protesters
who greeted Bush in San Jose and the 1,500 who rallied in West
Sacramento since he began his California trip last week.
For a county that is nearly half Republican – and with Bush’s visit
announced only last week – UC Irvine political science professor
Mark Petracca said he might have expected fewer people to rally on
a Monday morning.
“Given the fact it’s Monday and there was virtually no prep time,
I am surprised there were as many” people as there were, Petracca said.
Nearly 60percent of Orange County voters backed Bush in the 2004
election.
At the rally, Armenian students urged Bush to declare the killing of
their ancestors that began in 1915 a genocide. UC Irvine’s Muslim
Student Union, as well as several parents of soldiers and Marines,
criticized the president’s policies in Iraq and Iran.
Roughly half the demonstrators came to voice views on immigration –
the subject of Bush’s speech.
Angel, a 31-year-old illegal immigrant from Mexico, stopped by to
check out the protests after he saw activists carrying signs like
one that read: “Go Fix Mexico.”
“I wanted to see what the American people who didn’t want the
Latinos here were saying,” said Angel, who asked that his last name
be withheld for fear of deportation. The Register’s policy is to
honor such requests, when including an illegal immigrant’s voice is
important to a story or increases readers’ understanding of an issue.
“I love and respect this country that has given me opportunity,”
Angel said.
Liz Renteria, 68, left her house in Diamond Bar before 4 a.m. wearing
scarves and gloves to fend off the morning chill. “It’s weird because
everyone around me hates Bush,” Renteria, a Bush supporter, said of
the protests. “I wish I could have been closer, but just to see the
motorcade was awesome.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
