I had a thought on Saturday when I was standing in the middle of a screaming, bottle-throwing group countering the SOS (Save Our State) protesters outside Maywood City Hall, just south of downtown L.A., staring down cops in riot gear: If my career continues to go well my beloved protest-crashing days may be numbered (sniff), as some of these ornery folks recognizing me could result in some trying to beat the tar out of me. After I returned from the immigration protest, a co-worker expressed the same sentiment. But for now, I’m cheered by the thought that ignorant protesters (”Who’s Tancredo?” one pro-immigration demonstrator asked about a “Tancredo for president” sign held by SOS members) are just ignorant enough.
Here’s the scene: SOS is peeved about Maywood’s flouting of federal immigration law, claiming they are a sanctuary city for illegal immigrants and even disbanding their police department’s traffic unit so that illegals without driver’s licenses won’t be fearful of getting their cars towed. Several dozen show up to protest this policy. Lefty groups spread the word and a few hundred show up to counterprotest. I hung out with the counterprotesters, who actually had an unfair advantage in the police barricade setup as they were right next to a mariscos joint.
Not to spoil my upcoming column on this protest, but let’s just say it was an afternoon chock full of racism, reconquista (like the “Stolen Continent” sign featuring two continents? props to the LAUSD, eh?) and riot cops. And after the local post office took down the American flag at closing time, pro-immigration demonstrators promptly ran the Mexican flag up the flagpole. Eventually, police officers surrounded the flagpole and tried to get the Mexican flag down, but the cords got twisted and they could only lower it to half-staff.
Here are a few pics from the day, taken by yours truly (The guy about to be beheaded — or so it seems — on the “Workers of the World Unite” banner has words written on him including Minutemen, SOS, KKK, LAPD, NYPD, U.S. Navy):
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I had a thought on Saturday when I was standing in the middle of a screaming, bottle-throwing group countering the SOS (Save Our State) protesters outside Maywood City Hall, just south of downtown L.A., staring down cops in riot gear: If my career continues to go well my beloved protest-crashing days may be numbered (sniff), as some of these ornery folks recognizing me could result in some trying to beat the tar out of me. After I returned from the immigration protest, a co-worker expressed the same sentiment. But for now, I’m cheered by the thought that ignorant protesters (”Who’s Tancredo?” one pro-immigration demonstrator asked about a “Tancredo for president” sign held by SOS members) are just ignorant enough.
