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Thousands protest beating

By Daily Bruin Staff

April 7, 1996 9:00 p.m.

Monday, April 8, 1996

Demonstrators jam downtown in rally against police actions; law
enforcement supporters convene at Federal BuildingBy Dinos
Lambropoulos

The Associated Press

CIVIC CENTER — Thousands of chanting, sign-waving demonstrators
jammed downtown streets Saturday, demanding justice in the wake of
the videotaped beating of two illegal immigrants by Riverside
sheriff’s deputies.

Across town near UCLA, some 200 people demonstrated outside the
Federal Building in Westwood in support of law enforcement.

The group included members of Voice of Citizens Together, Save
Our State, United We Stand America and the California Coalition for
Immigrant Reform. Among their demands were the militarization of
the U.S. Mexico border to stop illegal immigration.

But that protest dwarfed in comparison to the one downtown.
Social, labor and political activists, immigrants and other
residents marched through the streets to City Hall, where they
shouted "Justicia!" and carried signs with messages like "Police
Abuse is a Crime" and "Justice and Equality Now." The crowd was
estimated at 6,000 and was peaceful, police said.

"We are here not just to complain, but to celebrate," Juan Jose
Gutierrez, a rally organizer and member of One Stop Immigration and
Educational Center, told the cheering crowd. "We are first-class
citizens and we will never accept third-class citizenship
status."

The event followed almost a week of smaller protests throughout
Southern California in the wake of the incident Monday, when
television news helicopters broadcast images of two Riverside
County sheriff’s deputies clubbing two illegal immigrants after a
high-speed freeway chase.

Protesters called for the arrest and prosecution of deputies
Tracy Watson and Kurtis Franklin, who were suspended with pay after
the beating, and classified the deputies’ actions as human rights
abuses.

The two immigrants who were beat ­ Alicia Sotero Vasquez
and Enrique Funes Flores ­ were released from an undisclosed
hospital Friday, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.

The couple were invited by actor Marlon Brando to stay at his
home. Brando also offered to donate $25,000 toward the education of
their children.

An attorney for Sotero Vasquez, David Ross, said that Brando
called him three times trying to arrange for the couple to stay
with him, but that arrangements were still pending.

"Mr. Brando, who is personally involved because he has children
of Mexican descent, had a deep sense of concern about that
brutality. He was deeply troubled and has a deep and profound
caring," Ross said.

Saturday’s march was as much a cultural celebration as it was a
protest. Musicians performed traditional Mexican, rap and other
songs. A Spanish-language radio station blared music from speakers
mounted in the back of a pickup truck. Children danced in
traditional costumes and protesters waved Mexican and American
flags.

Protester Angelo Perez, 34, said he was "sick to my stomach"
when he saw the beating on television.

"We are all human, we should be treated as humans," the Los
Angeles resident said. "All these so-called law enforcement
officers need to be educated. … Maybe they’re past redemption,
but maybe they can be educated."

The protest also attracted several Hispanic political leaders,
including City Councilman Richard Alatorre and state Assemblyman
Antonio Villaraigosa, D-Los Angeles.

"All we want is nothing more and nothing less than the human and
civil rights that are given to others," Alatorre said.

The 18 men and one woman detained after the beatings were
illegal immigrants from rural Mexico, who said they came to seek
work.

Authorities said the deputies chased their truck 80 miles to Los
Angeles County after it ran a Temecula-area border.

Law enforcement officials say the driver eluded capture.

"There’s no question he got away," said sheriff’s Sgt. Mark
Lohman, a department spokesman.

Photos by JUSTIN WARREN/Daily Bruin

In a show of support for American ideals and cultural
solidarity, some downtown protesters wore traditional Mexican dress
and carried Old Glory (left photo). Estella Salizar (front, right
photo) protests the treatment of immigrants by sheriff’s
deputies.

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