Posted on 03/26/2006 5:54:35 PM PST by EternalVigilance
Blaring car horns, racist slurs and angry fisticuffs punctuated a volatile encounter of protesters and counter-protesters Saturday morning outside Bank Calumet.
"God bless America! Stay out of our business!" yelled members of the locally based Indiana Federation for Immigration Reform and Enforcement.
"Go home (expletive) Nazi racists!" yelled members of an opposing group of circling counterprotesters.
The federation, a public interest organization advocating what it calls immigration policies with an impact, demonstrated against bank loans for undocumented aliens, echoing six similar previous local protests.
Several members of the Chicago Minuteman Project joined the federation, hoisting protest signs to passing motorists and exchanging verbal jabs with visibly angry counterprotesters.
"We're not racists, we're LEGAL Americans," Minuteman members yelled under American flags whipping in a fierce wind. "Those people are Communists."
The counterprotesters -- some from the Progressive Labor Party of Chicago, others from Purdue University Calumet or there on their own -- chanted in bilingual defiance: "¡Obreros unidos jamas seran vencidos!" or, "Workers united will never be defeated!"
Susana Findley, a Gary native whose parents were born in Mexico, said illegal immigrant workers arrived here for the same reason federation members' ancestors arrived: To find work and a better life.
"But those racist immigrants forget about that," said Findley, nodding toward the federation's camp.
Several counterprotesters arrived earlier than the scheduled 10 a.m. federation protest, setting up shop at the corner of Calumet Avenue and Ridge Road.
When 63-year-old Chicago Minuteman member Rick Biesada arrived and pulled out his protest sign, he claimed that two counterprotesters yanked it from him. When he yanked it back, the men assaulted him, knocking him to the ground, he said.
The Lindenhurst, Ill., resident was treated by paramedics at the scene for a gash over his eye and dizziness, spending a few minutes inside an ambulance before returning to the protest.
"I wished he fell to the ground harder," Findley said.
Munster police Sgt. Nick Hudak, one of several officers showing up to stand between the opposing groups, said no arrests were made and no other injuries occurred.
Protesters on both sides said the escalating debate over U.S. House Bill 4437, the so-called Border Security bill, may have inflamed the controversy of offering bank loans to illegal aliens.
The bill, which would strengthen enforcement of existing immigration laws and enhance border security, has already passed the House and could be voted on by the Senate as early as this week.
Federation co-founder and Valparaiso resident Cheree Calabro, while passing out fliers to motorists, said similar demonstrations at Bank Calumet had no such problems with counterprotesters.
"I think they're feeling more emboldened with all the national protests (supporting illegal immigration)," said Calabro, whose group is the Indiana chapter of the national Minuteman Project.
The Left is feeling emboldened.
And the history of the last century will tell you how violent the left can be.
Watch your six...
Important ping...
And keep your powder dry, you will be needing it.
Notice they went after the man with Old Glory, and where it ended up.
it is very clear that the momentum has tipped towards the illegals..there are enough now that it is probably too late to stop further illegal immigration..they are now a large enough minority that they can tip the electoral balance any way they want.
This isn't even a warm up yet. But things will starting getting more heated in the days to come. If the congress critters do pass the bill, I will bet we will see two things.
1. Most state attorneys will refuse to enforce it at the local level.
2. There will be a lot of confrontations where the law is enforced. Possible violent.
Locked and loaded south of LA.
Surrender, then.
The rest of us have only begun to fight.
God be with you.
I agree with you.
i think youre gonna lose
And I think you're a loser and a liberal troll. So?
"Workers united will never be defeated!"
Here we go again...
immigration is like cancer, once you realize youve got a problem it is usaully too late...this should ahve been delt with in the 1980s
I hope the OBL is happy, they've done as much to encourage the criminals as anybody.
Of course probably 90%+ of the protesters opposing reforms are illegals themselves. "I have been here for years", I am a contributing member of society", etc. HELLO?? The point is your here illegally and your breaking the law!! 2 wrongs do not make a right.
I think you're a troll.
Protesting bank loans? Isn't the bank's money?
Ultimately WE won't...
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