SHOW-DOWN AT BREA!
PRO-WAR ANTI-WAR DEMONSTRATORS SQUARE OFF
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pro war demonstrators control the corner at 12pm
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Pro-war and antiwar demonstrators squared off again in Brea last Saturday continuing their weekly showdown. The so called "Pro American" freedom lovers waved flags and held signs that read support our troops and free Iraq. They also claim we should remember 9-11 as you can see from their sign in their picture. As the day went on more peace activist showed up and eventually took over their corner and the warmongers were forced to move to the other three corners of the intersection. In fact some of the peace activist took the bold move and walked over the the other corners and stood shoulder to shoulder with the counter demonstrators. They tried to carry their anti-war message of peace to the pro-war supporters. The only incedent I know of was one of the peace activist got pushed into the street.
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It was quite a day with activists on both sides debating the issue of war. The anti-war crowd was diverse, from young college peacenicks and hippies from the 60's, to Senior Citizens and soccer moms. The pro-war crowd was equallly diverse. I especially liked the guy yelling at the peace activists calling them all communist traitors and marxist cowards. I think he was left over from the McCarthy era and somebody forgot to tell him the cold war ended. He crossed the line though when he yelled at sweet young little peacenick and made her cry.
The peace activist were met with their usuall resistance from motorist, with people yelling at them and old ladies giving them the finger and all the usuall stuff. One guy
even threw a bottle of gatorade at the crowd. But things started getting more interesting as the day went on. A kid who looked like a young repulican came over with a megaphone and started yelling obsentaties at the peace corner and was trying to bait the activist into fighting. What this fool didn't know is there were two Brea Police enjoying their Starbucks frapachino in the background. They quickly grabbed the provacatour and took his batteries from his megaphone and gave him a $150.00 ticket. The peace activist started yelling"support the police!" as the man was taken away. Then three skinheads came up holding up Bush bumper sticker. They said they didn't care how many Arabs we killed as long as we get our gas. Finally a man came over to the peace corner with a sign that said terrorists are people too! mocking the activist as to say that they were sticking up for terrorist. The man then boldy said I'm comming back next week with my friends, clearly trying to bait the ant-warvdemonstrators. It almost worked, as one of the demonstrators threatend to beat his ass but then calmed down.
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Anti-war demonstratons get their corner back
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Occasionally the peace demonstrators do loose their cool and let their emotions get the best of them but for the most part when someone gets rude they just laugh it off. Its really the reason they come to this conservative area. They enjoy debating the issues and getting the anti-war message out that doesn't get covered on the corporate media. This is a political junkies dream, with people from both sides hotley debating the issues. I know that some of the pro-war people are starting to think different and are acutally making friends with the peace activists. Marcus, the most vocal of the protestors, is a vietnam vet. He is 6'7" half Indian with a loud and booming voice and is truely funny the way he comes back with one liners in the face of angry and rude motorist. Another man, a senior citizen in a wheel chair just tells everyone to read their bible.
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I think the main diffrence between the anti-war and the pro-war people is the issue of race. Any one who is pro-war seems to be dividing race and nation in a sort of us against them. The anti-war people are genuinley not racisist and do not belive the orwelian propoganda that they sholud hate the muslim world cause they are out to destroy America.
This intersection is a perfect place to have a demonstration. It is very busy with alot of cars and has excellent visibility giving the protestors the ability to get up close and personal with their message of peace or war depending on your point of view. Also there is plenty of parking and a great cortyard with starbucks coffee and other restuarnts with patio seating right there. This demonstration started with three guys coming out with signs and now has exploded, capturing the attention of the city. You have journalist students, local televison media, and counter demonstrators all gathering for quite the spectical. Also there is a nice park down the road with a skatepark and basketball court.
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