by Jaime G.
Sunday, Mar. 26, 2006 at 12:17 AM
Students Set a Bold Tone for Saturday's Gran Marcha
Hundreds of youth from roughly half a dozen different schools in East Los, Southgate, Bell, and Montello walked out today to protest vicious anti-immigrant legislation now before the US Senate that would make all migrants without papers into felons - and make anyone who aids them felons as well.
After a month of planning they hit the streets with Mexican flags and red, white and green balloons chanting "Que Viva Mexico!" and causing small traffic gridlocks. Students at Bell High School climbed fences there by the hundreds after school administrators declared the school on "lockdown."
About 500 students walked out of Huntington Park High.
Students said they organized the demonstration or heard about the demonstrations from friends. School officials tried to blame the walkout on outside agitators, activists and community groups.
Minutemen are demanding that all the students be expelled - claiming they have no rights, and that the students are not citizens of the US.
One youth said ""We're not criminals. We're in this country to work." There was a widespread sense among the protestors that they were standing up to a dire and racist piece of legislation.
In Riverside County over 400 students held on campus rallies denouncing the anti-migrant legislation.
Elsewhere, over 15,000 people marched against the anti-migrant legislation in Phoenix. Organizers had expected a crowd of 2,000.