Prop. 187 Sparks More High School Walkouts

The wave of high school walkouts in protest of Proposition 187 continued throughout Southern California on Friday and in one case the demonstrations turned turbulent, as sheriff’s deputies fired two non-lethal rubber grenades to disperse a crowd of protesters in Paramount.

It was the second consecutive Friday marked by anti-Proposition 187 demonstrations by students. A week before, about 1,500 students from junior and senior high schools in Los Angeles and several of its southeastern suburbs left their classrooms to demonstrate against the controversial proposition.

In Costa Mesa, about 100 students walked out of Estancia High School about 1 p.m. Friday and marched down the street shouting, “Viva la raza!” and “Mexico, Mexico, Mexico!”

About 200 Oxnard students walked out of Rio Mesa High School on Friday morning and marched several miles toward Oxnard High School in protest of the proposition.

The measure’s best-known provisions would bar illegal immigrants from public schooling, non-emergency health care and social services. Proponents say the measure would help curb continuing, large-scale illegal immigration. Opponents consider the measure to be poorly drafted and a xenophobic invitation to harass the foreign-born.

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Deputies fired “stingball” grenades shortly before 4 p.m. to disperse a crowd of 450 to 500 people who gathered at Hunsaker Avenue and Alondra Boulevard in Paramount, said Sheriff’s Sgt. Ron Spear.

No one was injured by the stingballs--explosive devices that emit rubber pellets, Spear said--and there were no arrests.

Students from Paramount walked out of classes shortly after 9 a.m., deputies said, and went to Dominguez High School, about two miles away.

Dominguez Principal Fred Easter said that the march was peaceful and that deputies had the protesters under surveillance. The marchers then walked from the Dominguez campus to Jordan High School in Long Beach, and returned to Dominguez at lunchtime, he said.

Authorities blocked the intersection of Hunsaker and Alondra near the Dominguez campus, but the students were not cooperative when police attempted to disperse them, Easter said.

He said that most of the demonstrators were from Paramount High but that some Dominguez students were involved.

The demonstration began with about 50 students, Spear said, but by 3:45 p.m. the march had picked up another 400 students and adults.

In Los Angeles, school district officials reported anti-Proposition 187 walkouts at four high schools Friday. During peaceful demonstrations, students briefly left their classes in the morning at El Camino Real in Woodland Hills and Jordan in Watts. Noontime walkouts occurred at Palisades in Pacific Palisades and at Lincoln in Lincoln Heights.

In Costa Mesa, Estancia High junior Carlos Hernandez said, “I think (Proposition 187) is just an excuse to get us (Latinos) out of here.”

Roy Alvarado, a drug counselor at the school who tried unsuccessfully to persuade students not to leave, said he nevertheless supported their protest. If Proposition 187 passes, he said, “It’s just going to explode. . . . You’re targeting the kids as a vehicle to get to a bigger problem, and that’s not right.”

Students in Oxnard marched a block from Oxnard High before they were stopped by police. They then retreated to Plaza Park, where police put them on school buses that took them home.

Oxnard Union High School District officials, worried that students at Oxnard High would join the march, asked police to detain the protesters before they reached school grounds.

The march was generally peaceful, police said, although a few students threw rocks at passing cars, and many ripped election signs from the streets as they walked by, converting them into anti-Prop. 187 posters.

Too young to vote, the students said they were expressing their opinion on the controversial ballot measure the only way they could. Most of the protesters were Latino.

“Most of our friends and family are undocumented people,” said 15-year-old Rosie Collazo, as she marched down Central Avenue. “Maybe we’re a bunch of high school students, but we know what we’re doing.”

Both high schools are part of the Oxnard Union High School District, which is 55% Latino.

Community correspondent Alan Erely in Costa Mesa contributed to this story.