CSUN debate sets off near riot

By Brooke Olson

Daily Bruin Staff

NORTHRIDGE -- As Wednesday's affirmative action debate inside the California State University at Northridge Student Union remained relatively under control, helmet-clad riot police used rubber bullets, tear gas and batons to enforce orders given to protesters outside the center.

More than 150 Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Metro Division officers, including 20 horse-mounted officers and members of the strike force, confronted rock-throwing demonstrators drawn to the campus by the presence of ex-Klansman and former Louisiana legislator David Duke.

The near riot ended a half hour later with the arrest of one Cal State Northridge (CSUN) student and five other demonstrators not affiliated with the school.

Several protesters were injured in the melee, including one unidentified man who was taken to a local hospital for head wounds caused by a baton blow.

Two additional people were admitted to the CSUN Student Health Center and treated for minor injuries, said Fred Stache, director of the center.

The situation erupted an hour after the 2:30 p.m. student-government sponsored debate began, which pitted Los Angeles civil rights activist Joe Hicks with the former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.

After mistakenly hearing that the debate had ended, protesters rushed to the auditorium. Yelling "Hey, hey, ho, ho, David Duke has got to go," demonstrators pounded on the windows of the student center.

Moments later, police in full riot gear marched across the lawn towards the demonstrators, who quickly changed their chants to "Cops and the Klan go hand in hand."

Using bullhorns, police instructed a crowd of about 150 to move away from the student center.

When the crowd refused, police moved in and violence erupted over the next five minutes. As protesters threw rocks and jeered at the police, officers wielded baton blows and shot four rounds of rubber pellet bullets into the crowd.

"It was crazy. Everyone was screaming and yelling and shoving," said Evelyn Gondola, a third-year UCLA biology student caught in the middle of the confrontation. "It was so scary."

As the smoke cleared, officers directed the crowd away from the back entrance of the debate site towards Lindley Avenue, where the six arrests were made.

"In fairness to the campus here, I really think the majority of the problem came from off campus," said Lt. Anthony Alba of the LAPD.

Several disputes and scuffles broke out before the police used the crowd control devices, but they were contained quickly and without any serious injuries.

Shortly before the debate started, Mike Canale, a member of the local Jewish Defense League who carried a banner saying "Yes on 209, no on Duke," was attacked by several members of the crowd.

"It was the Communists" who attacked Canale, said Jewish Defense League member Irv Rubin in an interview with the CSUN newspaper.

"You should take note of the fact that Cal State Northridge allows people to get beat up with sticks," Rubin added.

However, Cal State administrators praised the efforts of the campus security and noted that the majority of the people involved in the conflicts "were not students," according to CSUN President Blenda J. Wilson.

Some of the protesters belonged to a Bay-area militant activist group, known as the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action By Any Means Necessary (BAMN).

"If affirmative action ends, all of our civil rights will be taken away from us," said Tanya Kappner, a member of the coalition. "We are here to fight and to defend our civil rights."

Many demonstrators, including several UCLA students, agreed that the Bay-area group was the cause of the trouble.

"These people from (BAMN) screwed everything up," said Mike Schneider, president of the Bruin Democrats.

"(The riots) overshadowed everything ... Violence gets us nowhere and having the LAPD riot squad in full gear with their batons out ... makes us look like a bunch of radicals," Schneider added.

CSUN student Senator Marc Powell, who attempted to organize a peaceful protest on campus, said that he knew outside protesters would become a problem.

"The fact is that the CSUN students were not involved in these confrontations with the police," Powell said. "I don't want this incident to reflect poorly on the CSUN campus."

But BAMN organizers denied allegations that they initiated the confrontations.

"It was all the police," said Chris Isidro, a member of the Coalition. "They were the ones who started swinging their batons and stomping on us with their horses."

Members of the Progressive Labor Party, the Socialist Party, the Brown Berets and Citizens 2000, a Los Angeles-based affirmative action coalition, were also on hand to voice their views.

As protesters were moved away from the student center, officers strung police tape across the quads and entrances to the building. Uniformed police guards were placed around the area.

Nearly an hour after the debate ended, Hicks and Duke were escorted out of the Northridge area by police in squad cars.

By late afternoon, the crowd, under the watchful stare of over 50 riot police, began to disperse without any further incident.

"It's really too bad that this had to happen," said Mark Castle, a first-year undeclared CSUN student.

"Protesting and rioting really gets you nowhere," Castle added. "The best and most effective way to change things is to get out there and vote."