Smaller, more-subdued protest group appears at second church rally
Message of demonstrators remains the same: 'Send Liliana home'
By Darleen Principe darleen@theacorn.com

The crowd of protesters remained relatively small and peaceful despite an enhanced police response to Sunday morning's second anti-illegal immigration rally in front of the United Church of Christ of Simi Valley.

At the peak of the rally, about 35 protesters stood on the church sidewalk.

The pathway was barricaded in case counterprotesters joined in, said Capt. John McGinty of the Simi Valley Police Department.

"We anticipated a larger crowd based on website chatter," McGinty said. "It was generally a very well-behaved crowd."

In recent months, the United Church of Christ on Royal Avenue has come under siege after it joined the New Sanctuary Movement and started providing shelter to Liliana, a 29yearold undocumented Mexican woman who uses only her first name for fear of repercussions to her family.

On Sept. 16, antiillegal immigration group Save Our State organized a demonstration that attracted more than 120 protesters and counter-protesters to the church- an event that caused the city of Simi Valley to expend $39,307 worth of unbudgeted money for police response.

At a recent meeting of the City Council, Mayor Paul Miller urged protesters to direct their efforts toward the federal government, after Save Our State cofounder Don Silva announced that the group would be back for a second rally on Oct. 14.

"I always expect that nobody is going to listen," Miller told the Simi Valley Acorn this week. "But it was smaller than we had anticipated. I thought it was handled very well."

McGinty said the police department elected to barricade the sidewalk based on the "pushing and shoving" that went on during the last rally between protesters and counter protesters.

"We made provisions to make an attempt to keep the groups separated more so than what we did last time," McGinty said.

"Based on what happened (last time), it was also prudent to slow traffic down," he said.

Besides restricting public parking on adjacent streets, police also placed video cameras in an unmarked van across the street from the church to record the rally.

"We wanted to videotape to get the entire view, but we also wanted to be close enough to make ID's of people in case of a crime," McGinty said. "It keeps everyone honest."

Still, the rally went on without incident for about three hours while church members worshipped "joyfully" inside the building, said the Rev. June C. Goudey, the church's pastor.

In an official statement, Goudey said the demonstrations that have occurred thus far will not deter the church's efforts to support Liliana, whose husband and three children are all U.S. citizens.

"The situation with the protesters who shout anti-gay slurs at our members and interrupt our worship service remains a concern for us, but we are not intimidated by their tactics," Goudey said.

"The real issue is immigration reform and how we can all work together to address the many iniquities in our current system," she said.