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."