Last Friday, July 14, 25 protesters with the East Bay Coalition for Border Security, a racist, anti-immigrant group in Fremont that is seeking affiliation with the Minutemen, were met by twice as many counter-protesters. This was the third time the two sides had faced off this summer – the racists’ message of hate and xenophobia being challenged by the counter-protesters’ determination not to let them grow or intimidate immigrants and people of color in their own community.

For the first time, the counter-protesters were violently assaulted by the Minutemen wannabes and repressed by the Fremont police.

As can be seen in a video taken at the event, a member of the EBCBS, wearing a blue t-shirt with the name of the group on it and a Iron Cross on his baseball cap, shoved and punched two of the anti-racist counter-protesters. This came after another violent altercation with a young Latino man. All of these incidents were unprovoked and came after another of the racist anti-immigrant protesters had accused a young woman of ‘stealing’ his airhorn, which he had been blowing in the faces of the counter-protesters all afternoon long.

Predictably, the Fremont police did nothing to the man seen in the video assaulting counter-protesters, instead letting him drive off in his truck. They did see fit, however, to arrest the young woman for theft (on nothing more than the word of the EBCBS member), take her to jail for five hours and book her on misdemeanor theft charges.

What these incidents clearly show is that the EBCBS members’ claims to be a peaceful, patriotic group that has nothing to do with racism or violence is a lie, pure and simple. They confirm counter-protesters’ assertions that groups like the EBCBS and the Minutemen are in fact front groups for the growth of the white supremacist extreme right wing, and that if they are allowed to grow and gain confidence they will only turn more violent and confrontational, both against immigrants and the anti-racist left in general.

The link between these right-wing groups and the police, moreover, cannot be made more clear. The perpetrators of violence are let off the hook while a young woman is carted off to jail for supposedly taking a $5 airhorn.

The EBCBS will hold its next rally on July 28 in Fremont and once again we will be out there to protest them. Gather at 4:30 p.m. at the corner of Mowry Ave. and Fremont Blvd. We want everyone to know that these racists do not reflect the views of most people in Fremont or the Bay Area and that we will not tolerate this kind of hate and violence in our own backyard. We will not be intimidated by racist thugs. We demand that all charges against our sister Stephanie be dropped immediately. Immigrants are welcome in Fremont; racist bigots and their allies in the police department are not!

Initiated by the International Socialist Organization. For more information or to get involved in organizing the July 28th counter-protest, please call Michael at 415.272.5049.

For background on the protests in Fremont and the EBCBS, see this article from the Oakland Tribune (http://www.insidebayarea.com/trivalleyherald/ci_4050178).