3 arrests in suburban protestBy Oscar Avila
Tribune staff reporter
Published October 15, 2005, 1:58 PM CDT
Three activists were arrested Saturday in Arlington Heights as they protested a meeting of the Chicago Minuteman Project, a new group that opposes illegal immigration.
Police said the three had assaulted police officers who were trying to keep order.
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"We're trying to use reason and logic to address the issue. Then you have these protesters ranting," said Robert Vasquez, a commissioner in Canyon County, Idaho, and one of the conference's speakers.
But Arlington Heights Police Sgt. Richard Marcinkowski said some Minutemen participants escalated the situation by coming outside to debate protestors.
"We had two unreasonable factions," Marcinkowski said, "and we got caught in the middle."
A second counter-protest of about 300 immigrant advocates also materialized and briefly joined the first protest of leftist activists.
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http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-051015protest,1,546096.story