Thousands of Students March and Rally in Watsonville for Immigrant Rights

Fri, Apr 7, 2006 1:51PM

On Friday, March 31st, thousands of students from local schools, including Watsonville High, Pajaro Valley High, Aptos High and Renaissance High, marched and rallied against HR 4437 in Watsonville.

In anticipation of the walkout, both Pajaro Valley High and Watsonville High decided to close their school doors in an effort to keep students safe.

Here are some photos from the march from St. Patricks Church to the Watsonville Plaza, Mayor Antonio Rivas and Vice-Mayor Manuel Quintero Bersamin speaking in front of the City Hall and from the rally in the Watsonville Plaza.

The following three audio mp3s were recorded on Friday, March 31st. The first mp3 is from the rally in the Watsonville Plaza and starts off in mid-sentence of Tomas of the Watsonville Brown Berets. (52 minutes / 17.8 MB).

AUDIO mp3: Rally in the Watsonville Plaza for Immigrant Rights
http://www.indybay.org/uploads/watsonville_3-31-06.mp3

The second mp3 is of Watsonville mayor Antonio Rivas and the third mp3 is of Watsonville vice-mayor Manuel Quintero Bersamin. Both Rivas and Bersamin spoke in front of the Watsonville City Hall located on Main Street next to the Watsonville Plaza. Rivas and Bersamin spoke just minutes before the rally in the plaza.

AUDIO mp3: Mayor: Antonio Rivas
http://www.indybay.org/uploads/rivas-watson-mayor_3-31-06.mp3

AUDIO mp3: Mayor Pro Tempore (Vice Mayor): Manuel Quintero Bersamin
http://www.indybay.org/uploads/bersamin-watson-vicemayor_3-31-06.mp3

Middle schools in the Pajaro Valley School District (PVUSD) provided in-school activities to speak out against HR 4437, such as a Cesar Chavez Free Speech Rally at Lake View Middle School where students voiced their concerns to fellow students and wrote letters to government representatives. In a bilingual letter sent home with students (except PVHS and WHS) on Thursday, March 30th, PVUSD administrators tried to convince students, and their parents, that staying in school and writing letters to representatives is a more effective way of making student voices heard than walking out of class.

Despite efforts to keep middle school students in school on Friday, many middle schoolers spent their Friday morning rallying in Watsonville Plaza and marching to St. Patricks Church and then back to the plaza.

§Police Helicopter Flying Over the March

by ~Bradley (bradley [at] riseup.net)

Fri, Apr 7, 2006 1:51PM