Trade Protesters Confront Police at Border

SAN DIEGO —  A rally against the consequences of free trade resulted in a 20-minute standoff Saturday between rock-throwing protesters and police in riot gear at the U.S.-Mexico border, but there were no injuries or arrests, police said.

A group of about 25 people identifying themselves as anarchists caused the confrontation by first taunting San Diego police and then throwing rocks and other objects. Several dozen officers, some armed with tear gas, approached the protesters along a chain-link fence but never used force, police said.

“For the most part the crowd has been fairly decent,” said San Diego Police Capt. Harold Cox.

The rally, which drew about 1,000 people, was in response to a meeting in Quebec City, Canada, of Western leaders who are discussing the proposed creation of a 34-nation free trade zone.

There have been multiple clashes between demonstrators and police outside the meeting for two days.

Organizers of the San Diego event said they chose the border site for the rally to illustrate what they consider environmental and labor abuses resulting from free trade in the region, said Medea Benjamin, director of Global Exchange, a San Francisco-based human rights group.

The protesters, calling themselves the Black Bloc, declined to speak with reporters. Clad in black and wearing masks, they spray-painted sidewalks, the walls of a factory outlet store and public telephones.

Before marching to the border, they gathered at a baseball diamond just north of the steel wall that divides the U.S. and Mexico.

After two hours of speeches, about 500 people walked down an access road to a pedestrian crossing at the world’s busiest border, where the standoff between police and protesters occurred.

“The border wall is a symbol of oppression,” said Albert Ponce, 29, of Los Angeles. “The border represents union jobs being moved to Mexico and Mexican workers being exploited.”