Large crowd protests Arizona immigration law at Utah Capitol

SALT LAKE CITY — About 200 people rallied at the state Capitol on Thursday against Arizona-style immigration reform in Utah. The protest was scheduled to coincide with the day the controversial Arizona law took effect, although a judge blocked the law's most controversial parts.

At the Utah protest, young, radical Latinos were joined by gay-rights organizations, revolutionary students and Mormon reformists who say underrepresented communities are under attack from legislators who don't like minorities.

"We're here to keep anything like (Arizona's) SB1070 out of Utah," said Lola Reyes, as a throng of protesters cheered her in the Capitol rotunda. She announced that several radical groups were forming a new organization called United For Social Justice.

"This isn't going to stop unless we stop it," said Melodia Gutierrez, who helped organize the rally with several other women. "It's time to push back against the system." Glancing upstairs where the Legislature meets, she added, "We refuse to let you rob us of our humanity."

In addition to Gutierrez's Brown Berets, an organization dedicated to "revolutionary change," the protest was organized by the Revolutionary Students Union, Queer Students of Color, Utah Jobs with Justice, The Mormon Worker (a newspaper devoted to "Mormonism and radical politics"), and a group called MEChA, a Spanish acronym for Chicano Student Movement of Aztlan.

"The press seems to always go to the same (Latino) community leaders. That's fine, but we don't necessarily agree with everything they say, and we want our voices heard," Gutierrez said. She added that men are also usually in charge, so women decided to organize Thursday's rally.

She said all the groups are frustrated that Utah legislators "seem to push laws that hurt our (Latino) community."

She didn't just keep her comments aimed at immigration. She, and others, also took swipes at how they say other groups are mistreated in Utah, especially those from the LGBT community.

But most of the dozens of home-made signs at the rally focused on immigration. They included, "Hey Obama, don't deport my mama," "Razing Arizona, SB1070," "Who Would Jesus Deport," and "No illegals=No burritos."

The Revolutionary Student Union — with some members wearing Soviet Union designs on T-shirts — ran through the crowd waving red and black flags, leading chants such as, "What do we want? Legalization. When do we want it? Now."

Behind the crowd stood two counterprotesters — Henry Miller and Jamin Merton — quietly holding an American flag and signs that said, "Better dead than red," and "Stop using 'racism' as an excuse to break the law."

Merton pointed at the red flag used by the revolutionary students and said, "That flag has led to the death of more people than any other." He and Miller said they belonged to no particular group but just heard about the rally and decided to counterprotest. "We're just Americans worried about our country," he said.

Many of the protesters also were not members of the groups that organized the rally.

For example, Monique Ulibarra of Salt Lake City said she heard about it, and decided to come "to be supportive because I don't agree with racism."

Also, some leaders of more moderate Latino groups — such as Centro Civico Mexican and Proyecto Latino de Utah — showed up.

"We just wanted to show the kids that we support them," Tony Yapias, director of Proyecto Latino, said about the groups of younger Latinos.

e-mail: lee@desnews.com