66 Protesters Arrested at Seal Beach Base : 200 Demonstrate Their Opposition to U.S. Contra Aid

Police arrested 66 people, including a blind man and a 72-year-old grandfather, as they blocked the main entrance to the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station on Tuesday to protest the U.S. military presence in Central America.

The noisy, well-orchestrated protest was one of the largest in recent years at the Seal Beach site, according to police. There were no outbreaks of violence during the hourlong confrontation, and all arrested were released by Seal Beach authorities after being cited for trespassing on government property, police said.

An estimated 200 placard-carrying peace activists, many chanting anti-Reagan slogans, gathered about 11 a.m. at the main gate to the weapons station along Seal Beach Boulevard.

The first arrests occurred when five women, dressed in white, marched toward the base entrance. Confronted by a dozen Seal Beach officers, each woman was asked to leave or face arrest. Before it ended, 61 others were arrested, including Richard Rose, a 33-year-old Long Beach man who is blind.

Helped Into Car

“I am doing this out of patriotism and a love of life,” Rose shouted as he was helped into a squad car. Demonstrators cheered as the patrol car pulled away.

All but four protesters surrendered to police voluntarily.

Greg Jahiel, 17, a freshman at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, hurled himself onto the pavement, forcing officers to carry him into custody. Before his arrest, Jahiel said this was his first demonstration. “I’m nervous, real nervous,” the biology student said. “I’ve never been arrested . . . but I believe in this.”

A small group of counter-demonstrators carried signs saying “Communism kills” and shouted “traitors” at the peace group.

The weapons station was chosen as a protest target because it provides munitions for the Pacific Fleet, which aids the effort of the contras , according to sponsors of Tuesday’s demonstration, the Alliance for Survival and the Pledge of Resistance. A U.S. Navy spokeswoman had no comment on Tuesday’s demonstration.

Authorities Prepared

Police and base officials clearly were prepared for the pre-announced protest. Base traffic was routed through a side entrance, and large concrete barriers were placed on either side of the main gate to block access.

About a dozen Seal Beach officers, as well as officers from neighboring Los Alamitos, were on hand to make arrests. Several more officers monitored activities from the roof of the Seal Beach police station, just north of the naval facility on Seal Beach Boulevard.

“We’re just interested in keeping things under control,” Capt. Ken Garrett said.

The only real snag was finding enough squad cars to transport those arrested. As a result, officers and protesters engaged in small talk as they waited for rides to the station.

For some, like Saul Morrison, the decision to be arrested did not come easily. A grandfather of two and a retired child guidance counselor, Morrison, 72, said it was a “difficult choice made easy in recent months by Reagan’s foolish insistence” on supporting the contras.

On his white shirt, Morrison wore the name of a Nicaraguan elementary school teacher he claimed had been killed by the contras.

Moments before he was taken away, Morrison said, “I’m doing this because I care about the children of Nicaragua. . . . They are the real losers in this.”