500 Protest Weaponry in Annual Vigil : Activists Demonstrate Quietly as Wincon Delegates Gather

More than 500 peace activists bearing candles lined a road opposite the South Coast Plaza shopping center in Costa Mesa Monday night to protest a gathering of military and defense industry specialists.

The peaceful, 2-hour vigil, which ended at 9 p.m. with no arrests, was held to protest the annual Winter Convention of Aerospace and Electronic Systems (Wincon). Delegates to the convention, meeting today at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, were arriving late Monday at the Westin South Coast Plaza hotel, across Bristol Street from the mall.

The convention, whose proceedings are closed to the public and highly classified, is expected to focus on the future course of the U.S. defense industry. Except for last year, the convention has gathered every winter in Orange County since 1983. And each year, protesters have held a candlelight vigil.

Police Crowd Estimate

Police watching the protest at the corner of Bristol and Anton Boulevard estimated the crowd at 500 to 700 people. The demonstrators, many of whom carried signs protesting military weapons along with their candles, ranged in age from toddlers to the elderly.

“Anytime people gather for peace, particularly in a conservative area like Orange County, it’s quite a commitment,” said Marion Pack, executive director of the Alliance for Survival, which sponsored the vigil, along with the Catholic Workers group.

Some protesters came from as far away as San Diego and Los Angeles. A bus ferried one group from the Federal Building in Westwood, Pack said.

It was a colorful and gentle group that gathered along the roadside, with candles in paper cups and melting wax dropping onto the sidewalk. A juggler worked the crowd, flipping bowling pins to raise money for the alliance. A Doberman pinscher padded softly through the throng, a “Dogs for Disarmament” sign pinned to his collar.

Buddhists Joined Protest

A pair of Japanese Buddhists, the Rev. Gyoten Yoshida and the Rev. Hiroko Sawada, pounded skin drums and chanted from the Lotus Sutra. “We are against Wincon,” Sawada said. “We have been working with the peace movement for some time.”

A counterdemonstration of sorts across Anton from the peace activists competed for the attention of passers-by. Two men from Young Americans for Freedom waved placards that read “Communist Dupes” and carried biblical passages.

“From reading the Bible, we believe you can only reach peace through strength,” said one man who called himself “Steven the Street Preacher” and declined to give his full name. “We’re sort of to the right of Jerry Falwell, but he’s all right.”

A third man joined them about 8 p.m. and yelled into a portable public speaker: “Repent, Communist dupes!”

The street preacher and police said there were no confrontations between the two groups.

“It’s friendly,” the street preacher said. “But we do have differences.”

Many of the passing cars appeared to honk in support of the peace activists.

Some demonstrators said they would try to block the entrance to the air station this morning in a bid to delay buses ferrying Wincon delegates from the Costa Mesa hotel. These protesters are ready to be arrested and have attended compulsory, 3-hour training sessions in nonviolent civil disobedience, Pack said.

Ten demonstrators outside a 1985 Wincon conference were convicted on misdemeanor charges of blocking a public roadway.

“Our slogan this year is to convert Wincon technology for peace, not war,” Pack said. “We used to say, ‘Stop Wincon.’ Now it’s, ‘Convert Wincon.’ These brilliant men should be taking their talents towards truly improving the environment.”

Costa Mesa police, numbering about 15, kept a low profile Monday night. A handful of officers walked from time to time through the crowd to keep the sidewalks clear. A police helicopter’s searchlight lit up the area for a few minutes as it passed overhead shortly after the vigil began.

Topher Hawthorne, 17, of Irvine clutched his candle and watched the flickering lights of his colleagues with an earnest expression.

“If we don’t always enforce the beliefs we have, the world will continue down the same sad, destructive path it’s on,” he said.

“This is one of the most important beliefs I have: that weapons are wrong and peace is right.”

Photo in Part I, Page 1.