1,500 Attend Teach-In Against Gulf Presence : Protest: The crowd at Fairfax High School is the biggest yet of the local anti-war movement. Ellsberg, Kovic, Clark speak.

An enthusiastic crowd of more than 1,500 jammed the auditorium and grounds of Fairfax High School on Sunday, yelling and applauding in support of several nationally known activists who oppose any U.S. offensive against Iraq.

It was by far the largest expression of anti-war sentiment in California regarding the Bush Administration’s Persian Gulf policy since U.S. troops were sent to Saudi Arabia in August.

Nationally, the largest turnout calling for withdrawing U.S. forces was in New York City on Oct. 20, when 4,000 people marched along Broadway from Columbus Circle to Times Square.

“We’re here today to protest what could only be a god-awful war,” said former U.S. Atty. Gen. Ramsey Clark, who received a number of ovations.

“We really have to come to grips with ourselves, America,” said Clark, who also vociferously opposed the Vietnam War. “Why is it we have this propensity for war?”

Clark was joined by anti-war activists Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon Papers during the Vietnam War; Ron Kovic, the Vietnam hero whose combat injury left him paralyzed, and political activist the Rev. Jesse Jackson.

The event that brought these familiar voices of protest together was a “teach-in”--a forum organizers said is designed to arm would-be demonstrators with information to support anti-war positions and with guidelines for mobilizing public support.

The turnout was reminiscent of the 1960s protests against the Vietnam War. The presence of Clark and Ellsberg served to underscore those years of strident debate sparked by that conflict.

A banner onstage Sunday declared “You Can Stop The War.” A “Desert Shield Memorial Wall” listed the names of the 56 Americans who have died since U.S. forces were deployed.

The Jan. 15 deadline set by the United Nations for Iraq’s withdrawal from Kuwait lent an air of urgency to the gathering.

Clark, Ellsberg, Kovic and other anti-war activists have been participating in a number of demonstrations across the nation in an effort to end U.S. military deployment in the Middle East.

Some of the speakers talked of a major national demonstration in January against any move by Washington to use military force to liberate Kuwait from the occupying Iraqi forces.

“We will shut down every university and every military recruiting station,” Kovic yelled from his wheelchair. “We will win.”

Ellsberg, a research associate at Harvard Medical School, told the audience that Iraq is preparing for war with concrete bunkers, land mines, napalm and razor wire.

“American troops have never been asked to go against fortifications like this . . . since the Normandy landing,” he said.

Ellsberg urged a special session of Congress to debate gulf policy. If Bush proceeds with war over congressional opposition, he said, the President “should be impeached.”

“We can make this system work,” he said. “We have 30 days to do it.”

A broad cross-section of people--reflecting diversity of age and ethnic background--were present Sunday. Several brought their children. “I was impressed with the crowd,” Ellsberg told a reporter.

Several of those who turned out said they believed demonstrations such as Sunday’s would have an impact on U.S. policy-makers.

“This is a broad spectrum of people,” observed Carol Thompson, 46, a USC professor. “We think it’s a very strong message to Bush to not go to war.”

Another member of the crowd, Linda Lotz of Pasadena, called the turnout “extraordinary, but not surprising.”

The 1,200-seat auditorium was filled to capacity, while loudspeakers carried speeches and songs to hundreds more outside.

Los Angeles Police Sgt. Wolfgang Hundertmark said a few shoving matches occurred among opposing activist groups, but there were no arrests. The sergeant said the event’s sponsors had leased the public high school grounds so they could legally prevent perceived troublemakers from entering the complex.

Outside the school gates, about a dozen counterdemonstrators complained that they had not been allowed in. Several carried signs with slogans such as “Liberate Kuwait.”

“Our point of view is that Saddam Hussein is another Hitler who must be neutralized,” said Irv Rubin, chairman of the Jewish Defense League. “It’s only a matter of time before he gets a nuclear weapon and he will use it.”

Rubin criticized the event’s sponsor, Los Angeles Coalition Against U.S. Involvement in the Middle East, for including Palestinian groups on the agenda.

Blase Bonpane, a spokesman for organizers of the event, said the pro-deployment group had been turned away to prevent “disruptive behavior.”

“People (are) wanting to hear the Palestinian position. Over the years, we’ve heard the Israelis’ position to a much higher degree,” Bonpane said. “This is not anti anything, except war.”

Times staff writers John Johnson and Judy Pasternak contributed to this story.