War Protesters Want Clash With Police Investigated

Anti-war activists who say they were attacked by San Diego police during a weekend protest rally asked the department Tuesday to investigate what they call an unprovoked attack that led to the arrests of three men and to some minor injuries.

Greg Akili, a member of the Coalition for Peace in the Middle East, called for the investigation.

Arrested Sunday were Guillermo Mendez, 25, on suspicion of inciting a riot and resisting arrest; Mason Cocroft, 49, on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and resisting arrest, and Judd Fieler, age unknown, who was arrested on suspicion of interfering with a police horse. Fieler was released Sunday night, and no charges were filed against him.

Charges against Cocroft, who was arraigned Monday, were reduced to a misdemeanor. Mendez is scheduled to be arraigned on March 11. Neither of the men is in custody.

Cocroft suffered a minor head injury during the incident and a woman rallying with the peace group was also injured when she was knocked to the ground, a coalition spokeswoman said.

The coalition wants charges against Mendez and Cocroft dropped and restitution paid to those who were injured.

The incident occurred after a larger anti-war rally at Balboa Park. A smaller group of protesters continued to demonstrate, and this eventually led to a confrontation between police and the protesters.

Police say things got out of hand when some of the protesters began calling for attacks on police who were monitoring the demonstration.