Peaceful S.D. Gathering Protests King Verdict : Demonstration: The small downtown gathering heard speakers address other issues in addition to the riot-provoking verdict.

About 275 protesters gathered in front of the Federal Building in downtown San Diego Saturday night to denounce the acquittals of four Los Angeles police officers charged with the beating of Rodney King.

The peaceful protest began at 6:30 p.m. with several speakers addressing the mostly white crowd. At 7:30 p.m. the group, which had thinned considerably, marched to police headquarters at Broadway and 14th Street, where the demonstrators observed a moment of silence before returning to the Federal Building.

The march ended with a candle light vigil, before the demonstration ended at 9 p.m.

Although billed as a “community speak-out” to the jury’s verdict in Simi Valley, the gathering was also used by people who spoke out on a variety of issues. Several people also worked the crowd for donations and to gather signatures for a petition urging the U.S. Justice Department to prosecute the four Los Angeles officers for civil rights violations.

Tanja Winter, 65, a retired social worker, said she decided to join the protest because she was “outraged” by the jury’s verdict.

“It’s symptomatic of what’s going on in this country with justice and how its applied to minorities and young people. It’s time for the American public to wake up and admit there’s something drastically wrong with the country,” the La Jolla resident said. “It’s a white issue. Whites have the power and the responsibility to change this country’s pattern of behavior.”

Cedrick Rabotbau,22, attended the rally with his wife, Yana, 22, and daughter, Twaniesha,4. Rabotbau, a San Diego resident and aerospace worker, said the verdict “brought out so much anger in me.”

“Many of us are angry. The rioting in Los Angeles is totally wrong. There’s no excuse for it, but you also have to remember that black people waited more than a year for justice they never got . . . . The rioting is partly due to frustration because people are powerless to do anything about the verdict,” Rabotbau said.

As Rabotbau talked, a speaker was promoting “justice or violence” to the cheering crowd.

Another speaker, noting the different issues addressed by numerous speakers, told the gathering that “we’re all under attack by our own government.”

Kat Castelblanco, was the youngest speaker to address the crowd. The 15-year-old student at the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts complained about police harassing her for curfew violations, “even when I’m standing out in front of my own house.”

“I’m 15 years old and . . . I’m tired of dealing with harassment each and every day of my life,” Castelblanco said.

The teen-ager said she was bothered by visions of the end of the world brought on by injustice and inequality.

“I think it’s really disgusting that a 15-year-old child has a vision of the end of the world,” she said.

Overall, San Diego police officials said local residents vented their anger over the verdict in the Rodney King case in peaceful but uncertain terms. The community’s disgust with the verdict was shared by some officers assigned to monitor Saturday’s protest.

Despite the relative calm in San Diego when compared to the rioting in Los Angeles, police reported more activity than normal between Wednesday, when the verdict was announced, and 9:30 p.m. Friday. The extra police calls were blamed on the jury verdict.

According to San Diego police figures, there were 10 Molotov cocktails thrown in the city between Wednesday and Friday night. In addition, 16 fights and assaults, 10 reported lootings, 15 demonstrations and about 20 bomb threats were all attributed to the verdict.

On Friday, Horton Plaza officials said they were tipped off to possible trouble from bands of youths headed for the downtown shopping center. Most stores in the mall, considered the anchor of the revitalized downtown area, shut down at 7 p.m., two hours earlier than their normal closing time.

Mall security officers kept a high profile and patrolled the area in groups. The security guards followed bands of suspicious youths around the shopping center, filming their every move with video cameras. The guards were reinforced by several police officers, who conducted numerous patrols around the downtown area.

Dozens of officers from various San Diego County law enforcement agencies were dispatched to Los Angeles to help the LAPD deal with rioters and looters. But most local officers returned on Saturday, after Los Angeles police had been reinforced by Army, Marine and National Guard units and the situation had calmed down considerably.