Protesters March Against Headwaters Logging

Environmentalists rallied Sunday to block logging in the ancient redwood groves of the Headwaters Forest in an afternoon marked by a heavy law enforcement presence and two arrests.

A stream of demonstrators, most in cars and vans but some on bicycles or walking, clogged the narrow, twisting road to the rally site in the tiny community of Stafford off U.S. 101, about 250 miles north of San Francisco.

Also present were California Highway Patrol officers, sheriff’s deputies, police and private security officers, all of whom watched the gathering warily.

By midafternoon, about 4,000 protesters were at the site, a rolling field of hay stubble near the Eel River with a makeshift stage at one end and cars and tents crowding the other.

Humboldt County sheriff’s deputies arrested an Arcata man, 38, and an Oakland woman, 47, authorities said.

The man broke through a police line and kicked at officers, while the woman sat down in the middle of U.S. 101 and refused to move, said Lt. Melinda Ciarabellini of the Sheriff’s Department.

Officials declined to identify those arrested.

The afternoon’s procession, led by former Gov. Edmund G. “Jerry” Brown Jr., included thousands holding placards, beating drums and chanting.

Some were dressed as redwood trees and were singing and winding through the crowd.