Dozens in O.C. Protest Airstrikes

About 35 people turned out Saturday afternoon at a busy Costa Mesa intersection in front of Orange County’s unofficial marketplace--South Coast Plaza--to protest NATO airstrikes against Yugoslavia.

Thousands out doing errands for the busy Easter weekend honked and shouted--some in support, others in opposition--to homemade signs reading “All Killing Is Wrong,” “Who Is Next?” and “Out of Kosovo.”

Members of Orange County Veterans for Peace, the county Green Party and other groups staged the three-hour event at the bustling corner of Bristol Street and Anton Boulevard to urge diplomacy to settle the increasingly brutal Balkans conflict.

Nearly all said they opposed NATO’s effort to stop Slobodan Milosevic’s campaign against ethnic Albanians in Yugoslavia’s Kosovo province.

“I personally know of atrocities in Santa Ana,” said Dwight Smith, 48, of the Catholic Worker, a religious organization assisting the homeless and others. But atrocities do not provide sufficient justification for bombing--especially on the eve of Easter, he said. “Maybe we should question the godliness of our activities.”

Lisa Alvarez had family on her mind.

The 38-year-old English professor at Irvine Valley College said her in-laws evacuated from Belgrade last week, just days before NATO airstrikes on that capital city.

“I think the actions we’re taking are totally misguided,” said Alvarez, of Laguna Beach. “Bombs fall on people.”

Others spoke of stopping the war before it escalates. “If we don’t do something now, it can get more serious . . . and involve the entire world,” said Victor Tanious, 32, of Dana Point.

World War II veteran Al Appel, 75, worried that neither the public nor the nation’s leaders have all the facts. “Milosevic’s motives have not been accurately detailed in the American media,” the Huntington Beach resident said.

Among the demonstrators was a single supporter of the airstrikes. Bob Skinner, 49, of Orange, said he was out to show support for the airstrikes in order “to be the other voice.”

“If your neighbors down the street were being brutalized, raped and murdered by thugs,” he said, “would you close your drapes and turn on the TV?”

In Los Angeles, traffic near the Westwood federal building was disrupted by two protests: about 200 marching in support of military intervention and 60 others opposed.

Some demonstrators in favor of NATO airstrikes, mainly relatives of Kosovo Albanians, carried placards with President Clinton giving a thumbs-up sign, while others held pictures of the three American soldiers captured by Serb forces at the Yugoslavia-Macedonia border. Passing motorists occasionally honked their horns in support.

“Any stop in bombing will just give Milosevic more time to continue with the ethnic cleansing,” said rally organizer Enver Gjokaj. “If anything, we should intensify the bombing and send in ground troops.”

The march was peaceful until one woman hurled a handful of rocks and dirt at protesters opposing NATO intervention. She was escorted away by authorities.

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The Associated Press contributed to this story.