Antiwar Protesters Spend Day at Congressman’s Office; 3 Are Arrested

Three antiwar activists were arrested Tuesday after demonstrating inside Rep. Elton Gallegly’s district office in Thousand Oaks and allegedly refusing to leave.

The Ventura County Sheriff’s Department said 15 to 30 protesters entered Gallegly’s office about 10 a.m., singing and carrying signs. They stayed until about 4 p.m., when authorities said their behavior got out of hand and they were ordered to leave.

“They were being loud, occupying desks and making phone calls,” said Eric Nishimoto, spokesman for the Sheriff’s Department. “The staff were extremely tolerant, but suffice it to say they were disrupting the congressman’s business.”

Three who allegedly refused to leave were arrested and charged with trespassing. One was identified as Grant Marcus, 53, of Ventura. The identities of the others were still being determined late Tuesday.

Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) was outraged. He said one protester urinated in his office sink, and other “professional agitators” forced themselves inside, hung up on constituents and screamed whenever a staffer was on the phone.

“My staff was unable to help our constituents under the circumstances, and I would not allow them to be subjected to lewd criminal behavior,” Gallegly said in a prepared statement.

Some of the protesters carried leaflets outlining their views.

In hers, Lucille Duffy of Ventura announced her opposition to corporate America, the military industrial complex and “political collaborators.”

Fellow protester Chris Vestuto of Thousand Oaks wrote that he was against Gallegly’s support for the war and felt he needed to find a way, “short of violence,” to place himself physically against it.

” ... I am here to stand in the way of this war and I will refuse to leave of my own accord.”