Thousands of Students Stage Anti-187 Walkout : Protest: No injuries, arrests are reported. The mass demonstrations prompt a tactical alert by the LAPD.

In the largest student protests to date against Proposition 187, thousands of Southern California youths walked off their campuses Friday, prompting a tactical alert by Los Angeles police, tense standoffs with riot-ready officers, and scattered fighting and vandalism.

No one was seriously injured or arrested during mass demonstrations in Van Nuys and Chatsworth, where an estimated 2,500 impassioned teen-agers waved Mexican and Central American flags and chanted in Spanish, “No 187!” and “The people united will never be defeated.”

“Our dream is to go to school and be somebody in life, and if this law passes we won’t be able to fulfill our dreams,” said Blanca Menjivar, a junior at Birmingham High School in Van Nuys.

The protests involving 11 schools in the San Fernando Valley were among a half-dozen mostly peaceful incidents throughout Southern California in which students abandoned books for bullhorns to decry Proposition 187, the controversial anti-immigration measure that would deny public services, including education, to illegal residents.

Students in Venice, Westchester, South Los Angeles and San Gabriel staged protests, as did youths in three San Diego schools.

In Oxnard and Camarillo, 2,000 students took to the streets in what is believed to be the largest student walkout in Ventura County history.

The largely calm demonstration, which culminated at a downtown Oxnard park, was marred by a series of fights that police attributed to gang rivalries, not political fervor. Four demonstrators were arrested, including three juveniles.

But Van Nuys played host to the most raucous showdown of the afternoon.

Scores of helmeted police armed with batons and shotguns faced off hundreds of students near the Van Nuys government center and Van Nuys High School.

At least one student was struck by a police baton and a small group was sprayed with pepper spray during the Van Nuys Civic Center confrontation.

Marchers kept to the sidewalks along most of their routes but there was some traffic disruption. The most serious trouble that Los Angeles police reported was smashed windows in a patrol car and vandalism at a Van Nuys convenience store.

The Los Angeles Police Department and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department remained on tactical alert throughout the day. Police also braced for possible trouble at a homecoming game and dance at Van Nuys High School Friday night, but no problems had been reported by late in the evening.

Police spokesman Lt. John Dunkin said the tactical alert served two purposes: It allowed LAPD Chief Willie L. Williams to keep officers over for double shifts and cleared the way for officers in other parts of the city to assist. The Valley patrols were briefly reinforced by officers from the Metro Division. The alert was called off at 4 p.m.

The Van Nuys demonstrations began early Friday morning at Fulton Middle School, where at least 200 students left the campus and walked 2 1/2 miles to Monroe High School in North Hills, their ranks growing along the way. The group then walked to Sepulveda Middle School, unaware that students there had Friday off.

Undeterred, demonstrators continued about three more miles to Van Nuys High School where more students were drawn into the march, some jumping fences to join in.

At about the same time, about 400 youths walked off the campus of Birmingham High School in Van Nuys and set off on a march of their own--picking up classmates from Mulholland and Van Nuys Middle Schools as well as supportive passersby.

Motorists honked in approval while apartment dwellers leaned over their balconies for a better view, smiling and raising their fists.

Teodora Sandoval de Rodriguez, who lives near the Van Nuys government center, was at the corner of Van Nuys and Victory boulevards when she saw the students marching. She decided to join them.

“I wanted to show them my support,” she said. “I think it’s great that they have commitment to protest like this.”

Some school administrators also joined the fray--walking along or following close by in cars to ensure the students’ safety. “I monitored them all the way through,” said Birmingham High School Principal Jerry Kleinman.

Their numbers swelling as they continued their trek, neither group of students had apparent leaders or a planned route, and they ended up in the same two areas spontaneously.

By the time the marchers reached the Van Nuys Civic Center and nearby Van Nuys High School, they were met by a throng of Los Angeles police clad in riot gear, some wielding shotguns and carrying cartridges with rubber bullets.

Some demonstrators complained that the police were overreacting by dispatching so many officers.

“All those weapons!” said Ivan Bertran, 17, a senior at Van Nuys High School. “We’ve got signs. Like we’re really going to hurt them with signs.”

Added Leticia Zelaya, 15, a sophomore at Van Nuys High: “Freedom of speech is supposed to mean you can say what you want to say. The cops are making a big deal of this. They’re treating us like animals. We ain’t animals.”

About 2 p.m., six yellow school buses roared to a stop in the middle of Van Nuys Boulevard near the Civic Center. Over a bullhorn, officers instructed the exhausted students to get on the bus or face arrest. By 2:15 p.m., the buses departed, ending the demonstrations.

At Van Nuys High School the demonstration ended when police herded students on foot into the football stadium, where the gate was then locked.

In a larger, but calmer Valley protest Friday, 2,000 students from Chatsworth High School took part in a rally followed by an impromptu march through area streets. Police reported no trouble.

School-based protests against Proposition 187 have been rising in number and fervor in recent weeks as the Nov. 8 election nears, while parents and leaders of the No on 187 campaign have been trying to defuse enthusiasm for the demonstrations.

Anti-Proposition 187 campaign officials and student leaders said they would hold a press conference next week in the hope of persuading students to call off a countywide school walkout planned for Wednesday.

“We think that there are a lot of other ways that kids can extend energies and help defeat Prop. 187,” said Scott MacDonald, a spokesman for the No on 187 movement, which now opposes student walkouts.

“I understand the frustration that students must have--they can’t vote, and much of this is aimed at their schools and will hurt their schools,” MacDonald continued. “But there are a lot of things we need to be talking about and this is not the best way to get people talking.”

The Los Angeles Board of Education scheduled a special meeting Monday afternoon to discuss the walkouts, the district’s response, and the possibility of more class disruptions as the Nov. 8 elections draw near.

“As it gets closer to the election, I think it’s appropriate that we coordinate the response,” said board President Mark Slavkin, who was en route to Los Angeles from Washington, D.C., Friday with Supt. Sid Thompson.

“To disrupt school and leave campus, I think undermines the cause,” Slavkin said.

Times staff writers Alan Abrahamson, Leslie Berger, Henry Chu, Fred Alvarez, Myron Levin, Greg Miller, Amy Pyle and Julie Tamaki and special correspondent Maki Becker contributed to this story.

* POLICE REACT: The LAPD used training from 1992 riots in Friday protests. B1

More on Prop. 187: Get the complete background on Prop. 187, including the Easy Reader’s guide to all the ballot measures. Jump “elections” to find Elections ’94 on TimesLink.

Details on Times electronic services, A4

Students Protest Proposition 187

Thousands of students walked off campuses throughout the Valley Friday in protest of Proposition 187, the controversial anti-illegal immigration ballot measure. Students from middle and highs schools in VAn Nuys marched about five miles, blocking traffic and prompting police in riot gear to respond for crowd control. By day’s end, most of the students peacefully returned to their campuses. No arrests were reported.

Schools involved

1. Chatsworth High School

2. Reseda High School

3. Birmingham High School

4. Mulholland Middle School

5. Kennedy High School

6. Monroe High School

7. Fulton Middle School

8. Van Nuys High School

9. Van Nuys Middle School

10. Grant High School

11. North Hollywood High School