Today at Nationals Park, protest over the Arizona mess

[Go Skins]

http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=25&sid=2028007

WASHINGTON - Sunday's game between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Washington Nationals was briefly interrupted by protesters.

Their goal? Urge commissioner Bud Selig to move the 2011 All-Star Game from Phoenix because of Arizona's new immigration legislation.

A man emerged from the left-field stands in the fifth inning and ran into short right field after Washington pitcher Stephen Strasburg grounded to short for the first out. As security guards were about to subdue the man, a woman ran onto the field from the right-field seats.

The two ran around the field, meeting in deep right-center, before they were caught by security. As they were being escorted from the field, a man and a woman holding a banner protesting the All-Star Game in Arizona ran into right field.

Before they could display the banner, a security guard ripped it from their hands, tackling one of them. As they were taken into custody, a bedsheet banner reading "Bud Selig Move All Star Game No SB 1070" was unfurled from the facade over the batter's eye in center field.

While the banner-toting protesters were taken off the field, security removed the sign in center field. The game was delayed about two minutes.

Before the game, about three dozen people protested outside Nationals Park. A banner reading "Bud Selig Move The All Stars Game No SB 0170" that was unfurled from a parking garage was quickly removed.

Selig has declined to become involved in what he says is a political issue.

The demonstrators gathered outside the center-field gates at noon, briefly walking in a circle before security personnel ushered them into a blocked-off portion of N Street.

They handed out fliers and carried signs - some in Spanish, others in English - and chanted "Hey, baseball, let's face it - Arizona is racist" and "Hey, Bud Selig: Move the game!"

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irwi_CzcmNM&feature=player_embedded[/media]

[BengalBacker]

Assholes.

[John~Galt]

[quote name='BengalBacker' timestamp='1281943463' post='906575']
Assholes.
[/quote]

+1

[CincyInDC]

[quote name='Go Skins' timestamp='1281921923' post='906311']


A man emerged from the left-field stands in the fifth inning and ran into short right field [b]after Washington pitcher Stephen Strasburg grounded to short for the first out.[/b]
[/quote]

Hey, at least they waited for a break in play.

[John~Galt]

[quote name='CincyInDC' timestamp='1282065487' post='907151']
Hey, at least they waited for a break in play.
[/quote]

maybe that's what the scuffle in Great American Ballpark was about. Cueto is Latino after all and the cardinals are clearly a racist organization.


Time to start printing my FREE CUETO shirts.

[Go Skins]

Follow up article:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/20/AR2010082005676.html

The bottom of the fifth inning was just getting started Sunday afternoon at Nationals Park when a young man and woman jumped out of the stands and led huffing-and-puffing security guards on a merry chase across the outfield.

Two more interlopers darted onto the green. Before they could unfurl a banner in right field, it was snatched by a guard who tumbled to the turf with one of them.

"We were kind of hoping it was a sign saying, 'Sign Adam Dunn,' " said David Bookbinder, a lawyer at the game. "None of us, and none of the guys behind or in front of us, had any idea there was a political message of any sort. . . . The take-away was: The Nats need some security guards in somewhat better shape."

The rowdy national roadshow of protest against Arizona's tough new immigration law had just barged into Washington. Amid the dueling jeers and cheers of fans who did get the message -- the Nats were playing the Arizona Diamondbacks, weren't they? -- there was also the puzzlement of Bookbinder and many others in the stands.

What does immigration have to do with baseball? Is this any way to win supporters and influence policy?

Similar questions linger over the broader crusade to ostracize Arizona, a campaign now about to enter its fifth month. Latino civil rights organizations and labor unions are boycotting the state, which has already cost Arizona thousands of hotel bookings and millions of dollars. A coalition of musicians including Rage Against the Machine, Juanes, Shakira, Los Tigres del Norte, Los Lobos, Kanye West, Cypress Hill and Ozomatli are refusing to play there. Activists are trying to pressure Major League Baseball into moving the 2011 All-Star Game out of Phoenix.