Demonstration turns into shoving match at state Capitol
SACRAMENTO, CA. - Two opposing groups were at the California Capitol Saturday afternoon rallying for their causes.
SLIDESHOW: Tea partiers and MoveOn.org activists face off
With hundreds of supporters each, tea partiers and MoveOn.org activists faced off on opposed sides of 10th Street.
MoveOn.org organized the rally to support union workers protesting in Wisconsin. Tea partiers organized the rally against union workers.
"Gov. Walker has created a false sense of fiscal emergency in his state," said a veteran teacher from the Sacramento Unified School District.
"Collective bargaining means that they go to their empoyer and try to coerce more pay or benefits out of them," countered East Bay's Jose Ornelis.
The opposing rallies were divided by 10th Street, west of the State Capitol. All was peaceful, until members supporting unions crossed the street.
An amateur videographer caught a shoving match on tape. The video showed a face to face argument right before Richard Andazola, 28, of Stockton, shoved a tea party activist.
"He bum rushed across the street, came right at us, swung his bullhorn at me, hit me in the hand and then put his hand around my throat and started choking me," Rodney Stanhope of Placerville said.
The video doesn't show the choking incident, but clearly shows the shoving. Because of it, Sacramento Police officers cited Andazola for battery.
Andazola tells a different story though.
"He was spitting on me, he's bigger than me, and I told him to get off of me," Andazola said. "I was backing up and he was staying on me 'til the point that he spit in my mouth."
That incident was the only one that occured. The rest of the demonstration fizzled out with arguments yelled across 10th Street.
All of the demonstrators were gone by 3 p.m. when the rallies ended.
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