Vigillantes R US

GREENSBORO — Members and supporters of the Minuteman Project and a group of protesters opposing them rallied on opposite sides of High Point Road on Wednesday night, chanting slogans and shouting obscenities at each other across the street.

The Minuteman group, which opposes illegal immigration and organizes armed citizen patrols of the U.S.-Mexico border, started a 13-city tour at the beginning of the month in Los Angeles. It held its gathering in Greensboro despite a week of difficulties finding a place to rally and a last-minute near-cancellation of the event.

The group had planned to hold the rally at 7 p.m. in the parking lot of American Furniture Warehouse on High Point Road. But the owner of the lot said he decided to deny the group the use of the property when he read about who they were in the News & Record on Wednesday.

"We were told that they were some sort of church group on a mission, and we agreed to let them stop here," owner Rick Rose said.

"I have nothing against immigrants; I do a lot of trade with Mexico and I don't want anything to do with that type of group," Rose said Wednesday afternoon. "If they show up here, I'll have them escorted off the property."

But Minuteman supporters began arriving in groups at the lot just before 7 p.m. Many carried American flags and handmade signs with slogans such as "What part of illegal don't you understand?"
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