Anti-immigration protest held in downtown area

About a dozen members of a group calling itself the Bay Area National Anarchists staged an anti-immigration protest in downtown Petaluma Saturday.

Andrew Yeoman of San Francisco, founder and spokesman for the group, said they were protesting “the ongoing effects of legal and illegal immigration.”

The group of about a dozen protesters gathered shortly after noon on the walkway on the east side of Petaluma Boulevard at Western Avenue and unfurled a large banner. One of the protesters was dressed as Uncle Sam.

Yeoman said the group had contacted police in advance. He said they used a bullhorn and also talked to people “one on one.”

Petaluma Police Lt. Mike Cook said that at 2:10 p.m., the police department was told that people were blocking a downtown sidewalk during the protest. A sergeant checked the situation out, and found that the protesters “were behaving within their legal rights.”

No other complaints were made, and no arrests were made.