ANAHEIM – At least nine marchers who took part in unruly protests Sunday against the city’s police department were arrested on the ninth consecutive day of demonstrations by residents and activists furious over two recent police shootings.

Two protestors – Mark Dameron of San Diego and Corbin Sobrita of Escondido – were arrested in front of the Anaheim Police Department’s headquarters on Harbor Boulevard, Anaheim police Sgt. Bob Dunn said, where a crowd of more than 200 was demonstrating Sunday afternoon.

A third protestor, Nathaniel Sierdsma of San Bernardino, was arrested a few blocks away, at Broadway and Clementine Street, Dunn said. All three were arrested on suspicion of resisting arrest, failing to obey an order and being a pedestrian in a roadway.

A fourth protestor, who wasn’t immediately identified, was arrested on suspicion of assault and battery after she apparently wandered away from some marchers and got into a confrontation with an employee and patrons of an Arco gas station at Broadway and Anaheim Boulevard, Dunn said.

Five others whose identities weren’t immediately released were arrested later Sunday, Dunn said. The reasons for their arrests weren’t immediately available.

Sunday’s demonstrations against police were the latest to rock Orange County’s largest city.

The demonstrations unfolded July 21 following the fatal afternoon shooting of unarmed Manuel Angel Diaz, 25, in a residential alleyway on Anna Drive just east of downtown Anaheim. Police said the Santa Ana resident was a known gang member who was attempting to flee from two officers when he was shot.

A day later, Anaheim police fatally shot 21-year-old Joel Acevedo after he fired at officers during a chase, police said.

A memorial for Diaz that featured an outdoor Catholic Mass was held Sunday night in the neighborhood where he was fatally shot.

Earlier Sunday, demonstrators marched from police headquarters in downtown Anaheim to within a half-mile of the pedestrian entrance to the Disneyland Resort on Harbor.

Chanting “Whose streets? Our streets!” the marchers passed police cars emblazoned with the names of cities as far away as Mission Viejo and Dana Point.

The crowd was met on Harbor at Ball Road by a line of about 50 police officers in riot gear and about two dozen officers on horseback, preventing the group from advancing south toward Disneyland.

Dunn said the blockade was established to prevent the protestors from marching across the Harbor Boulevard bridge over I-5, not to stop their advance toward Disneyland.

“We didn’t want them to throw debris on the freeway if at all possible,” Dunn said.

The blockade – which temporarily forced the closure of one of the main traffic intersections for visitors arriving to the Disneyland Resort – caused the demonstrators to change direction and head east on Ball.

“Why can’t we go to Disneyland? You’re protecting the city, not your people,” a demonstrator could be heard yelling at police.

As the crowd advanced east on Ball, police began temporarily closing each intersection ahead of the expected march route because the protestors were not staying on the sidewalks, Dunn said.

On Sunday afternoon, Lemon Street at Ball was temporarily closed, followed by Anaheim Boulevard at Ball, as the demonstrators made a counterclockwise loop and marched back to the Anaheim police station.

POLICE STATION PROTEST

The unruly demonstration that originated at noon Sunday outside the Anaheim police station on Harbor encompassed several political-action groups, including protesters who said they were from the groups Anonymous and Mexican Movement. A group of self-identified Communists handed out a newspaper called Red Flag.

“The police executed someone who was unarmed and after he was also shot on the ground,” said demonstrator Richard Florence of Los Angeles, referring to the family’s account of how Diaz was shot. “To add insult to injury, (the police) terrorized the residents of the neighborhood.”

As TV news reporters attempted to broadcast live from across the street late Sunday afternoon, demonstrators surrounded them and screamed, “Tell the truth!” Others hurled obscenities at the TV cameras.

When police vehicles passed by on Harbor, which remained open to cars, some demonstrators flipped them off and yelled expletives.

The demonstrations took on a party atmosphere at times, with people banging on drums, laughing and exchanging high-fives. Chalk artists wrote messages in pavement in the police station’s front parking lot, including “Justice Now” and “Keep Our Youth Alive.”

Demonstrator Eduardo Perez, 21, a student at UCLA, said he came to Anaheim from his Westwood apartment because “he wanted to be part of some history.”

“What’s going on here in Orange County is symbolic of a problem with the system,” Perez said. “This wouldn’t happen to white people. This is racism – simple as that.”

Among the protesters were several family members of people killed in officer-involved shootings in Anaheim, including Iris Thomas, whose nephew Martin Angel Hernandez was killed earlier this year.

“I’m glad to see so many people can get together. It just grieves me it took so many lives being lost for people to pay attention,” Thomas said.

Then, looking around at the groups of unfamiliar people, she added: “There are a lot of agendas here. A few of us will still be here when everybody else is gone.”

Theresa Smith, whose son Caesar Cruz died in an officer-involved shooting in 2009, has been protesting outside Anaheim police headquarters every Sunday for two years.

“I just don’t want anybody to get crazy,” Smith said Sunday as she marched. “We’ve been doing this peacefully for years. I’m glad if people want to join us, but be respectful and join us the way we want – and that’s to be calm.”

SILENT MARCH

Even as Sunday’s raucous demonstration unfolded outside the city’s police station, a smaller group called “We Are Anaheim, Somos Anaheim” gathered outside City Hall at 11 a.m. Sunday for a two-mile silent march on Anaheim Boulevard.

About 100 people, mostly wearing white in a sign of peace, organized the effort on Facebook after objecting to a near-riot Tuesday that left windows smashed and local businesses looted.

The group was composed of several local politicians, including state Sen. Lou Correa, D-Santa Ana; state Assemblyman Jose Solorio, D-Anaheim; county Clerk-Recorder Tom Daly; county Supervisor-elect Todd Spitzer; and Anaheim Councilwoman Kris Murray.

“When you are loud and yelling, you may literally be heard for the moment, but nobody hears your cause,” said silent marcher Alejandrina Arellano, 25, of Anaheim, who works as an elementary school instructional assistant. “Seeing the violence Tuesday, we knew we had to change the mindset, and that begins with peace.”

The silent protestors walked about five-wide, shoulder to shoulder, on a sidewalk on Anaheim Boulevard. A few brought signs carrying messages such as “We are Anaheim” and “Peace begins with us.”

Organizers wore orange safety vests and made sure the protest stayed peaceful and that the group stayed out of the street.

The marchers reminded one another to ignore potential infiltrators who might try to change the silent nature of the march.

Four police officers on motorcycles followed the group to ensure safety.

A junior high school teacher from Anaheim, Juan Alvarez, 31, hoped the march would spark a community organizing around peace.

“In silence we can show we stand together as one community,” he said. “Hopefully this can be a springboard into a dialog where everybody’s voice can be heard for positive change.”

DIAZ MEMORIAL SERVICE

About 100 mourners gathered at 6 p.m. Sunday in an outdoor grass courtyard near the apartment complex where Diaz was fatally shot to remember the man whose death has touched off more than a week of violent protests.

The Rev. Fr. Arturo Ferreras of St. Matthew Ecumenical Catholic Church in Orange urged the mourners – mostly residents of Anna Drive – to use Diaz’s death to work toward permanent, positive change in their community.

“We are gathered to let the world know we don’t want a community of violence on Anna Drive,” Ferreras told the mourners in Spanish as he presided over an ecumenical Catholic Mass. “We want our children to be able to grow up in peace. … Hopefully we will be able to make a better Anaheim and a better Anna Drive.”

Ferreras, who stood next to a 4-foot-tall Virgin of Guadalupe statue near where Diaz was shot, blessed the site where Diaz was killed and the children who witnessed what happened that day.

He also challenged young Anna Drive residents to become community activists and to use “democratic” channels to pursue change.

City leaders, community organizers and Diaz’s mother have urged peaceful demonstrations as outside investigators examine the circumstances surrounding the shootings of Diaz and Acevedo.

Contact the writer: squick@ocregister.com