3 arrested in Calif. border protest

Border Patrol agents clashed with demonstrators at a boundary fence, arresting three at a cross-border "kissing booth" set up to protest border enforcement.

Border Patrol agents fired pepper spray and hit protesters with batons on Sunday, said Rich Macgurn, a protester with No Borders Camp, a group that organized the demonstration.

"They were indiscriminately firing pepper spray and charging the crowd," he said. "It's really outrageous the way they behaved."

Macgurn said a dozen protesters were injured, suffering bruises, welts and gashes.

Border Patrol and Calexico police officials did not return phone messages seeking comment Monday. The Imperial Valley Press reported that Customs and Border Protection, which oversees the Border Patrol, said the demonstrators began to destroy government property and assaulted agents.

Demonstrators were kissing through a steel-mesh fence hole when agents forced those on the U.S. side to step away, said Macgurn.

The hole in the fence was already there, he said.

The fence separating the border cities of Calexico in the U.S. and Mexicali in Mexico, about 120 miles east of San Diego.

No Borders Camp, which describes itself as an international group that supports free movement across borders, posted a video of the clash on its Web site. Macgurn said the clash came at the end of a week of peaceful demonstrations in the border area.

The three demonstrators were arrested pending prosecution for assaulting federal agents, the newspaper reported.

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On the Net:

No Borders Camp: http://www.noborderscamp.org

Border Patrol: http://www.cbp.gov