PROTESTERS FAIL TO MAKE POINTS AMID DISORDER ARMED POLICE GRABBED MEDIA SCRUTINY.

Byline: Troy Anderson, Dominic Berbeo, David Greenberg, Jason Kandel and Jordan Smith  Staff Writers

After three days of clashes and sporadic violence, protesters at the Democratic National Convention found their message washed out Thursday.

With protest violence being shut down by pepper spray and rubber bullets during the first three days, and an overwhelming police presence throughout, protests fizzled on the last day of the convention.

A handful of protests went peacefully with one arrest:

--About 2,000 marched downtown for garment workers, through areas where many work, urging more rights, fewer hours, better pay and reformed immigration policies.

--A few hundred protested in front of the federal building, urging the Navy to leave a controversial bomb range in Puerto Rico.

--Activists in a crowd of about 100 rallied outside Citibank, calling the company a ``corporate slumlord.''

--Environmental activists protested outside Vice President Al Gore's hotel in Culver City.

As Gore accepted the Democratic nomination, about 2,000 people attended a concert in the protest area outside Staples Center where protesters and police violently clashed Monday night. The concert turned into a peaceful march of about 500 toward the Twin Towers Correctional Facility.

There, people held a vigil for those arrested during the convention.

Protesters blamed the wilting heat, the previous violence and the overwhelming police presence for the low energy.

``It's ridiculous that the media is not paying attention to us,'' said Maria Rangle, a downtown garment worker. ``This is what we're protesting for - higher wages and workers benefits.''

City Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg, a critic of the police actions, marched in the garment worker protest and said there were too many officers.

``Things would have been just as smooth with half the police,'' she said.

But police, and their supporters, were happy with the way convention protests turned out.

Police arrested 193 people. Charges have been filed against 92 so far, and charges against 40 were dropped.

There was one arrest Thursday, as a woman cited for jaywalking during the protest against the Navy's involvement in Puerto Rico was taken into custody because she didn't have identification. No other arrests were reported by early Thursday evening.

Mayor Richard Riordan offered a strong endorsement of police Chief Bernard C. Parks.

``He is a strong commander,'' Riordan said of the chief, who has faced strong criticism in the wake of the Rampart corruption scandal. ``He's absolutely the right person for this.''

Parks went to ``Dome Village'' near downtown to apologize for the injuries to homeless activist Ted Hayes, one of several dozen protesters injured Monday. The chief also apologized for others injured, including news media representatives.

``We're sorry if anyone was injured unnecessarily,'' Parks said at an impromptu press conference at the camp.

But he made no apology for police actions.

``Our objective is to preserve lives and (prevent) property damage, and we've been successful doing that,'' Parks said.

Hayes said he's not angry at the police.

``We had promised to be there, but we didn't realize the tense situation that was occurring at the time,'' Hayes said. ``We blame the unruly people who started the problem.''

Riordan marveled at the work it took to control the protests.

``Only in America are we putting many millions of dollars into controlling strategic demonstrations like this when I think that money should be going to poor people,'' he said. ``Let the demonstrators get their point across. When you have turmoil, you wonder what their message is. It gets confused.''

That was an argument among protesters earlier in the day at Pershing Square, where some squared off over violent protests.

Green Party activist Whitney Zack, 56, of Oakhurst, Calif., said she wants issues to get in the media, not the confrontations that have been stealing headlines.

``We've got to make ourselves human to (police) and see their humanity,'' Zack said. ``The police will react. I got two batons in my back (Wednesday). All you saw in the media was the skirmishes, the arrests.''

Zack tried to make her point to anarchists and anti-police brutality demonstrators in Pershing Square.

Joe Williams, 58, of San Diego, an anti-police brutality activist, said the message was aimed at the wrong target.

``All of their focus seemed to be on telling us how to act and not telling the police how to react,'' he said. ``The protesters are out here without weapons, with all the military strength of the police department - the weapons, the batons, the gas, the rubber bullets - how is it possible that 3,000 unarmed demonstrators could be such a threat?''

George Becker, international president of the United Steelworkers of America, said the police overreacted to the protesters.

``They scare the hell out of them,'' said Becker, who was standing outside watching police in riot gear surround the protesters at Citibank. ``These are storm troopers. They are here to knock the hell out of these kids.''

Inside the building, workers said they found the protest entertaining.

Cedars Bank loan officer Jim Busick watched the Citibank protests through the windows.

CAPTION(S):

5 photos

Photo:

(1) The radical anarchists, faces covered, charge toward the news media to keep photographers from taking their pictures.

Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News

(2 -- 4) The many faces of protesters: Above, Harlemm Lee of Hollywood sits on an electrical box at 7th and Los Angeles streets Thursday afternoon, waiting to participate in a protest against sweat shops. Below, a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy keeps a watchful eye on marchers as they make their way down 7th street through the garment district. At left, tense protests earlier in the week gave way Thursday to lighter moments, like the cavorting of a man wearing a donkey mask to the sounds of a calypso band at the corner of Olympic Boulevard and Figueroa Street.

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer

Gus Ruelas/Staff Photographer

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer

(5) Black-clad anarchists, faces masked, attempt to antagonize police Wednesday night with raised fists and chants during a rally outside Staples Center.

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer