EAGLE RIVER, Wis. -- Police arrested about 200 protesters who gathered at Trout Lake to oppose a judge's decision extending the spearfishing season of the Chippewa Indians.
More than 1,000 people staged a protest at the northern Wisconsin lake, objecting to U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb's decision not to halt the spearfishing at midnight Friday. The state of Wisconsin had sought an injuction to stop the spearfishing season as the general season opened Saturday.
Sheriff James Williquette said there were not enough police officers to handle the situation late Friday.
'There's whatever we can get, half of all the state troopers in the state of Wisconsin are up there now, every available sheriff's deputy for 100 miles, and it isn't making a dent,' Williquette said.
Police were removing the arrested protesters by the busload, he said.
'We're hauling protesters out of there in school buses,' Williquette said. 'That's how many arrests are being made.'
Provisions of 19th century treaties allow the Indians to fish in northern Wisconsin lakes. A late spring delayed the spearfishing season this year, and tension mounted as the general season started Saturday.
For the first time in five years, the spearfishing and non-Indian fishing seasons overlapped, largely because of the late winter left waters frozen and too cold for the spawning of the walleye, a fish with large, staring eyes.
In Madison, Gov. Tommy Thompson appealed for peace between Indian and non-Indian fishermen after Crabb refused to force the Chippewa to end their season at midnight.
'This evening I ask all people in northern Wisconsin -- Indian and non-Indian -- to refrain from confrontation, to respect the rights of others, and to help us maintain law and order,' Thompson said.
Thompson instructed Attorney General Don Hanaway to appeal Crabb's decision in the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
In her decision, Crabb said if she granted the state's request she would be letting mob rule dictate the law. She said the Indian fishermen had broken no laws.
'Can we let the fear of bloodshed destroy our state and our country?' she asked.
'If this court holds that violent and lawless protests can determine the rights of the residents of this state, what message will that send?' Crabb said.
Thompson, in what state attorneys labeled an extraodinary move, testified Friday before Crabb in behalf of the state's motion to end the season.
'No walleye is worth somebody getting hurt over, somebody getting drowned, somebody getting killed,' Thompson said.
Earl Charlton, an attorney for the Mole Lake band of the Chippewa, accused the protesters of engaging in racist behavior.
'They're not protesters, they are hatemongers,' he said of people who have gathered at boat landings to hurl rocks at the Indians and try to swamp their boats.
As the protests erupted at Trout Lake, Williquette reacted angrily to the judge's decision.
'The governor called me to tell me of Judge Crabb's decision that she didn't care of how much bloodshed or disruption there was. The governor called me and asked if we would send troops up, and then all hell broke loose,' Williquette said.
Williquette was one of 10 sheriffs who had said they would not send deputies to protect the boat landings unless directly ordered to do so by the governor.
In response to the governor's request, all northern Wisconsin sheriffs did send deputies to lakes where the Chippewa fished Friday night.
'Everybody sent their deputies out tonight,' Williquette said. 'The only reason they did it is because there are police officers in trouble.'
