SAN DIEGO, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- A volunteer group has called off plans to patrol the California-Mexico border after a minor scuffle with counter-demonstrators and low turnout.
"Friends of the Border Patrol" had said hundreds of volunteers, some armed, would patrol a 100-mile stretch of the border, monitoring illegal immigrants and reporting their presence to the U.S. Border Patrol.
The effort, which was modeled in part after a Minuteman Project in Arizona, was called off by organizer Andy Ramirez, who said he feared violence from counter-demonstrators.
He said about 40 volunteers had showed up Saturday.
"I can't send them out if somebody is going to try to harm them," Ramirez told the Los Angeles Times.
About 20 counter-demonstrators marched into the Scottish Rites Center in San Diego, where volunteers had come to register for training. One counter-demonstrator was cited for battery after he allegedly knocked down someone unaffiliated with either group.
Ramirez said the patrollers may regroup and try again next weekend.
