Leftists Protest libertarian event in Palm Springs area

25 Arrested

From Eric Dondero:

House Majority leader and prominent Jewish conservative Eric Cantor, and prospective GOP Presidential candidate Herman Cain, were among the guest speakers at a strategy meeting for Free Market supporting activists over the weekend. The event took place in Rancho Mirage at the Las Palmas Resort & Spa.

The annual gathering is sponsored by David and Charles Koch, oil billionaires and philanthropists from Kansas. David Koch was the 1980 Libertarian Party Vice-Presidential candidate.

From Reuters:

The brothers own Koch Industries, an energy conglomerate ranked by Forbes magazine as the second-largest privately held company in the United States, and are known to underwrite the Cato Institute and other libertarian and conservative causes.

But the event turned ugly. Continuing:

About two dozen police officers in riot gear lined up in front of the Rancho Las Palmas Resort & Spa in the upscale desert town of Rancho Mirage to keep the protesters away from the gated entrance.

At one point, a group of demonstrators blocked the street in front of the resort for nearly an hour before Riverside County sheriff's deputies moved in and handcuffed about 25 activists who were led away and cited for trespassing.

Protesters came from a variety of leftwing groups, including the antiwar Code Pink and public sector worker unions.

Many of the boisterous activists, some chanting "Dirty Money, Dirty Money," carried signs with such slogans as "Power to the People" and "Tea Party Founded and Funded by the Kochs."