Hundreds of protesters lined the streets outside the Immigration and Naturalization Service office in San Francisco on Friday, denouncing the agency's mandatory registration of mostly Arab and Muslim men from 13 countries.

Rosa Cabrera (left) and Kristy Lively (second from left) were among hundreds of protesters who gathered outside the Immigration and Naturalization office downtown on Friday as men from Middle Eastern and other countries lined up to register. Associated Press photo by Marcio Jose Sanchez

Friday was the registration deadline for men 16 and older who hold temporary visas from countries the U.S. government views as high-risk for terrorist activity. Protesters called the action racist and said they fear it will lead to a mass detainment akin to the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.

"At any time when our brothers and sisters are denied civil liberties, civil rights or human rights, we must always have a cadre of people who will stand up and say, 'No, no, no,"' said the Rev. Cecil Williams of Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco.

Williams stood on a flatbed truck addressing the crowd that lined the intersection of Sansome and Washington streets.

Between 100 and 150 men have registered in the city this week, with several detained, said members of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, who interviewed men as they entered and left the building.

Nationwide, 7,200 men were expected to register, and Department of Justice officials have said about 400 men have been detained in California since the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System began in November.

All but about 20 of them have since been released, justice officials said.

Friday's deadline was for men from Afghanistan, Algeria, Lebanon, North Korea, Bahrain, Eritrea, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Somalia, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

The first phase of the registration tracked immigrants from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Sudan and Syria. The next deadline is Feb. 21 for men from Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.

On Friday, men leaving the INS building said it took about four hours to be interviewed, fingerprinted and photographed. They said INS interviewers asked questions about where the men lived and worked, their country of origin and their families.

One man, who only wanted to give his first name of Ali, was shaking as he left the building after his interview. He pulled a cigarette from a pack and leaned against the granite wall, taking deep drags.

"I've seen people going in and not coming out. Basically it's like luck whether you have to stay," said Ali, a Marin resident who came on a student visa three years ago but has since changed his status.

He had worried "big time" that his change in status could lead to detainment.

Hundreds of protesters rallied outside the INS office in San Francisco to protest a mandatory registration for men from 13 countries. Chronicle photo by Kurt Rogers

Meanwhile, protesters and speakers shouted ferocious condemnations of the registration, with an intensity and unified message anti-war protests in the city have lacked.

"When you lie to one of us, you lie to all of us. When you detain one of us, you detain all of us. When you terrorize some of us, you terrorize all of us, " shouted Renee Saucedo of La Raza Centro Legal's INS Watch project, electrifying the crowd.

San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi, who also spoke, said he never understood how his parents and grandparents of Japanese descent could be detained during World War II while the rest of the country watched.

He said his own ambivalence toward articles and other information about government actions after Sept. 11 showed him how internment went unchecked.

"Our greatest enemy is our own inaction," he said.

About 100 protesters also gathered outside the INS building in New York.

Speakers in San Francisco demanded, and received, a meeting with the acting director of the INS here. Seven people representing various groups met for about 45 minutes with Acting Director David Still.

Still told the group that men who missed the deadline because they were unaware of its existence or those whose visa papers were still pending would not be detained, said Marc Van Der Hout, who represented the National Lawyers Guild at the meeting.

Not every man who registered saw the policy as intrusive.

Samim Ansary, who came from Afghanistan in June, said he felt safer after talking to INS officials and did not mind the interview questions.

"They already had the information in my file from when I arrived here," said Ansary, who worked as a doctor in Afghanistan and is doing sales in Concord. He brought an attorney to the meeting nonetheless.

Those attending the protest mostly held signs denouncing the registration, while in previous city protests, any number of groups and messages were present.

Speakers still denounced the possible war in Iraq and other Bush administration policies, which elicited cheers from the crowd.

"No one wants to be terrorized, but no one wants to be terrorized by their government in the name of terrorism," said San Francisco Supervisor Tom Ammiano, who spoke.

Alexis Downey, who attended the massive anti-war protest Oct. 6 in San Francisco, said the spirit of the crowd felt different at Friday's event.

"I felt an undercurrent not of anger, but of united strength," said Downey, a student at UC Berkeley.

©2003 San Francisco Chronicle

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