Melanie Morgan

Shoulder-to-shoulder, nearly a thousand of San Francisco Bay Area residents faced the freezing cold tempertures on the sprawling St. Mary's College campus in Moraga, California, to protest the un-apologetic domestic terrorist Bill Ayers.

Ayers, founder of the Weather Underground, has claimed responsibility for bombing at least a dozen locations in the anti-war movement 30 years ago - his homemade voice-activated bombs killed four people, including  San Francisco police Sgt. Brian McDonnell, and seriously injuring 9 other officers. Retired officer James Pera, who was on-duty the night McDonnell died, called Ayers a "gutter crawling rat." He displayed the shrapnel he collected that after the bomb went off. A bomb that Ayers and his wife Bernadine Dohrn set, intending to kill as many policemen as possible.

St. Mary's College in Moraga, Calif. invited Ayers to speak to college students Thursday night. But Ayers un-welcome was noisy, confrontational, patriotic and loud.

(Photos courtesy of sfgate.com)

KGO's Laura Anthony has an early report here.

PipelineNews.org, the East Bay cyber newspaper of record, has details here.

Gateway Pundit has a round-up here.

SF Chronicle here.

St. Mary's decision to invite Ayers drew the ire of dozens of Alum's who reported they have cut the college out of their wills, cancelled donations, and withdrawn student applications as a result of its decision to honor a killer with a left-wing ideology who hides behind free speech rights.

(More from coverage by the Contra Costa County Times)

"I am appalled how Bill Ayers is able to come to a Christian-based campus to speak his rhetoric," said Jerry Converse, of Concord, who carried an American flag. "It's a free country, but this is the wrong place."

The crowd roared and chanted, encouraged by speeches by an FBI informant who had infiltrated the Weathermen and by a police officer who had been on the scene of a bombing at a San Francisco police station that killed a sergeant. The officer said the bomb was set by Ayers' wife, Bernardine Dohrn, a fellow Weather Underground leader.

"He hides behind being an educator," said Larry Grathwohl, the FBI informant who traveled from Ohio to attend the protest. "He claims he never killed or injured anyone." At that, the crowd erupted in chats of "Liar! Liar!" Grathwohl said Ayers had instructed him to make a bomb using fence staples to kill police officers, which Ayers has denied.

"Free speech does not give him the right to lie," Grathwohl said.

The protesters' chants sometimes competed with students and Ayers' supporters, who chanted "Saint Mary's College!" and "SMC!" And a few debates between the two camps escalated to the point of yelling.

"If we don't speak up, who will?" said Nancy Messer, who came from Half Moon Bay to protest the speech. "We don't want (the students) corrupted."

The "Simple Justice, Not Social Justice Coalition" was comprised of grassroots groups like Move America Forward, the largest pro-troop organization in the county, turning out almost a 1,000 people to the protest. Contra Costa County Republicans organized with the help of Greg Poulis and Patty O'Day, College Republicans helped, too. Lafayette Flag Brigade was instrumental in getting the word out - thanks Jim Minder and Bryan Weldon.

No bongs, weeds, peyote or LSD was reported in the crowd, but there was quite the buzz none-the-less.

MAF's Executive Director Catherine Moy has details from the Daily Blog on the website here.

More great photos from the Minut

emen here.