A back-and-forth protest in front of the government center Wednesday afternoon had two sides of the immigration debate in a verbal sparring match.

Starting at 2 p.m. and ending around 4, the protest pitted people who want to crack down on illegal immigration against people who disagree with their message. In all, those organized filled most of the corner of Main Street and Second Avenue Northeast.

The protest was originally scheduled by Samuel Johnson, Austin resident and member of the National Socialist Movement, to rally against illegal immigration. To counter Johnson, a number of people came out with signs supporting human rights and decrying Nazism.

Johnson, along with friend and fellow NSM member Robert Hester, took turns talking into a microphone in front of the granite memorial on the center’s lawn. That prompted the opposing crowd, gathered near Main Street, to respond with a variety of chants, including a Barack Obama-inspired, “Yes we can.”

Johnson said before the rally that illegal immigration is a problem in Austin, and elsewhere, because of U.S. citizens losing jobs.

“We want to motivate the people of Austin to stand up to corrupt officials and corrupt organizations,” he said.

During the rally, Johnson told the crowd, “Our country is under attack from a Third World country.”

Robert Reimers, a recent Austin High School graduate in attendance, disagreed with Johnson’s message.

“They’re wrong. America was made of immigrants,” he said. “Without them, America would be nothing.”

Also in attendance and siding with Reimers was Tom Fiske, Socialist Workers Party candidate for Minneapolis mayor.

“An assault on immigration rights is an assault on workers,” Fiske said, adding that America can’t have segregated working classes.

Austin resident and stay-at-home dad Steve Simon said he was protesting illegal immigration not because of race, but because of jobs.

“I’m fighting for him,” he said, pointing to his baby, “so he can have a job.”

Austin police were scattered around the protest, but no altercations broke out. At one point, one member from each side came to the center of the two groups for a face-to-face talk, but the two were relatively peaceful. The groups also did a lot of fist shaking and yelling at each other, but nothing escalated.