Rosario's Bad News Bandana

Mon., Aug. 30, 2004 12:10 PM PDT by Sarah Hall

Talk about the fashion police: Rosario Dawson was arrested in New York Sunday for the crime of wearing a black bandana over her face while filming a scene from an upcoming movie.

The problem was that Dawson was covering her face against the wrong backdrop--namely in front of a massive protest at the kickoff of the Republican National Convention at Madison Square Garden.

Laws in effect this week in New York prohibit protestors from covering their faces to hide their identities. Though Dawson was not actually involved in the anti-Bush protest, she was close enough to the action to be hauled into custody by the men in blue.

Dawson, 25, was shooting a scene from the film This Revolution, which costars Mos Def and focuses on a band of anarchists, when she and another, unidentified bandana-wearing thesp were booked. The crew had planned to use the army of protestors in the background as free extras in the movie.

When director Stephen Marshall objected to the arrests, showing police his film permits, they cuffed him too, a production source tells E! Online.

A spokesperson for the NYPD did not immediately comment on the arrests, but according to the criminal complaint filed by the Manhattan D.A., the incident took place around midnight Sunday, and the actors were arrested for blocking the road.

Dawson and Marshall were each charged with disorderly conduct and obstructing governmental administration. They were released without bail and ordered to appear in court Nov. 9.

Between 120,000 and 240,000 individuals were estimated to have attended the protest--Michael Moore, Rosie Perez, Danny Glover and the Reverend Jesse Jackson among them--to show their opposition to President Bush. Police made about 240 arrests, mostly tied to disorderly conduct.

Though Dawson was not a participant in the protest, she has been active in the fight to motivate young Latino voters to take part in the election.

After learning that only 8 million of 32 million eligible Latinos voted in the 2000 election, Dawson cofounded the nonprofit and nonpartisan organization Voto Latino with youth advocate Phil Colon.

"Part of our mission is to communicate to Latino youth that participating in the political process through voting is something that impacts their lives," Dawson said in a statement. "It's in our interest to get involved."

The organization is supported by MTV's "Choose or Lose" campaign. Dawson appears in a TV spot for the group, in which she states Voto Latino's tagline: "It's your country, represent."

Additional Voto Latino spots featuring celebs such as Benjamin Bratt, John Leguizamo, rapper Fat Joe and singing duo Nina Sky will air on MTV and other networks in English and Spanish in September.

Dawson will next be seen on the big screen in the upcoming Alexander, directed by Oliver Stone and starring Colin Farrell and Angelina Jolie.

She'll also star in Sin City with Jessica Alba and Gilmore Girls' Alexis Bledel, and Vinyl with Thora Birch and Anna Faris. Both films are due to unspool in 2005.