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Underground > Switchboard >

Immigration Rights Rally in Los Angeles

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06:47 / 09.05.07

Fox News LA has some footage. (And better coverage than I'd expect from a Fox affiliate, but then, their cameraman was batonned, I expect they're a little irked.)

LA's chief of police has apologized for the actions of the department, and disciplined two officers of the LAPD. WaPo has this to say:

Top LAPD Officers Disciplined for Use of Force at Rally

By Sonya Geis
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 8, 2007; Page A08

LOS ANGELES, May 7 -- Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton demoted one top officer and reassigned another Monday, the department's first act of punishment after police used batons and rubber bullets on immigration-rights protesters last week.

At a City Hall news conference, Bratton said a two-star deputy chief, Cayler "Lee" Carter Jr., and his second-in-command, Louis Gray, were the ranking officers at MacArthur Park on May 1, when officers swept through the park swinging batons and firing rubber bullets indiscriminately. Carter has been moved down a rank in the department and has been told to stay home from work indefinitely. Gray has been reassigned within the department.

"As chief of the department, I have to be comfortable with the leadership team I have around me," Bratton said. "This is not a witch hunt."

The trouble began at the end of a day of peaceful street protests, attended by about 30,000 people. Thirty to 40 demonstrators began taunting police and throwing rocks and water bottles at them, officials said. Police in riot gear responded by pushing the group into nearby MacArthur Park, where hundreds of protesters were gathered, along with a handful of reporters.

News crews filmed helmeted officers shoving to the ground a Telemundo reporter in a suit and tie as he spoke to the cameras, along with unarmed and bleeding demonstrators.

Seven members of the news media were injured, along with at least three demonstrators and eight police officers. Several of the injured have filed lawsuits against the city. There were nine arrests, none of which were related to the larger disturbance.

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06:48 / 09.05.07

Here's the link to the footage from Fox that didn't show up in the first post.

07:47 / 09.05.07

Difficult to know what to say. Particularly potent is the image around two thirds in of the young man(?) carrying an American flag and helping someone to their feet being struck and pushed back by black-clad stormtrooper types.

08:02 / 09.05.07

LA's the shittiest town for a protest/awareness-promotion I've ever been in. I'd like to do more, when I'm nearby, but the last time I went my friend caught a rubber bullet right in the side of his head. And virtually every time you get a fair number of people together, something similar happens... and usually doesn't make much news, unlike here, where it's been on CNN, Fox, and even at least one Korean-language newstation according to someone who watches and understands Korean broadcasts, which I don't.

Not quite as bad as some countries, sure, but unless it's really going to make a difference, I'm kinda cowardly about going back out.

Reports from the rally are saying it was a small group of young protesters/promoters, not thirty or forty or anything like that. Either way goes nowhere to making this right, though.

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14:41 / 09.05.07

Discussion of the event led to a consensus among my friends and me that it's not just reprehensible to attack peaceful protesters, but it's outright stupid to attack members of the media who are armed with cameras.

For comparison:

Turkish riot police today clashed with protesters in Istanbul marking the 30th anniversary of a deadly May Day rally.

Police sprayed tear gas, used a water cannon and clubbed demonstrators to clear crowds from around Taksim Square. About 600 people were arrested.

The clashes occurred ahead of an official May Day march that the government will watch closely to see if it turns into another protest against the ruling AK party led by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister.
...
Downing Street, a strong backer of Turkey’s bid for EU membership, today sent a message of support for Mr Erdogan, with a veiled message for the military to keep clear of politics.

“Turkey is a strong democracy,” said the prime minister, Tony Blair, in a statement issued by No 10. “It is essential that all those engaged in the political process do so in accordance with Turkey’s well-established democratic principles and in compliance with the constitution. I am confident that this will happen and that Turkey will continue to play a crucial role as a key and democratic partner.”

Thirty years ago 34 people were shot or trampled to death when an unidentified gunman opened fire on a May Day march at Taksim Square.

Authorities today allowed a handful of union leaders to lay red carnations at the site of the killings, but later hundreds of people converged, some calling on Mr Erdogan to resign, before police moved in.

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14:42 / 09.05.07

Oh, and you're not going to get me calling you cowardly, Dec.