Thread: IMMIGRANT-RIGHTS PROTESTERS DETAINED AFTER BLOCKING LA INTERSECTION

IMMIGRANT-RIGHTS PROTESTERS DETAINED AFTER BLOCKING DOWNTOWN LA INTERSECTION



Immigrant-rights protesters were detained after they blocked an intersection outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices in downtown Los Angeles Tuesday morning.


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By Leo Stallworth and ABC7.com staff
Updated 59 mins ago

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES (KABC) --
Immigrant-rights protesters were detained after they blocked an intersection outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday.

Several dozen protesters gathered around 7 a.m. at the intersection of Los Angeles and Temple streets near the downtown federal building, where ICE has its offices.

Some of the demonstrators linked hands while lying down on the pavement while others marched around them in a circle. The intersection was shut down, and police routed traffic away from the area.

The Los Angeles Police Department was placed on modified tactical alert, and officials advised the public to avoid the area.

Around 11 a.m., officers ordered the protesters to disperse. While some heeded the order, others stayed put. That's when officers began taking the protesters into custody, one by one, on suspicion of unlawful assembly.

Police had to cut through what they described as "sleeping dragon" devices that linked the protesters arm-in-arm on the ground.

The number of protesters taken into custody was not immediately known.

Organizers said in a press release they would be demanding a stop to deportation of Central American immigrant families and recognition that they are refugees seeking asylum.

http://abc7.com/news/immigrant-right...ction/1174350/

LAPD arrests 8 people at downtown L.A. immigration protest


Martha Arevalo, right, joins a coalition of immigrant-rights organizations demonstrating in the intersection of Los Angeles and Temple streets in downtown L.A. Tuesday morning.
(Marc Martin / Los Angeles Times)


Kate Mather Contact Reporter


Los Angeles police said they arrested eight people Tuesday morning after protesters blocked downtown streets and refused to leave one intersection as part of a demonstration calling for immigration reform.

The eight people were lying in the intersection of Temple and Los Angeles streets when they were taken into custody, LAPD Capt. Andy Neiman said. The demonstrators had used "sleeping dragon" devices -- plastic tubes -- to link their arms and delay police, Neiman said.

Officers assigned to the LAPD's Metropolitan Division ultimately cut away the devices to make the arrests, Neiman said, but no injuries were reported.

Police described the protest, which at one point was estimated to include up to 300 people and stalled traffic on nearby streets, as peaceful. The group dwindled in size throughout the morning, ultimately totaling about 50 people.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/l...126-story.html

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