Quote:
Police and Protesters Square Off at Leimert Park
June 23, 2007, 4:17 PM PDT
A line of Los Angeles Police officers on Crenshaw Boulevard stood between a coalition of Minutemen and black activists, and a larger group of pro-immigrant marchers in Leimert Park today.
Officers, some in riot gear, some in shorts and on bicycles, lined the usually-busy boulevard street. At 3:50 p.m., LAPD officials declared the anti- immigrant rally to be an illegal assemble, as its parade permit had expired, and a short time later arrested activist anti-immigration activist Ted Hayes.
LAPD brass earlier had declared a tactical alert to muster enough officers to keep the two sides apart. And police, mindful of the May Day melee at MacArthur Park, carefully told reporters that it was setting up an observation zone at the southern side of the park.
Led by longtime homeless advocate Ted Hayes, an unusual coalition of white Minutemen activists and a small number of blacks demanding reparations for slavery had planned an 11 a.m. march to Leimert Park, and daylong rally.
But a racially-mixed pro-immigrants crowd of more than 400 persons milled about Leimert Park, a triangular spot of green known as the cultural center of black Los Angeles. They carried pro-immigration-rights signs, and vowed to prevent the others from marching into the park.
Inside the park, many black residents said they were aghast at what they said was the use of their community for the anti-immigration effort.
"Being a kind of multicultural person, I realized they have an urgency to get black folk on their side, and I knew it was wrong," said Ahzul Jimenez, 24, of Los Angeles.
Another pro-immigration protestor in the park, Terrance Hayes, said that as a black man he feels "everybody has a right to be here in this country."
But on the other side of the police lines, Hayes waved a banner decrying "the black American slave holocaust" and said it was a "travesty" that his group could not exercise its parade permit to rally in the park.
"As of this day, the city of Los Angeles in a state of chaos," Hayes said. He vowed to be arrested to protect his rights, and a few minutes after saying that was taken into custody.
Hayes had chosen the park, an area known as the cultural center of the black community of Los Angeles, for a rally he called "Choose Black America - Not Amnesty - Not Illegal Immigration."
Lauren Price, a 74-year-old Long Beach resident who had arrived with the Minutemen, carried an American flag, anti-immigration sign, and scoffed at those who said residents should all get along.
"We all can't get along because they are trying to take everything from us," she said.
Hayes has a parade permit, approved by the Police Commission, to use the park. But a large group of pro-immigration persons heard about the rally, and are counterprotesting by blocking access to the small triangle of green space.
Although the news reporter estimated more than 500 people were protesting, LAPD spokeswoman Mary Grady said police count 150 on each side.
News media are being told to report to an intersection at the south corner of the park "should the event be declared to be an unlawful assembly," said Grady.
A citywide tactical alert was called at about 1:30 p.m., meaning officers completing their shifts are being kept on overtime in case additional officers are needed.
Without going into details, the rallies may be "a little sideways," said police spokesperson Norma Eisenman. Hayes started his rally at 11 a.m. and expected to conclude it at 5 p.m., Eisenman said.
"The rallies at this point got to be a partly-separated stalemate,"
Grady said, "and no one is able to go into the park."
Copyright © 2007, KTLA
More biased reporting. I guess it should have been expected, especially in L.A. :roll: