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NEWS & LETTERS, June -July 2007LAPD assault on May Day marchersLos Angeles--On May Day police dressed in riot gear advanced in formation through the streets and into MacArthur Park, where a peaceful rally was being held. They systematically and brutally dispersed the crowd, instilling fear and clubbing anyone (man, woman or child) who didn’t move away fast enough, including a TV journalist. It was reported that they fired over 140 rubber bullets. Some of the images shown on national TV were victims of rubber bullets and clubbing. Over 25,000 people had participated in this afternoon march organized by the Multi-Ethnic Immigrant Workers Organizing Network. They included contingents of Central Americans, Mexicans, Filipinos, Koreans, South Asians, Chinese and Jewish immigrants. The march started in a multi-ethnic area west of downtown and proceeded to MacArthur Park, a Central-American immigrant shopping area. Among the many speakers was a young Black man who emphasized the need for Black/Brown unity. Two hours before the rally permit expired, a caravan of police cars with sirens screeching brought the Los Angeles Police Department to the scene. At one point, seven helicopters circled overhead. Two other squads of police cars followed in 15-minute intervals on surrounding streets before police brutally charged the crowd in the park. Earlier in the day, over 50,000 attended the march in downtown Los Angeles organized by the March 25 Coalition. Most of the protesters, men, women, young children and older youths, were laborers, students and supporters of Mexican descent. The many signs included: "There are no borders in the workers’ struggles," "Stop the raids and deportations, legalize now," and "A broken family is not humane." Those signs were mixed in among a sea of American flags. Two weeks later, immigrants and their supporters rallied at MacArthur Park to protest the draconian police repression on May Day. Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigrosa was there, as was LAPD Chief William Bratton, as part of his drive to be selected for a new five-year term. The ACLU and other groups formally asked a federal judge to rule that the May Day police brutality violated a 2001 consent decree, which was imposed in light of the 2001 Rampart police scandal, and, thus, to extend it. On May 18, a bipartisan Senate committee (joined by Homeland Security czar Michael Chertoff) announced a complex "immigration reform bill" that would give undocumented immigrants a barrier-filled path to documentation and citizenship, while giving corporations their desired low-wage "guest worker" programs. The immigrants answered: "We want amnesty now." One man stated, "We are undocumented, not illegal. If we’re illegal, then NAFTA, CAFTA and foreign corporate investments into our native country are illegal." --Basho * * * [caption] Over 50,000 workers marched in San Jose, Cal. on May Day, with thousands more marching in Oakland, San Francisco, Santa Rosa and other area cities. Even politicians called for a stop to immigration raids, pledging that local police would not cooperate with Immigration (ICE). Hundreds of youth skipped school to attend. Many adults who did not feel safe coming to a march still took a day off work in solidarity. * * * For more on May Day marches and the immigrant workers' rights movement, see <a href="editorialJun07.doc">editorial</a> |
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