L.A. Immigration Protest: The Police "Were Relentless. They Were Merciless."

By Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!. Posted May 4, 2007.

The Los Angeles Police Department is coming under increasing criticism for violently crushing a largely peaceful immigrants rights march on Tuesday. Police with riot guns fired 240 rounds, shot tear gas and clubbed protesters and journalists gathered in MacArthur Park. At least ten people were injured including seven journalists.

Pedro Sevcec was broadcasting live for the Spanish-language television network Telemundo when police knocked over his monitors and lights and hit his staff with batons. Sevcec told the Los Angeles Times a police officer grabbed one of his cameras and threw it more than fifteen feet to the ground. He said police pointed a riot gun at his face, hit him with a baton and forced him out of the park.

Patricia Nazario of the public radio station KPCC was also injured. On Wednesday Nazario described to listeners what had happened to her:

Others assaulted include four employees of KVEA-TV Channel 52 and a reporter for the public radio station KPCC hit by a police baton. Christina Gonzalez, a reporter for the Fox affiliate KTTV-TV Channel 11, suffered a bruised shoulder after she was shoved to the ground. Her camera operator suffered a broken wrist. The incident was caught on tape.

Report by Fox affiliate KTTV-TV Channel 11:

The LAPD says it gave orders to disperse but several journalists and protesters have disputed the account. The order was made only in English and not even near the main crowd. LA Police Chief William Bratton admitted the actions taken by the police were inappropriate. He said "I was disturbed at what I saw." The LAPD has launched a pair of investigations. Several news groups say they're considering legal action.

Amy Goodman: The LAPD says it gave orders to disperse, but several journalists and protesters have disputed the account. The order was made only in English, not even near the main crowd. LA Police Chief William Bratton admitted the actions taken by the police were inappropriate. He said, "I was disturbed at what I saw." The LAPD has launched a pair of investigations. Several news groups say they're considering legal action.

We go now to Los Angeles to two guests. Ernesto Arce is a correspondent for Pacifica Radio station KPFK in Los Angeles. He was shot with a police rubber bullet at the May Day protest. Also on the line, Gerardo Gomez, counselor and homeless rights activist who was shot twice at the protest.

Ernesto Arce, let's begin with you. Where were you? What did you see?

Ernesto Arce: I was at the southeast corner of the park, MacArthur Park, which I believe was at Seventh and Alvarado. I was trying to get a sense of what was happening. I noticed that there was a lot of commotion at that end of the park, and there was a lot of people were running and fleeing. So I wanted to see what it was that was happening, and I also wanted to get onto the Metrolink to get home. But, of course, I wasn't able to do that, since there was a heavy police presence on Alvarado Street.

It was then that I noticed that, you know, police in -- I guess it was two different kinds of cops. There was the regular cops, and then there was the SWAT team, who had come in, you know, very shielded attire. They also were holding what looked like rifles. They began to push people back from the very southeast corner of the park into the park. They were at first using batons. But I noticed that they began to shoot. You know, I wasn't sure what type of -- whether it was teargas or whether they were actual real bullets or rubber pellets. But many people were getting hit. It was at that time that people began to just, you know, flee towards the north of the park. There was a lot of commotion. There was a lot of confusion.

Hundreds of families were still there. Actually, at this end of the park, the main rally, which was attended by approximately 5,000 to 10,000 people, organized by the MIWON, Multiethnic [Immigrant] Workers coalition, was still going on at this time. It hadn't been broken up, so there was still several hundred families even on the south side of this park. A lot of people were running, screaming. There were families. There were children. There's a large transient population that lives at MacArthur Park, a lot of homeless individuals, handicapped individuals and, of course, streetcar vendors that, you know, sell different fares, whether ice cream or hot dogs, and they were unable to get out on time.

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Amy Goodman is the host of the nationally syndicated radio news program, Democracy Now!

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