ANSWER LA <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Date: Mon, 10 Jul 2006 00:12:45 -0700
Subject: Press Conference to Denounce LAPD Brutality - Tues, July 11, 10 am
To: "ANSWER LA List" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
From: "ANSWER LA" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Press Conference to Denounce LAPD Brutality Against Immigrant Rights
Demonstrators Press Conference to Denounce LAPD Brutality
Against Immigrant Rights Protestors in Hollywood
Plus: Call for Video, Photos & Witnesses
Tuesday, July 11, 10 am
National Lawyers Guild Office at the Peace Center
8124 W Third St, Los Angeles (Corner of Crescent Heights and Third)
Click here for map and driving directions
For more info call 323-464-1636 or e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Join the National Lawyers Guild, ANSWER Coalition, Latino Movement USA and
other progressive organizations for a press conference to denounce last
weekend's attack by the Los Angeles Police Department on the immigrant rights
movement. Speakers will include Jim Lafferty and Carol Sobel, National Lawyers
Guild; Juan Jose Gutierrez, Director, Latino Movement USA; Ian Thompson,
Attorney, ANSWER Coalition; victims of police violence at the protest and other
guests.
Shocking video footage will also be shown of anti-Minutemen protestors being
brutally beaten by LAPD officers without provocation. The video shows a
deliberate, violent attack on peaceful protestors exercising their First
Amendment rights. Please come to the press conference to show solidarity with
the immigrant rights movement and people who were brutalized by the police
attack. Take a stand for civil rights and free speech.
ANSWER is also putting out a call to all progressive people who attended
Saturday's anti-Minutemen protest for video footage, photos and eyewitness
reports of police brutality. Please contact us at 323-464-1636 or [EMAIL
PROTECTED] to find out how to get us your video, photos or witness statements.
This will help those who were unjustly arrested. In addition, ANSWER and the
National Lawyers Guild are planning to file a lawsuit against the LAPD and the
city for their despicable behavior against the demonstration.
Read an eyewitness account of the demonstration from ANSWER Coalition below.
---------------------------------------------------
LAPD brutality targets immigrant rights movement
Anti-Minutemen rally attacked by police, people fight back
On Saturday, July 8, the LAPD showed its true racist and reactionary character
when it viciously attacked immigrant rights activists who were protesting
against the anti-immigrant Minuteman Project in Hollywood. More than 300
pro-immigrant protestors gathered in a militant demonstration to counter a
Minuteman hate march down Hollywood Boulevard, a traditional route for anti-war
and other progressive demonstrations. The march was an open attack on the
immigrant rights movement that has gripped the nation over the past four
months.
After nearly two hours of peaceful protest, dozens of LAPD police in full
riot gear instigated a wave of unprovoked violence on the progressive crowd.
They pushed protestors, jabbed them with batons and wrestled several people to
the ground while beating them brutally without any cause or concern. Several
ANSWER activists were brutalized and one was arrested because his friend was
attempting to take photographs of riot police slamming a bystander against the
back of a truck and hitting him with a baton. Top police brass later tried to
justify their violence by saying protestors provoked the beatings by
�crossing police lines" - an outright lie.
A Spanish-language media reporter from KPFK radio was shoved to the
pavement, smacked hard and arrested for attempting to document the repression.
The cops were attacking so wildly that even an elderly woman getting of a
Metro bus was clubbed for being too close to the protest.
People from the surrounding neighborhood stopped and shouted at the police to
stop their rampage against the protest.
LAPD and Minutemen collaboration
The police arrested around six people without cause while the fascist
Minutemen chanted �L-A-P-D,� cheering them on. It was a naked display of
police and fascist collaboration. The outraged anti-immigrant crowd stood
their ground and defended their demonstration while chanting �Cops and the
Klan go hand in hand!� Carlos Alvarez, an organizer with the ANSWER
Coalition, then gave an impassioned speech to denounce the LAPD's brutality and
defend the rights of the protestors to demonstrate against the Minutemen.
While the now hundreds of cops escorted around 150 Minutemen down Hollywood
Boulevard in their racist march, the progressives started to follow them on
the sidewalk. LAPD officers impeded once again the rights of the protestors
and denied them access. So, the anti-racists, led by the ANSWER Coalition,
took over the streets of Hollywood, stopping oncoming traffic in an effort to
outflank the police and get close to the Minutemen. They chanted, �The
streets belong to the people!�
The several hundred protestors were met by police violence again as they
approached the Minutemen several blocks away. The protestors stood up to the
police, held onto the street and later marched back to where the demonstration
started and denounced the Minutemen as they marched back to their cars. The
anti-racist protestors outlasted the Minutemen and held a brief victory rally
before marching to the ANSWER office less than one block away. Activists felt
a sense of accomplishment and struggle after fending off police violence and
maintaining an organized, successful action against the Minutemen.
Organizing to fight back
The ANSWER Coalition has vowed to respond swiftly to this vicious police
attack. Along with its partners in the National Lawyers Guild and Latino
Movement USA, ANSWER will host a press conference on Tuesday, July 12 to
denounce the LAPD and the Minutemen. Featured speakers will include immigrant
rights organizers, ANSWER organizers and lawyers, victims of police brutality
at the protest and others. There will be video footage shown that depicts the
outrageous brutality of the cops that day. ANSWER and the NLG are vigorously
defending the rights of the anti-racist protestors and plan to file a civil
suit against the LAPD and the city - helmed by pro-police mayor Antonio
Villaraigosa - because of this flagrant assault on people�s civil rights.
Muna Coobtee, member of the ANSWER steering committee in Los Angeles said:
�This unprovoked, terrible assault on a peaceful protest violates our civil
rights and is aimed at the heart of the immigrant rights movement. The police
came to this demonstration today, in an alliance with ultra-right-wing
elements, to try to beat back the struggle for equality. We can�t look at
this incident in isolation from the overall political climate. We know that it
is related to the racist raids launched by the federal government targeting
undocumented workers. It is related to the bigotry being whipped-up by the
immigration hearings happening all over the United States . Because these
connections are clear, we can be clear in saying that these intimidation
tactics won�t work�they will backfire. The immigrant workers� movement
will remain stronger and more united than ever before.�
The independent people�s movement will not tolerate the LAPD�s criminal
behavior. Police repression and the Minutemen are part of the right-wing's
ploy to defeat the just struggle of immigrants for amnesty and full
legalization. All charges leveled at any anti-racist protestor must be dropped
immediately. The LAPD and the city must be held accountable.
---------------------------------------------------
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
Act Now to Stop War and End Racism
323-464-1636
http://www.answerla.org
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
1800 Argyle Ave, #410
Los Angeles, CA 90028
Join us each Tues at 7 pm for A.N.S.W.E.R. Activists Meetings.
---------------------------------------------------
A.N.S.W.E.R. COALITION LA (Act Now to Stop War & End Racism)
TO DONATE CALL 323-464-1636. YOU CAN USE MC/VISA OVER THE PHONE OR MAIL CHECK
TO ANSWER-LA, 1800 ARGYLE AVE, #410, LA, CA 90028
TAX DEDUCTIBLE CHECKS OF $50 OR MORE CAN BE MADE TO
PROGRESS UNITY FUND
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