After a large peaceful march of tens of thousands of people up broadway, and peaceful march of thousands down vermont to the various MIWON actions, over 10,000 immigrant workers and families congregated in macarthur park in downtown LA
to listen to speakers, music, dance, and celebrate mayday.

The air was festive as speakers alternated with musicians. Tom Morello (the Nightwatchman) from Rage Against the Machine, as well as live punky reggae jungle act Fosforo were among the musicians playing from the MIWON sound truck.

At some point (around 6? not sure of the time), while Fosforo was playing our second song (a Spanish language version of Bob Marley's War), I looked up to see thousands of people running en masse from the other end of the park.

A wall of riot police marched through the park behind them, shooting rubber bullets as 2 helicopters swooped over the crowd
hovering like mechanical vultures.

Off to my left, a small crew of anarchopunks in black with black and red flags made a halfhearted attempt to build a barricade near the sound truck but soon abandoned it and ran away.

Everyone left but me and two sound guys on the truck. We hid behind speakers and i shot everything as the police advanced through the park clearing everyone out. I was stuck in the park for an hour while the police blocked it off.

Later i went out and went to the police press conference on the corner of the park. The police kept the press waiting for 45 minutes to an hour as they tried to figure out just how to spin things.

The police chief claimed that 'a small number of individuals' provoked the police to act as they did, then pretty much said nothing else. He kept repeating that he would need to review the videos before he could say anything about whether the police 'response' had been 'appropriate.'

Later I heard that 8 police on motorbikes drove into a crowd, and that the police beat several journalists. Also, apparently they hurt some legal observers.

My theory is this: after last year's marches, and after seeing that this year, although much smaller, there were still 10s of thousands of people marching, they decided to scare the shit out of people
especially undocumented immigrants. They are hoping that this will crush the whole movement and scare people away from participating any more ...

Put up your photos or video!

The LA police have done this before... such as during the RATM performance during the democratic convention of 2000. Again, it was an eerily similar scenario. They claim someone threw a bottle over the fence, and that this legitimized opening fire on a large crowd that couldn't get out of the fenced 'free speech zone' that had only a small opening for exiting, so all sorts of people were hit or trampled trying to get away.

By the way, members of the press have different rules apply to them with regards to where they can stand during special police activity. All citizens are allowed to watch an arrest or equivalent at some distance, but people with a press pass are allowed to be closer. The police are not allowed to force the press to disperse, under the first amendment. There are many constitutional case law precedents which have verified this.

Here is the Fox news link: http://www.myfoxla.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=3086223&version=7&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=3.1.1

Fox news did good yesterday but today changed it to protestors started throwing bottles and rocks at the police. What is that?

Some people probably did. The problem is that the cops then issued a dispersal order to the WHOLE CROWD, in English only, it was unintelligible and it was unwarranted, in violation of the lawful permit. Police then used waaaay too much force to implement their wrong order. Those are the issues. Some people do throw shit. But the cops should not thus engage the peaceful crowd...

I up here in the central coast and there does not seem to be much action coming from the people of los angeles over having their rights trampled on by the Losers And Pussies Department

David Cedars is completely wrong. All people have rights, and this is not only a nice idea, it's the founding principle of this country: "all men are created equal".

If someone is not a citizen, they have rights. If someone entered the country illegally, they still have rights.

All this talk about non-citizens lacking rights is fascist. There's no other word for it: it's fascist thinking, and a prelude to genocide. You reclassify people, and say they don't have rights, and then it's open season on them.

(It's parallel to the insane talk from Gonzalez and Bush about how "enemy combatants" don't have the right of habeas corpus. That thinking is destructive to the founding principles of our judicial system, that all imprisoned have a right to challenge their imprisonment on constitutional grounds. These top-level fascists want a new system of "reclassify and rot.")

They do not have certain entitlements, like Social Security and Medicare (which are really risk pooling funds), but they are given education and health care, because it's better that they don't end up illiterate and sick with disease. It's cheaper to pay for these things than it is to have an uneducated community where people have TB.

Should people come over legally? Sure. If you look over the laws, you will see that there isn't any category for "gardeners, nannies, janitors, maids, and cooks." The closest thing you have is the family reunification law, where families are allowed to remain intact. That law has created a thriving "internet bride/husband" business.

I AM A 15 YEAR OLD HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT CURRENTLY ATTENDING FRANKLIN HIGH SCHOOL. I WAS ENRAGED TO SEE THE HORRIBLE FOOTAGE ON TELEVISION AT FIRST I DIDNT KNOW WHAT HAD HAPPENED,SO THE NEXT DAY FOR OUR DAILY REFLECTIONS MY ENGLISH TEACHER HAD ASKED HOW DO YOU FEEL ON THE MAY DAY DISASTER SO I WROTE HOW I FELT.THESE MARCHES ARE PEACEFULLY WITH NO ACT TO DISTURB THE PEACE I UNDERSTAND THAT THERE MIGHT OF BEEN A FEW KNUCKLEHEADS ,BUT THERE WAS NO NEED OF EXCESSIVE FORCE USING TEAR GAS ,BEAN BAG SHOOTERS,AND BATONS TO MISTREAT THE PEOPLE.NOW I ASK MYSELF MIGHT THIS HAVE ALL BEEN PLANNED,NO DOUBT THAT THE COPS KNEW WHAT THEY WERE DOING AND WITH THAT HOW MANY NEWSCAST AND REPORTRES WERE ON SIGHT LET ALONE THEY WERE THE ONES THAT WERE BEING VICTIMIZED. THE POLICE SHOWED NO SYMPATHY TOWARDS NO ONE.THIS GETS ME VERY ANGRY COMING FROM A FAMILY OF FIVE AND SEEING MY PARENTS STRUGGLE BECAUSE OF BEING IMMIGRANTS AND TO GIVE US THE LIFE THEY COULD NOT IMAGIINE ALTHOUGH NOT ONE MYSELF HOW DO THEY EXPECT ME TO CONSIDER MYSELF AMERICAN WHEN THERE TRYING TO DEPORT MY PEOPLE WERE NOT HERE FOR THE WRONG REASONS AND THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD RECOGNIZE THAT WE ARE AND WERE HERE TO STAY AND WITH KNOWING THAT THERE STILL MAKING IT HARD TO BECOME U.S CITIZENS

As usual, anything that is NOT PRO-ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION is HIDDEN. I give up on any "fair and balanced" =;o] approach from L.A. "Independent" Media - independent of what? Perhaps renaming your virtual rag "Mexico City Times" or "The Tijuana Blog" and publish it in Spanish only would be more appropriate? Hey, how 'bout "Vicente Fox News"? Whatever - It seems that the ideas of free-speech and the right to express opposing ideas or thoughts are not understood by the publishers. Read the U.S. Constitution for further understanding.

This may be where we're headed with the never-ending quest for "Comprehensive Immigration Reform" by open-borders advocates. Keep pushing and you can eventually expect someone to push back. Call it social physics.

From ABC News :


May 8, 2007 11:17 PM
Assailants shoot and injure migrant on Sonora-Arizona border
HERMOSILLO, Sonora (AP) - Four armed men shot at a group of migrants today as they crossed into Arizona, injuring one man in the arm.

Sonora state police say a 24-year-old man from Central Mexico, crossed back into Mexico after the shooting and was treated for the bullet wound in a hospital in the city of Caborca, about 40 miles south of the border.

The migrants had crossed illegally into the United States at Sasabe, a common crossing point for people heading north without the proper documentation.

The police did not specify the race or nationality of the assailants or explain a motive for the attack.

A spokesman for the Border Patrol's Tucson sector, which includes the Sasabe area, confirmed there had been an incident but said he did not immediately have further details.
Associated Press

Apparently, this is someones idea of "Comprehensive Immigration Reform".

Adios pendejos