LOS ANGELES, July 4, 2006 – Ignoring pleas from immigrants rights activists, the Mayor knowingly rode in a parade with the minuteman group. Three days of phone calls and emails to parade organizers and elected officials failed to get the permit for the minutemen revoked. Instead the spectacle of the anti-immigrant minutemen and the first Latino mayor of Los Angeles in the same parade played out. The minuteman contingent was dogged the length of the parade by immigrants rights supporters. The Minutemen were greeted with a mixture of cheers and boos from parade viewers. At the end of parade there was an incident with the minutemen that resulted in the arrest of one of the immigrants rights supporters.
From the newswire: VIDEO: Mayor in parade with Minutemen
Mayor in Parade with Minutemen
Mayor Villaraigosa Rides in 4th of July Parade with Minutemen