Los Angeles Indymedia : Activist News

Two weeks after the May 1st police attack on a peaceful event for immigrants rights in MacArthur Park the community is mobilizing for a return to the park. The planned procession and vigil this coming Thursday, May 17th has been called by the same coalition of immigrant rights organizations who organized the May 1st event. Organizers have stressed the need for people to get back in the streets and show that they will NOT be intimidated by police violence.

Unlike the May1 march, this event has been granted a street closure permit by the LAPD. However it remains to be seen if the police will honor the permit. The May 1st march was initially granted a street closure permit but it was revoked some days before May 1st leaving organizers little time to get the word out and develop new plans for a sidewalk march. Victims of police violence on May 1st have repeatedly stated that police harassment of the march began at the start of the march and escalated as the day progressed. The last minute revocation of the street closure permit is thought to be a contributing factor in the many things that went wrong that day.

There is growing suspicion that the police attack was not some procedural mistake by commanding officers but planned well in advance, perhaps even days in advance. Numerous eyewitness report seeing metro police deployment and practice drills in the area in the early morning hours of May 1st. There are also unconfirmed reports of known HLS agents observed with police. It is believed that police were under orders to provoke the demonstrators to create an excuse to disrupt the event. And it was only after these attempts failed to illicit a reaction from demonstrators that police opened fire and charged the crowd.

The original police cover story of “agitators” and youth throwing rocks and bottles at police officers has been discounted by most responsible media outlets. However there are still some large corporate media outlets that continue to repeat the police line.

The controversy caused by some of the May 1st organizers repeating the police cover story in interviews with the media appears to have been resolved. A delegation of groups accused by organizers of triggering the police violence has met with the coalition and reports are that the meeting was successful in preventing a rift within the local immigrant rights movement. No formal public apologies have been made but there does seem to be agreement on maintaining an alliance in the struggle for immigrant rights. All groups involved in the dispute plan to be marching together this coming Thursday, May 17th.

Details on the march: Our Voices Will Not Be Silenced! by schock
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