Los Angeles Indymedia : Activist News

AJLPP-USA Mobilizes for June 24 Full Rights for All Immigrants March and Rally in Los Angeles.??Los Angeles � The Alliance-Philippines(AJLPP)-USA and the Echo Park Community Coalition (EPCC) will mobilize upcoming June 24 Immigrant Rights March-Rally in Hollywood and Vine, Los Angeles.

The June 24th Hollywood march-rally will also demand a stop to the increase on exorbitant fees on citizenship and other documents for immigrants to be implemented by the DHS this July 30, 2007.

As the hopes for the proposed compromise bill on �Border Protection and Immigration Bill� also known as the �grand bargain� flickered, mass actions should be the order of the day.. The racist conservatives in the Lower House has just filed the �Border Protection First � bill that elucidates their racist -anti immigrant bias
From the newswire: AJLPP-USA Mobilizes for June 24 Full Rights for All Immigrants March and Rally in Los Angeles by AJLPP | June 24 March and Rally in Los Angeles by The April 7th. Coalition | Echo Park Community Coalition (EPCC) Mobilizes for June 24 Full Rights for All Immigrants by AJLPP | Echo Park Community Coalition (EPCC) Supports Immigrant Rights Campaign by Echo Park Community Coalition(EPCC)

LOS ANGELES, August 25, 2007 � A march and rally to protest the recent arrest and deportation of Elvira Arellano and the continuing ICE raids against immigrant communities was held downtown this Saturday. The estimated size of the march varies widely from a low of 600 to a high of 2,000. Reliable sources put the number somewhere in the middle.
From the Newswire: 12:20 pm - Protesters Gathering at Olympic & Broadway | | A United Rally for Immigrant Rights and Elvira Arellano in Los Angeles August 25, 2007 by Echo Park Community Coalition(EPCC)

SIMI VALLEY, California, Sunday, September 16, 2007: At 10 a.m., 40 pro-immigrant supporters and about 80 Minutemen and their supporters faced off on each side of the driveway leading to the parking lot of the United Church of Christ on Royal Avenue where Liliana has taken refuge from the Immigration Services.

During the protest, a small group of three Minutemen came on the pro-immigrant side apparently to provoke. Pro-immigrant supporters complained to the Simi Valley PD, but to no avail. Despite the angry protests of immigrant supporters, the police didn�t force the Minutemen to move, Half an hour later at 11: 12 a.m. a Minuteman pepper sprayed Naui Hutizilopochtli, an immigrant activist, so badly that he had to be taken to the hospital by paramedics. The protests went on until 1 p.m. without further incidents. From the Newswire: Minutemen Provoke, Pepper Spray, in Simi Valley by Marcus

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
Other related links: NLG class action lawsuit | | YJC demands | | CSPG call for police brutality posters

LOS ANGELES, May 22, 2007 � [LA-IMC Special Report] The LA Indymedia Editorial Collective has spoken to many eyewitnesses and reviewed hours of video footage, and has come to the conclusion that the police attack in Macarthur Park on Mayday was unprovoked. Police Chief Bratton's claim that the attack was a response to "agitators," remains unsubstantiated and is believed to be false.

There is mounting evidence that the police violence began when about a dozen police motorcycles drove into the ceremonial Aztec circle at the end of the march at 7th & Alvarado. Shortly thereafter, and without warning, the police fired rubber bullets and charged the crowd. Police then moved into formation along the East edge of the park and attacked without issuing an audible dispersal order. Most people had little to no warning that police were about to open fire into the crowd with rubber bullets and charge with batons. They then swept through the entire park firing and brutally beating nearly anyone remaining in their path

This version of events has been well substantiated by hundreds of eye-witnesses. It has also been captured on video and broadcast by local TV news. Yet in spite of this, three weeks after the attack corporate media is still repeating the line that �agitators� provoked the police. Fox news is repeating this lie even though their own anchorwoman and camerawoman were attacked and are now filing a lawsuit against LAPD.

To date there is no testimony or video to validate the police chief�s claims of �agitators�. Some videos do show a few, scattered incidents of plastic water bottles being thrown, a few of them once the police are already lined up in preparation for the attack, and more once the police line is advancing on people. These videos clearly demonstrate that the few objects thrown were not the 'cause' of the police attack. Much of the evidence that refutes Bratton�s story can be found online at sites such as this one. LA Indymedia would like to thank all those contributors to the newswire who have helped to shed light on what really happened on May 1, 2007 in MacArthur Park.

Selected reports from the newswire: LAPD Officers on motorcycles Drive Into Peaceful Crowd On Alvarado (across Metro Station) by Strange Fruit Media | | May Day 2007; A Report To Correct The Balance by Nick Napolitano | | Ernesto Arce KPFK Reporter Shot w/Rubber Bullet 5/1 Tells What Touched Off Assault | | Police Attack Peaceful May Day Rally

VIDEO Alvarado (between 7th & Wilshire) Video - Police Attack | | Video: Police Attack Fleeing Demonstrators on Alvarado May 1 | | F�sforo plays 'Guerra' at MacArthur Park as police riot against immigrant families by schock | | Police Attack Fleeing Demonstrators on Alvarado May 1 by Attacked by Police

MP3 AUDIO: MP3 Audio: Christina Navoa, eyewitness to police violence | | MP3 audio: Interview with an eyewitness to police attack on May Day. | | Police Radio Intercepted from MacArthur Park! Recordings of police radio communication reveal that even the LAPD didn't hear dispersal order by a | | MP3, en Espanol, Christina Navoa - Eye witness to police terror by A