Los Angeles Indymedia : Activist News

- Amnesty Now! Full Rights for All Immigrants, Now! With these resounding chants, more than 75,000 immigrants and immigrant rights advocates under the banner of the April 7 Coalition marched and rallied for full rights for all immigrants last Saturday, April 7, 2007, in Los Angeles. Unlike the disparate and fewer numbers of mobilized activities last March 25, 2007, the April 7 Coalition march for full rights for all immigrants became one of the largest to be held in Los Angeles after May 1, 2006. This brings a new momentum for the immigrant rights movement in California. The conservative L.A Times estimated the crowd as 10,000 while the Latino Channel 34 estimate of the crowd was 50,000.
Full reports: April 7 Coalition March Rally in Los Angeles Draws 75,000 by Justice for Filipino American Veterans (JFAV | | Immigrants: 50,000 March for Immigration Reform by Stewart A. Alexander
Full report with photos: Masses of Immigrants Demand Amnesty by Cliff Olin
Photos: Pro-Immigration/Amnesty Protest on Broadway, Downtown Los Angeles 04.07 by True DeLuxe

LOS ANGELES, 25 March 2007--The signs and flags were first, bobbing at the bottom of the long Aliso Avenue block. Then the chant, first quietly: "¿Qué queremos?" "¡Legalización!" Then louder, as I approached the marchers and the government buildings bounced the echo: "¿Cuándo?" "¡Ahora!" It looked like a small group coming up the hill, finishing up the last stretch of their march around the Federal Building, commemorating the massive outpouring of last year's March 25 Gran Marcha. But they kept coming. And just when a gap in their ranks might have signaled the end, another group turned the corner from Alameda and made their way around to the Federal Building steps on Los Angeles Street.
Full report with photos: March 25 Begins, Again by Leslie Radford

Padres Unidos de Maywood (PUMA) (United Parents of Maywood), Copwatch LA, Brown Beret's O.L.A.,October 22nd Coalition, Gonzalo Martinez Justice Committee, and Frente Amplio Progesista de Los Angeles (FAPLA) have demanded that Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley investigate the Maywood Police Department, for recent testimony from residents detailing abuse and torture at the hands of the Maywood PD. Copwatch LA's article, Maywood Community and Putting the Maywood PD on Blast, further detailed the collaboration between City Hall(s), the PD, and city subcontractors. A recent LA Weekly article reported that the Maywood PD also patrols Cudahy, where the alleged corruption appears to be encouraged. State Attorney General Jerry Brown ordered an investigation into the PD.

Read: Maywood Community and Putting the Maywood PD on Blast by Copwatch LA

Recent events have set the heads of Minutemen everywhere spinning on their shoulders. Jim Gilchrist, head honcho of the Minuteman Project has been fired by the group’s board, which claims the former CPA embezzled some $70,000.00 in Minuteman funds, appropriating the money to finance his campaign for Congress, and to promote his recent autobiography. The Minuteman Project has been taken over by Marvin Stewart, a Black minister who is one of a number of Black anti- migrant activists being groomed for national leadership in the Minutemen and related movements.
Full report: THe Takeover of the Minuteman Project by Nazi Hunter