022 – NDP in Los Angeles was the people’s day! Directly in the face of an outrageous show of police force, 1200-1400 people, nearly all wearing black, took over Broadway and marched through the downtown L.A. garment district to Parker Center, LAPD Headquarters. Broadway was thick with on-lookers lining the march route, and immigrant garment workers shouted support and pumped fists from the windows of the sweatshops above.

The march through downtown L.A. was youthful, spirited, determined and rebellious. Aztec Dancers led the way, followed by a beautiful Stolen Lives Project Truck decorated with large pictures honoring the people who have been unjustly killed by law enforcement. A contingent of families of victims of police murder was then followed by over a thousand mainly youth and students from dozens of high schools and colleges throughout Southern California. It was especially “their day”, as youth and students led the chants, spoke bitterness in English and Spanish from the bed of the SLP Truck, and lent the march an organized and militant character. Anarchist youth with homemade shields guarded the rear, protecting protesters from the police. MEChA clubs pulled out student groups from all over L.A. A contingent of Refuse & Resist youth came with large pictures demanding freedom for Mumia Abu Jamal. The YSN made over 100 different color flags painted by stencils saying “Stop Police Brutality,” “No More Stolen Lives,” and “Danger Police in Area.”

The rally in front of Parker Center featured the Watts Drum Corps and families of the Stolen Lives Project fighting for justice. There was poetry by Jerry Quickly. The speaker for the Youth Student Network of October 22 saluted the youth for coming back and not backing down in the face of last year’s police attack and the attempts to criminalize protest. The ACLU exposed the new, domestic repression since 9/11, and students condemned the legalized racial profiling and government attacks on Muslims, Arab-Americans and all immigrants. Jim Lafferty spoke for the National Lawyers Guild and called for advancing the movement to Stop the Execution of Mumia in today’s situation. All this was just the start of more to come!

In the face of hundreds of riot police surrounding Police Headquarters – the entire rally marched around Parker Center. We delivered our message that our movement will not back down in the face of the LAPD, who shot rubber bullets and other “specialty impact munitions” into the protest and attacked us with mounted units and batons as we started around Parker Center last year. This year, led by youth in a “call and response” that named and honored many killed by brutal police as we marched - ¡Presente! – we marched all the way around. As we arrived back in front of Parker Center, Rage Against the Machine blasted from the sound truck. A mosh pit broke out and multinational youth danced together in the streets in front of what many call the LAPD’s “Torture Center.”

At the end, many hundreds took off for an intense march back through downtown. Cops on foot, bicycles, motocycles, in cars and trucks, messed with protesters the whole way back, hit people with batons and dragged marchers to the ground, and brutalized a number of young protesters, one who was defending a woman with a baby carriage. One youth was arrested after the march was over while sitting on a bus bench and initially held on $50,000 bail. We are working on raising bail and taking up his legal defense!