[Onthebarricades] US: Successful blockade of anti-immigrant protest

[Andy]

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-blacks24jun24,0,6820293.story?page=1&coll=la-home-center



A group of 100 marchers waving American flags headed south on Crenshaw 
Boulevard on Saturday to protest illegal immigration and what they called its 
damaging effects on the black community.

But they never reached the park that was their destination,and the rally turned 
into two tense hours of confrontation under a hot sun with counter-protesters 
on the opposite side of the street. 

Insults and epithets flew across the asphalt as hundreds of Los Angeles Police 
Dept officers kept guard.Although some people expressed concern about anoth- 
er May 1 melee,in the end,police earned praise for restraint to calm the crowd.

Police defused the standoff,both sides dispersed and five people,including organ- 
izer Ted Hayes,a longtime activist for the homeless,were arrested peacefully. 

The marchers,made up of black activists & Minutemen,homeless people & neigh- 
borhood residents,held a city permit for a afternoon rally at the historic Leimert 
Park in the Crenshaw district. 

Nearly 500 counter-protesters,mostly black and Latino,some with Mexican flags 
& others with antiwar placards,swept down the other side of Crenshaw Boulevard. 
They converged on the park first & blocked original marchers from entering. 

Some said they heard those marchers would include KKK members & the coun- 
ter protesters denounced racist outsiders trying to incite violence.

As the two chanting groups faced off,police kept watch,some on bicycles and 
some in riot gear,batons held in position.Police negotiators shuttled between 
the 2 groups as some protesters heckled them.

The two groups called out contrasting slogans and songs.One marcher bellowed 
Lift Every Voice & Sing,also known as the Black National Anthem,through a bull- 
horn.Other marchers followed with The Battle Hymn of the Republic. 

On the other side of the street,some chanted: The whole world is watching.We 
remember McArthur Park,referring to the May 1 melee between police & immi- 
grant-rights marchers.

At times,the gathering felt like a street festival,with mothers with babies in stroll- 
ers and musicians playing drums.Other times,tensions mounted in the heat as 
some protesters in the park called the police pigs. 

Officers finally donned helmets & stood in lines,quietly facing protesters on both 
sides of the street.The groups finally dispersed peacefully,and some leaders on 
both sides praised the LAPD for effectively avoiding a violent situation.

LAPD did a tremendous job in how they handled the protest,said activist Najee 
Ali.It could have been very volatile.

Some members of the original march,however,criticized counter-protesters for 
denying them entry to Leimert Park. 

The march to the park was led by Hayes,who's organized an African American 
group opposed to illegal immigration.He was joined Saturday by members of the 
Minutemen Brigade as well as some black marchers who said that illegal immi- 
grants from Mexico & Central America are taking their jobs & flooding schools 
& hospitals.

During negotiations,police commanders prevented march organizers from enter- 
ing the park,saying they were forced to take that step for public safety reasons. 
The crowd inside the park included many children & families,they explained.

I realize you have a permit,incident commander Deputy Chief Charlie Beck told 
black activists & Minutemen jammed on a sidewalk outside stores across the 
street from the park. 

I have to deny you access to the park.I do this for public safety,said Beck,speak- 
ing through a megaphone.

Many of the marchers protested loudly,characterizing the counter-protesters 
as Spanish-speaking illegal aliens who already were taking their jobs & now 
were denying their right to enter the park.

What country is this,a woman yelled at Beck.

Dont forget to do it again in Spanish,another called out mockingly.

At one point,a group of women,mostly white & grasping rolled-up American 
flags,sat on the pavement across from the park,chanting; we want our park.

Several said they are members of the California Coalition for Immigration 
Reform,based in Huntington Beach & had come to South Los Angeles to 
stand up for the black community & against illegal immigrants,who they 
said are taking jobs from African American residents.

They pointed across the street at the waving Mexican flags.

That is the border,a man said.

After spirited & sometimes angry talks with Beck & other police,Hayes told 
his followers that he planned to be arrested and that others could choose to 
join him,one by one.The energy ebbed among marchers,some of whom had 
pushed to march past police lines into the park. 

One of Hayes supporters,holding American flag,waited politely to be hand- 
cuffed.Even some of the most outspoken Minutemen members said they 
would abide by Hayes decision.

Across the street in the park,many of the counter-protesters faulted the 
marchers,saying they were invading the Leimert Park community & try- 
ing to incite tensions between blacks & Latinos.

They are coming in here,not knowing our community,said activist Bilal Ali. 
There are no black and brown problems in this community.These people 
are too intelligent to fall for that.We see this as a scam.

Counter-protesters carried signs that said; in our ghettos,black & brown = 
one love & Together under one community.

Said Pedro Reyes,a South LA resident; were all suffering the same in- 
justices.So there is no need to try and divide us.
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