On Wednesday, May 9, attorneys with the National Lawyers Guild and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund filed a class-action lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department on behalf of “community groups who organized a May Day immigrants rights rally at MacArthur Park in the city’s heavily Latino immigrant community,” according to a National Lawyers Guild press release, which says “The event was disrupted by the Los Angeles Police Department when riot-gear clad officers swept through the park without warning and ordered everyone leave the park.” The Los Angeles immigrant rights rally was one of dozens planned in cities nationwide, including Austin, for the second year in a row. According to the Associated Press, “The clash at MacArthur Park started after 6 p.m. when police tried to disperse demonstrators who had moved off the sidewalk onto the street. Authorities said several of the few thousand people still at the rally threw rocks and bottles at officers, who fired rubber bullets and used batons to push the crowd back onto the sidewalk.” Police Chief William J. Bratton subsequently acknowledged “that some of the police tactics used to clear immigration protesters from a park were inappropriate,” the AP reports. According to the National Lawyers Guild press release, “The suit seeks changes in how the Los
Angeles Police Department responds to demonstrations,
as well as damages for” rally participants harmed by police, as well as chased out of the park. “This lawsuit is the only way to afford justice to the victims of this outrageous assault on Latinos calling for comprehensive immigration reform,” said Annabelle Gonzalves, MALDEF Los Angeles Regional Counsel, in a MALDEF press release.
This article appears in May 11 • 2007.