Results tagged “mayday”

                     

Around 500 people gathered in Echo Park yesterday for the "May First Day of Action in Support of Workers Rights" march that ended in downtown. It was one of at least seven marches in Los Angeles that either started and/or ended as one big rally around in the civic center area.

Although the turnout is expected to me much smaller than in 2005 and 2006, today's marches will bring tens of thousands of people together over the causes they believe in. "Most of the groups agree on the same policy measures -- legalize illegal immigrants, stop work-site and residential raids, and end the separation of families through deportations," the LA Times reported.

Remember this angering video where a local video blogger documented the 2007 Immigration March that went from happy and free-spirited to LAPD officers terrorizing everyone by spraying rubber bullets into the crowds and taking batons to reporters? Today, the LA City Council approved $12.85 million to settle nine lawsuits against the city, but that's not the end of it as there were 27 lawsuits. Also, this not the only recent LAPD settlement the LA Times reports: "The settlement of the May Day cases comes on the heels of the council’s approval last week of a $20.5-million payout to four current and former police officers who claimed they were falsely arrested and mistreated in the wake of the scandal involving the police department's Rampart Division."

On May Day 2007, hundreds of marchers, journalists and 18 officers were injured when the LAPD heavily overreacted to a small group of agitators at MacArthur Park. That led to lawsuits, which could be settled very soon, says the LA Times: "Victims of the melee in MacArthur Park last year involving Los Angeles police have reached a tentative multimillion-dollar settlement with the city, people close to the settlement talks said today... A couple of the sources, however, placed the proposed settlement at about $10 million." If you need a reminder of what happened, you probably should watch this video.

       

The difference between last year and this year was night and day. Last year, the police were in riot gear, got injured, shot rubber bullets into crowds full of innocent people including, children, the elderly and reporters live on air (see this video). This year, the LAPD retrained and chilled out... a lot more. By the end of the day, only five people had been arrested.

              

More scenes from yesterday's various May Day marches from LAist Featured Photos contributor Tom Andrews.

                            

LAist Featured Photos contributor Tom Andrews spent the day at yesterday's May Day marches. Here are some of the amazing images of the people he saw and met.

      

The May Day 2008 marches and rallies are underway and thousands of people have converged on downtown LA:

You can expect massive traffic troubles through downtown during Thursday's events. Marchers will stage at 7th Street and Parkview at MacArthur Park, Olympic and Broadway, and Alameda and Central. All will converge at 1st Street and Broadway for a rally that is scheduled to start at 4 p.m. -- ABC7

In the name of ending the war, all 29 ports along the West Coast, including Los Angeles and Long Beach, have halted operations for one shift. "We are supporting the troops and telling politicians in Washington that it's time to end the war in Iraq," dockworkers' union president Bob McEllrath said in a press release.

Today is a big day in Los Angeles. Hundreds of thousands of people will walk in four separate marches downtown and converge at one location near City Hall.

Whether you are attending a rally or just going to work, using Metrolink or Metro Rail (Red, Blue, Gold) are your best option for entering downtown, but expect more crowded than usual trains. Below, you will find information on the Marches, Traffic/Street Closures, Metro, DASH and Commuter Express.

Photo by Ryan Jesena in his Photo Essay of Burning Man 2007

The country's safest city (some years, anyway), is getting less and less so: a shooting this morning at a Simi Valley tire store left two dead and two injured. Police have ruled out robbery and suspect a personal motive in the attack. There are a few updates on the potential water cutbacks -- although Los Angeles is okay for now (thanks to the Owens Valley), the time may come when water rationing will be...

If you have been thirsty lately and don't know why, perhaps it was the news that the Metropolitan Water District is about to cut water to Southern California agriculture by 30 percent. As a result, your bill could rise of 10 percent. It may be time to move into the ocean. "Nasty," Aggravating" and "Snotty" are words usually meant for our beloved President from critics near and far. Well, if Bush was the Santa...

- LA Weekly wins seven awards from the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies awards. - Tomorrow is “Community Day” at all California Whole Foods — 5% of the day’s net sales statewide are gonna go toward California coastal Cleanup Day, which happens on Sept. 15, 2007. - Cook like a fireman with the Los Angeles Firefighters Family Cookbook. - Changes are coming to this year's Sunset Junction festival with a new "route." - Big Blue...

From Friday, May 11th's episode during the New Rules segment....

- Dodgers donate $100k to help rebuild Griffith Park - MLB

May has been rough on LA.

Moorpark man who owned tiger gets house arrest - Daily News

There's so much going on across the Ist-a-Verse that it's almost impossible to keep track these days. Fortunately, we do it so you don't have to!

Photo by Wathana Lim

The LAPD's civil rights consent decree just got extended this past summer for another three years. Do videos like this and witness accounts help end this decree and get more officers back on the street instead of desk duty for consent decree paperwork? Not really. Here is some excerpts from Daniel Hernandez's blog: "The sight of cops standing shoulder-to-shoulder menacingly holding batons drew more onlookers, which drew more cops, which drew more onlookers. The...

Videos don't tell the whole story by any means, but when the press got hit with a baton at yesterday's rally, they fought back in the only way they could -- with the news. The LA Times also has coverage. *UPDATE: Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton said today that some actions taken by officers trying to clear a crowd of marchers at MacArthur Park were "inappropriate" and that he has launched two...

In addition to the May Day protests that rocked Los Angeles, yesterday (May 1) was also notable as it was the four-year anniversary of George W. Bush landing on an aircraft carrier and announcing we'd won the Iraq War. Actually, what he said was, "My fellow Americans, major combat operations in the Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq the United States and our allies have prevailed." And how!...

Wilshire & Alvarado - May Day The presence of a police force lined up with riot gear presupposes trouble. And when someone supposedly threw a bottle near MacArthur Park Tuesday evening, it was a call to action. Or as Chief Bratton later rationalized: "Missiles were being thrown at the officers, and officers [were] responding." Last year's May Day march down Wilshire featured amiable members of LA's finest police and fire squads lined up on...