Results tagged “protest”

One year ago tonight, thousands of disappointed voters hit the streets to protest the passing of Prop 8 which banned gay marriage in California. Tonight, people will gather again.

The LAPD officers who used "questionable tactics" in their response to protesters on the 2007 May Day immigration march will not be prosecuted, reports the LA Times. The LAPD investigated the incident in which video footage showed police firing rubber bullets into the crowd Park May Day Melee. Their report reviewed the actions of 30 officers and "blamed poor leadership and overly aggressive tactics", but prosecutors were unable to "establish that any particular officer's actions were unreasonable or without lawful necessity in light of the tense, uncertain and rapidly evolving circumstances." Nineteen officers faced punishment last year, and earlier this year $12.85 million was awarded to victims injured in the protest.

Watch out, they're back. On Sunday the latest in Tea Party protests will hit Los Angeles as part of another bus tour across the country. The traveling two-plus week event, which will be in its first day, promises to "highlight some of the worst offenders in Congress who have voted for higher spending, higher taxes, and government intervention in the lives of American families and businesses," according to its website. Continued: "Let’s stand up and stop the bailouts, cap and trade, out-of-control spending, government-run healthcare, and higher taxes! We’re back and determined to take our country back!"

The University of California system is facing a $535 million budget gap and is looking for solutions. That could mean higher tuition next year for students, but more immediately, officials are looking to require furlough days that would amount to a 4% to 10% pay cut for support staff and technical workers. If unions don't accept those, layoffs are the next option.

People are pretty p-o'd about The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, aka ACORN, and the recent videos that have been released showing undercover conservative activists posing as a pimp and ho pair getting a bit too much help from staffers at several of the group's locations. Anti-ACORN activists expressed their dismay through graffiti left on the exterior walls of Studio No. 1 here in Los Angeles, which is the commercial design studio behind Shepard Fairey's iconic Obama HOPE posters, explains the Washington Post.

The movement to save the axed Film Program, chiefly its Weekend Film series and much of the museum's film-related endeavors, has been taking place swiftly where most movements do their work these days: Online. There is a Save Film @ LACMA blog, Twitter, Facebook fan page, and online petition. Now add this video to the list of efforts underway to urge the Los Angeles County Museum of Art to keep their film program alive.

Tomorrow the California State University Board of Trustees is scheduled to vote on proposed cuts within their operating budget that will have staff and faculty accepting twice-monthly furlough days, student services and class offerings reduced, enrollment caps and freezes implemented, and tuition raised 20 per cent--on top of the already approved 10 per cent increase voted on just two months ago.

Unionized employees of the University of California will rally today at UCLA in Westwood in protest against proposed cost-cutting measures that will see the, losing work hours and funds for operating costs, according to the Daily News.

The circus is coming to Orange County soon, but not before a show of a whole other kind hits town, which is due to take place midday tomorrow in the heart of Anaheim. The show is actually a protest organized by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) who will express their displeasure about what they believe is the unethical treatment of circus animals by "having one of its members, 32-year-old Melissa Sehgal, pushed through downtown Anaheim in a cage, nearly nude except for tiger-stripe body paint," according to the OC Register.

Students at Liechty Middle School engaged in a silent protest during their graduation ceremony last week and it wound up costing them their diplomas. "The students turned their backs on graduation speaker Monica Garcia, LAUSD Board President, to express their displeasure to teacher layoffs and cutbacks," press materials explain.

Remember these people at the Oscars? It's the infamous Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church and they are protesting various locations in Los Angeles tomorrow including Fairfax High School, a Jewish temple, a community center and the Anti-Defamation League's headquarters, according to the LA Times.

Just like over the weekend, local Iranians and supporters of a fair voting process will gather outside the Federal Building tonight at 5 p.m. Another one will be held in Irvine. The world's attention has been focused on Iran for the past few days after an election scandal. On Friday, voters hit the booths to vote for a new President or keep the current one. The results were quickly announced--reform candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi lost to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Protesters are calling it voter fraud.

Today marks Day 8 of the Hunger Strike initiated by several LAUSD teachers and community members. In addition to the hunger strike, protesters have held, and will continue to hold, "camp-out" events, bringing supporters and community members together to "celebrate and protect the culture" of area schools; one such evening is planned for tomorrow from 6-8:30 p.m. at Miguel Contreras Learning Center.

Following several days of protests by teachers, and their students, against the Los Angeles Unified School District and their recent decision to layoff hundreds of teachers, increase class sizes, and eliminate funding for several programs, the civil disobedience continues in the form of a hunger strike.

Hundreds of people marched over 14 miles from Selma to Fresno this morning kicking off the Meet in the Middle 4 Equality rally in downtown Fresno. Police were expecting 3,000 to 5,000 people to descend upon the city's city hall, but the number of people who have shown up is currently unknown. Notable names attending to speak include Charlize Theron, Eric McCormick from Will and Grace and T.R. Knight from Grey's Anatomy.

One will address the war and the other, Prop 8. At 3:30 and until 5 p.m., activists from CODEPINK and ANSWER LA will protest troops in Afghanistan and war funding outside the Beverly HIlton, where President Obama is attending a Democratic National Committee fundraiser. Then at 6 p.m., the Courage Campaign is organizing one about Prop 8. "Let's take this opportunity, just one day after the CA Supreme Court makes its decision on Proposition 8, to show our President our support for his daring promise to our community and to highlight the growing movement towards FULL FEDERAL EQUALITY," their website says.

We first met the roving band Killsonic last year on Valentine's Day roaming the streets of downtown during the monthly art walk. The quality of music and the random nature of how it all felt gave us a fantastic feeling. Then last night, at the tail end of the Prop 8 march in Hollywood was the band, rocking it out, once again.

                     

Last night's large Day of Decision protest and march went peacefully through nearly six and half miles of West Hollywood and Los Angeles streets. There was lots of frustration, but also chants of encouragement, statements written in yellow chalk on the sidewalks and streets and people to meet.

              

One of the first protests of many in the Los Angeles area today took place at the East Los Angeles Recorder Office on Cesar Chavez Avenue. Around 100 people, who would have preferred to be celebrating, were prepared with Repeal Prop 8 in 2010 signs. They chanted in front of news cameras while a few couples waited in line to get marriage proposals, an exercise in purposeful futility. After being denied, the couples refused to leave saying they would wait until gay marriage is legal in California. Eventually, they left shortly after 3 p.m.

After this morning's ruling that gay marriage will remain illegal in California, things outside the California Supreme Court in San Francisco started to get a little out of hand. Locally, the LAPD announced logistics to the media about tonight's permitted protest in Hollywood. They advised reporters of media staging areas, the route and what to do if the march is declared as an unlawful assembly.

Prop 8 is upheld? Protests. Prop 8 is defeated? Celebrations. No matter the outcome, today is the long-planned-for Day of Decision with events across the nation. Most are taking place this evening, but if you go, make sure to check the time for your preferred location:

With an ailing economy in the era of prolific self-expression via a multitude of platforms, sometimes the best way to be heard is to grab some paper and a pen and put the message up on your own four wheels. This is what one San Fernando Valley resident seems to be fond of doing, as found byLAist Featured Photos pool contributor CookieDuster, who explains the sign-maker's most recent foray into their version of Twittering:

The neighbor is riled up enough again to post his first tailgate message since election day. A total lack of punctuation and a spelling mistake only adds to the charm.

Continue reading "Found in LA: America's Armpit Analogy, With Spellcheck"

Like last Friday, a number of students from Santee and Lincoln High Schools protested budget cuts and teacher layoffs this morning. They marched to the LAUSD headquarters in downtown where Superintendent Ray Cortines spoke to them, according to Cuts Hurt Kids on Twitter. Last week, students and teachers protested ending with a around 40 educators in jail.

On Friday, UCLA announced a settlement with the student who was tasered over and over and over again back in November 2006. It was captured on video and YouTubed in what we still think is one of the most disgusting police videos ever (embedded below if you care to watch).

Last Friday, protests against the LAUSD began before the school day began. Hundreds of teachers called in sick to work, and many participated, with students and their parents, in gatherings on campuses and outside LAUSD headquarters, despite orders not to. Wearing black to symbolize mourning for the loss of funds and jobs, the protests continued through the day, blocking traffic, shutting down streets, and resulting in the arrest of a handful, including UTLA President AJ Duffy.

Among the arrested LAUSD teachers just a few minutes ago, United Teachers of Los Angeles union leader AJ Duffy has been arrested, according to KNX1070.

A little update to the LAUSD teacher protests happening downtown. Now some police, clad in riot gear, are taking action, apparently separating perambulatory teachers from sitting ones. Police have warned the media and others to "back off" and gave teachers two minutes to disperse or be arrested, according to UTLA's Twitter.

LAUSD teachers planned a walk out today over budget cuts forcing massive teacher layoffs, then a judge said no, the teachers okay, we won't walk out, we'll protest before school begins and now some teachers haven't stopped protesting.

       

Plans for a one-day teacher walk out and protest planned for Friday had the kibosh put on them today by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge. Unionized teachers wanted to protest anticipated layoffs and large class sizes and LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines doesn't want to disrupt school environs, especially in light of state and advance placement testing.

The folks at Cuts Hurt Kids have set up this interactive map to show where parents, teachers, students, and community members are working in protest of Los Angeles Unified School District budget cuts, including teacher layoffs. The map plots points of action, locations, as well as links to stories, images, and videos related to LAUSD's budgetary woes and how the cuts will affect the community at large. Have something to add to the map? Let Cuts Hurt Kids know.