A week after a pro-immigration rally was broken up by police using batons and rubber bullets, activists announced plans to march again next month to refocus attention on their pleas for a path to citizenship.
Rally organizers hope the planned June 24 march will exceed the crowd of about 25,000 that attended the May 1 demonstration. It ended with riot police using batons and rubber bullets to drive protesters and journalists out of MacArthur Park.
“All of us here today are united in expressing in the clearest voice possible that we can’t be intimidated into inaction,” said Juan Jose Gutierrez of Latino Movement U.S.A. at a news conference Tuesday outside City Hall.
About a dozen demonstrators stood behind him holding signs calling for amnesty for the roughly 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States.
The new march is planned for the intersection of Hollywood and Vine, in the heart of Hollywood and far from downtown, where previous immigration rallies have taken place. Gutierrez said the location was chosen to get other Los Angeles neighborhoods involved in the reform movement.
“A community divided is a weak community,” Gutierrez said.
A demotion
Also Tuesday, Police Chief William Bratton announced a replacement for the deputy chief who was demoted to the rank of commander and assigned to work from his home following the march.
Sergio Diaz, a 30-year department veteran who is currently assistant commanding officer for the Special Operations Bureau, will replace Cayler “Lee” Carter Jr., who was the highest ranking police official at the scene of the clash.
The melee is the focus of four separate investigations.
The chief told the Police Commission on Tuesday that the elite Metro unit, whose officers cleared the park, was undergoing training this week on use of force. He said he planned to speak to all personnel about crowd dispersal, use of force and the treatment of reporters in the field.
Critics attending the commission meeting said they were outraged by the officers’ actions and urged a civilian panel to conduct a thorough investigation.