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player ready...Bowing to the wishes and warnings of the police and fire departments, a committee of the Los Angeles City Council late Wednesday voted to rescind an earlier council order allowing protesters to demonstrate in a busy square in the heart of downtown during August’s Democratic National Convention here.
The decision, which still must be approved by the full council, came as protest organizers made it clear Thursday that they intend to bring demonstrations to the streets of Los Angeles and Philadelphia, where Republicans meet later this month. They plan protests similar to those in Seattle during a November meeting of the World Trade Organization.
“We’re taking the inspiration we gained from Seattle and extending it to domestic political situations,” said Adam Eidinger of the Washington Action Group, a protest organization that plans to demonstrate in Los Angeles and Philadelphia. “The American people are in for a big surprise.”
Protests got out of hand during the WTO meeting when some demonstrators, among them well-organized groups of anarchists, broke out of designated protest areas, threw rocks and bottles and broke windows in downtown businesses.
Seattle police were not prepared for the crowd’s actions, and that is a lesson police here and in Philadelphia have learned.
Los Angeles police have long planned to turn the downtown streets around the Staples Center into a fortress, barricading a 10-acre area, including one section with a 14-foot-high fence.
But all that was thrown into doubt last month when, in response to a request for city money from the Democratic Party, members of the City Council parlayed their support for the Democratic request into greater access to downtown for the protesters.
As part of a deal that gave the Democratic National Committee $4 million in city funds to underwrite the convention activities, the council agreed to allow protesters to demonstrate in Pershing Square, a palm tree-bordered expanse near a commercial area and the city’s main jewelry and diamond district.
Police and fire department officials, joined by local merchants, opposed the move with dire warnings and video presentations showing how anarchists and others turned peaceful marches in Seattle into riots.
Police Chief Bernard Parks warned that allowing protest groups unfettered access to Pershing Square and the surrounding street would make it extremely difficult for police to contain demonstrations if things got out of hand.
Shortly after Park’s warning, a minor riot erupted outside the Staples Center on the night the Los Angeles Lakers won the National Basketball Association title inside the recently completed center that serves as venue for sporting events, concerts and now the Democratic convention.
What began as a celebration quickly turned violent when groups, primarily composed of young men, started overturning and burning cars and smashing windows in car dealerships and other businesses in downtown Los Angeles.
While the police say limiting protesters to a single parking lot far from the Staples Center is merely prudent, others say the police are infringing on the demonstrators’ 1st Amendment rights.
And, some argued, attempts to corral protesters is a recipe for disaster because it will lead to anger and bring protesters into confrontations with police. Supporters of this idea say allowing free access to main streets and squares will prevent violence.
“I think a staging area is a way to prevent violence,” said City Council member Jackie Goldberg after the committee voted to restrict protest areas.
Goldberg, one of those who voted for giving the Democrats $4 million in city money in exchange for wider protest areas, said the committee made a “serious mistake” in reversing the full council’s decision.
With just over a month to go before the Democrats gather in L.A. for the first time since the party nominated John F. Kennedy in 1960, there are still last-minute efforts to complete road and building repairs in addition to the protest debate.
Despite being granted only two permits to march in Philadelphia and denied permission to rally in Los Angeles, officials from R2D2K, an umbrella organization overseeing the protest groups, said protesters will take to the streets anyway.
From 50,000 to 100,000 protesters are expected to converge on the streets of Philadelphia for the Republican Convention, which runs July 31 to Aug. 3, and in Los Angeles for the Democratic convention, which runs Aug. 14-17, protest leaders said.
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The protesters say they plan to address those issues they feel Republicans and Democrats have glossed over because of an “accountability to the corporate elite.”