GREEN PARTY OF CALIFORNIA NEWS RELEASE
LOS ANGELES, Ca. (May 3, 2007) - The Green Party of California today condemned the "brazen brutality" of the Los Angeles Police Department Tuesday at a peaceful immigration rights march here where dozens of demonstrators - and members of the news media - were clubbed and shot by so-called "non-lethal" projectiles.
At least three investigations - including one by the FBI - are now underway to determine the extent of the unnecessary violence used by police to disperse a peaceful crowd at a park, although the organizers of the May Day march had an approved permit. Police apparently fired at least 240 rounds at demonstrators and reporters, sending many to the hospital.
"The brazen police brutality of the LAPD is yet another example of the erosion of our civil liberties as we slide more and more into a police state, with the poor, immigrants, people of color, the marginalized and disenfranchised the targets of institutionalized violence and repression," said Los Angeles Green spokesperson Linda Piera-Avila.
"The LAPD's mission of "to protect and serve" seems to only apply to those who are part of the corporate interests, while immigrants are being used as target practice. For justice to be served, NAFTA and similar disastrous foreign policy agreements must be ended abroad while here at home immigrants must be recognized and accorded human rights," she added.
Greens in Southern California are mobilizing to provide any assistance needed by those attacked by the LAPD on May Day.
"The LAPD action was outrageous," said Peter Thottam, a Los Angeles attorney and former Green Party candidate for Assembly in the 53rd District, who has offered his help to those involved in the attacks by police.
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Contacts:
Crescenzo Vellucci, State Press Office,
916.996.9170,
Sara Amir (Los Angeles),
310.270.7106,
Dr. Bob Vizzard (Sacramento),
916.206.8953,
Daniel Brezenoff (Southern California),
310.422.2211,
Susan King (San Francisco),
415.823.5524,
The Green Party of California
PO Box 2828
Sacramento, CA 95812
Phone: (916) 448-3437
Web: http://www.cagreens.org
EMail: