Outrage: Police Fire Rubber Bullets On "Protestors" Throwing Peaceful Rocks and Law-Abiding Bottles

"Known for their peaceful rallies." Except for the occasional assaults on police.

I've added some context to the piece.

Police Chief William J. Bratton said Wednesday that some of the police tactics used to clear immigration protesters from a park were inappropriate, as news videos showed officers striking people with batons and firing rubber bullets into crowds that included children [and also included young men throwing rocks and bottles at police].

...

The Police Commission, a five-member board appointed by the mayor, has opened its own investigation, said panel spokeswoman Tami Catania. Officers who violated department policy could receive discipline ranging from written warnings to firing [due to the fact that they advanced upon thugs throwing rocks and bottles at them].

Andre Birotte, the department's inspector general, said his office was trying to determine what exactly officers said to disperse the crowd and whether the order was in Spanish - the native language of most protesters. [It is also unknown if the rocks and bottles thrown at police were in English, the native language of most of the assaulted officers.]

Rally organizers denounced police actions as brutal and unnecessary, and worried what the clash could mean for an immigration rights movement known for its peaceful rallies [and/or its rallies featuring rock and bottle assaults on policemen].

The clash at MacArthur Park started after 6 p.m. when police tried to disperse demonstrators who had moved off the sidewalk onto the street. Authorities said several of the few thousand people still at the rally threw rocks and bottles at officers, who fired rubber bullets and used batons to push the crowd back onto the sidewalk.

That's the first actual mention of the rock and bottle throwing in the article. You'd think, maybe, it would have been mentioned earlier.

"They were pushing children, elderly, mothers with their babies and beating up on the media, [and also pushing young healthy men who were throwing bottles and rocks at police]," said Angela Sambrano, director of the Central American Resource Center. "The aggressiveness against the immigrant community is unbelievable [but the rock and bottle assaults on police is quite forgivable -- it's part of our culture, like pinatas and flamenco guitar]."

Several people, including about a dozen officers, were hurt. About 10 people were taken to hospitals for treatment of injuries including cuts, authorities said. None of the injuries was believed to be serious. At least one person was arrested, but police have not released a name.

Maria Elena Durazo, the executive secretary-treasurer at the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, said the trouble was instigated by "a group of anarchists, not associated with the rally."

And she knows that, how...?

...

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who was traveling in El Salvador during a trade mission, said the clash was "a most unfortunate end to a peaceful day [of throwing rocks and bottles at police officers]."

Jeeze, they acted as if American citizens still have the right to defend themselves against foreign thugs in their own country or something.

posted by Ace at 09:24 PM

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