LA vows to stop verdict vandalism
Zimmerman protests lead to 14 arrests
LOS ANGELES — Disturbances spiraling out of Los Angeles street protests against the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the killing of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin will not be allowed to continue, city leaders vowed Tuesday after a spate of vandalism and assaults led to 14 arrests.
“We cannot allow a small group of individuals to not only damage the community, strike fear in the community but also distort the message of so many in this community, including on this Police Commission,” Chief Charlie Beck told the Police Department’s civilian overseers.
Demonstrations began in California on Saturday evening when word of the Florida verdict arrived. Trouble has repeatedly occurred in Oakland and in Los Angeles, particularly in the Crenshaw district southwest of downtown.
On Monday night, about 150 people split off from a demonstration at a Crenshaw-area park and ran through streets, jumping on cars, trying to break store windows and committing assaults. Intruders vandalized a Wal-Mart store.
In Oakland, meanwhile, demonstrators split off from a gathering at City Hall on Monday evening, briefly blocked Interstate 880, tried to march onto Interstate 580, threw fireworks and assaulted a restaurant waiter with a hammer, the
Oakland Tribune reported. Police used flash-bang grenades and arrested nine people for crimes that included assault with a deadly weapon and vandalism, police spokesman Johnna Watson said. Witnesses told the Tribune that a police projectile injured a protester.
More than 300 police officers responded to the Los Angeles demonstration. They initially were slow to directly engage protesters in the hope of a peaceful end to the demonstration, Beck said.
“What we’ve been doing the last couple days is being as accommodating as we can be to people,” said Commander Andrew Smith, a police spokesman. “We’re really allowing people to express themselves, which we continue to do.”
But the department is being forced to change its enforcement tactics, Beck said, including requiring a city permit for any gathering.
At a late-night press conference Monday, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said that the trouble was caused by people exploiting the situation.
“The trial that we saw in Florida has ignited passions, but we have to make sure that it will not ignite the city,” Garcetti said.
“The Martin family didn’t ask anybody to break car windows,” he said. “They didn’t ask anybody to take little kids’ scooters. They didn’t ask anybody to attack businesses, and they certainly didn’t say to take over traffic in the streets.”
In Houston, dozens of protesters forced a City Council meeting to recess Tuesday when they stormed the chamber shouting, “No justice, no peace.” Police detained two protesters after they cleared them out of council chambers.
The Rev. Al Sharpton announced Tuesday that he will lead a national “Justice for Trayvon” day in 100 cities this weekend to press for federal civil-rights charges against Zimmerman.
The Justice Department is investigating whether Zimmerman violated Martin’s civil rights when he shot the 17-year-old during a February 2012 confrontation in Sanford, Fla. Zimmerman said he fired his gun in self-defense.
The rallies and vigils will occur in front of federal court buildings at noon Saturday in cities including Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia and New York.
The vigils will be followed by a conference next week in Miami to develop a plan to address Florida’s “stand your ground” law, Sharpton said. The law gives people wide latitude to use deadly force if they fear death or bodily harm. Florida’s law played a role in the prosecution of Zimmerman.
Attorney General Eric Holder on Tuesday strongly criticized such laws in an address to an NAACP convention, saying the country must take a hard look at laws that contribute to “more violence than they prevent.”
“Separate and apart from the case that has drawn the nation’s attention, it’s time to question laws that senselessly expand the concept of self-defense and sow dangerous conflict in our neighborhoods,” he said.
Martin’s mother and father, Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, also are pushing for limits on stand-your-ground laws.
Fulton posted a message Tuesday on Twitter, saying, “God is healing my heart,” and adding that watching so many people come together after the verdict reminds her there’s still a lot of work to do.
Meanwhile, a juror in the trial has decided against writing a book on the case after a social-media backlash, she said in a statement.
Sharlene Martin, the woman known publicly by her jury-selection number B-37, said serving in sequestration as a juror “shielded me from the depth of pain that exists among the general public over every aspect of this case.”