The 2007 MacArthur Park rallies were two May Day rallies demanding amnesty for undocumented immigrants which occurred on May 1, 2007, at

MacArthur Park MacArthur Park (originally Westlake Park) is a park dating back to the late 19th century in the Westlake, Los Angeles, Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles. In the early 1940s, it was renamed after General Douglas MacArthur, and later designated ...

, in Los Angeles. When the protest overflowed onto city streets, police drove motorcycles through the crowd, then ordered the crowd to disperse. Some people began throwing plastic bottles and rocks at officers. Members of the

Los Angeles Police Department The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the municipal police department of Los Angeles, California. With 9,974 police officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the third-large ...

then used batons and rubber bullets in a manner later found by the LAPD's own investigation, as well as by the courts, to be excessive. After community mobilization, pressure from the Mayor, and an extensive internal review, LAPD Chief William Bratton apologized, the commanding officer was demoted, seventeen other officers faced penalties, and the LAPD paid more than $13 million in damages.

Incident

Organizers obtained the necessary permits to hold a rally at

on May 1, 2007 until 21:00. At about 17:15 a few protesters began blocking the street, which the rally permit expressly prohibited. The police made numerous requests for the protesters to move from the street and abide by the conditions of the permit. The protesters defied the police requests and began gathering in larger numbers on the street. When the attempts by police to move the crowd failed, police commanders declared the gathering an unlawful assembly. The formal order for the crowd to disperse was given in English, being broadcast from a police helicopter circling the park, from police cars, and from hand-held megaphones. A significant portion of the crowd, many who spoke and understood only Spanish, ignored this order and did not disperse. Police officers formed a line and advanced slowly to clear the area. The officers proceeded about 50 feet at a time, allowing those complying with the dispersal order to retreat. Most protesters left the area at this point, however, some that had stayed began to throw rocks and bottles at the advancing officers. Altogether, the estimated 600 police officers fired 146 foam-rubber projectiles. 27 marchers and 9 members of the media were injured, 5 people were arrested, and at least 50 civilians filed complaints with the LAPD regarding mistreatment by officers. It is unclear, however, that most of the injuries were as a result of direct police contact or as a result of incidental crowd contact (trampling, pushing, falling, etc.). Seven to fifteen police officers were injured. The incident received considerable attention from news media because several reporters were also pushed and injured, notably

Christina Gonzalez Christina Gonzalez is a news reporter for FOX 11 (KTTV) in Los Angeles. She has been with FOX 11 since 1990.KTTV), and

Telemundo Telemundo (; formerly NetSpan) is an American Spanish-language Terrestrial television, terrestrial television network owned by NBCUniversal Television and Streaming#NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, a divi ...

's National Evening Broadcaster,

Pedro Sevcec Pedro Ricardo Sevcec (born July 14, 1954) is a Uruguayan television personality and journalist best known as the former anchor of ''Noticiero Telemundo'' in the United States, from 2000 to 2009. Sevcec previously served as reporter for '' Ocurrio ...

. CBS 2/KCAL 9 (

KCBS-TV KCBS-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside independent outl ...

KCAL-TV KCAL-TV (channel 9) is an independent television station in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is owned by the CBS News and Stations group alongside CBS West Coast flagship KCBS-TV (channel 2). Both stations share studios at the C ...

) reporter

Mark Coogan Mark J. Coogan (born May 1, 1966, Manhasset, New York, United States) is an American coach and retired American track athlete. Running career He attended Bishop Feehan High School in Attleboro, Massachusetts, and the University of Maryland, C ...

and his cameraman Carl Stein were also accosted. Stein was struck on the ribs by LAPD batons. Patricia Nazario, a reporter for KPCC, was beaten in the ribs and back, before being struck over the head with a baton. ABC 7 ( KABC-TV) reporter Sid Garcia was hit by a rubber bullet, but it ricocheted off him. Patti Ballaz, a camerawoman for KTTV who was injured, filed a claim for unspecified damages against the city and the police department.

Response by government officials

At a press conference later in the day,

Police Chief The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and th ...

William J. Bratton William Joseph Bratton CBE (born October 6, 1947) is an American law enforcement officer and businessman who served two terms as the New York City Police Commissioner (1994–1996 and 2014–2016). He previously served as the Commissioner of th ...

indicated that an investigation was underway to "determine if the use of force was appropriate," going on to state that "the vast majority of people who were t MacArthur Parkwere behaving appropriately." Bratton indicated he may ask the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...

to investigate the chain of events. At the time of the events, Los Angeles Mayor

Antonio Villaraigosa Antonio Ramón Villaraigosa (; né Villar Jr.; born January 23, 1953) is an American politician who served as the 41st Mayor of Los Angeles from 2005 to 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, Villaraigosa was a national co-chairman of Hillary ...

was on a trip to

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

. He cut his trip short three days later, in order to personally oversee the investigation of the chain of events, and asked Police Chief Bratton to oversee a "complete and comprehensive review of this incident, including deployment, tactics, and use of force." At a Sunday morning

mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

at Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels on May 6, Villaraigosa said "I come today with a heavy heart ... Nobody, nobody should be victimized in a way we saw women, children and families victimized just a few days ago." Los Angeles city council member Herb Wesson, whose district includes neighborhoods near MacArthur Park, criticized the police response by comparing it to beating of civil rights leaders in the South in the 1960s. He praised Bratton's response, though, saying "I'm proud that the chief said quickly that some inappropriate actions took place." Fabian Núñez,

Speaker of the California Assembly The following is a list of speakers of the California State Assembly. It does not number those individuals who served abbreviated terms or those who served during an special session, extraordinary session called by the Governor of California for ...

whose district includes MacArthur Park where the events took place, condemned the actions of the police by saying "To say we are outraged is an understatement ... We want those responsible in the highest levels of the LAPD to pay consequences." Robert Baker, president of the Police union, responded, calling Wesson's and Núñez's words "police bashing that erroneously insinuates racial bias".

Investigations

Four separate investigations were created to investigate the incident, one of them being a special task force set up by city council president

Eric Garcetti Eric Michael Garcetti (born February 4, 1971) is an American politician who served as the 42nd mayor of Los Angeles from 2013 until 2022. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he was first elected in the 2013 Los An ...

. The task force is composed of five councilmembers, and is co-chaired by Los Angeles city councilmembers

Ed Reyes Eduardo Perez Reyes (born January 11, 1959) is an American politician. He was a member of the Los Angeles City Council, representing the 1st district.

and

Jack Weiss Jack Stephen Weiss (born August 21, 1964) is an American entrepreneur and former politician. He is co-founder of BlueLine Grid, Inc., formerly known as Bratton Technologies, Inc. Weiss is also a former member of the Los Angeles City Council repre ...

. The

also investigated the incidents for civil rights violations. On May 17, the

American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...

br>filed a request
with U.S. District Judge Gary A. Feess to look into whether the incident at MacArthur Park violated a 2001 consent decree which was a result of the

Rampart scandal The Rampart scandal involved widespread police corruption in the Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums (CRASH) anti-gang unit of the Los Angeles Police Department's Rampart Division in the late 1990s. More than 70 police officers either a ...

. If the judge finds the LAPD in violation of the decree, federal oversight of the LAPD could be extended beyond the current deadline of 2009. On May 29, Chief Bratton presented preliminary findings of an internal police investigation to the civilian police commission, and on May 30 he presented the preliminary findings to the

Los Angeles City Council The Los Angeles City Council is the legislative body of the Los Angeles, City of Los Angeles in California. The council is composed of 15 members elected from single-member districts for four-year terms. The President of the Los Angeles City Counc ...

. According to Bratton, the main reasons for the mêlée were "a command and control breakdown," hichbegan at the planning stages and dominoed throughout the event itself". On October 9, five months after the incident, the LAPD released the results of an internal investigation.

Community response

On May 17, approximately 2,000 to 3,000 people marched in protest of the events that took place on May 1. The march started at a church 10 blocks west of MacArthur Park with a "town hall meeting", and ended at MacArthur Park. The march was peaceful, without a single arrest, and the town hall meeting featured speakers such as Mayor

and Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, who later marched with the protesters. Police Chief William Bratton was also present at the march and town hall meeting.

Fallout

On May 7, 2007, Chief

announced a departmental reorganization. Cayler "Lee" Carter, who was a deputy chief and the highest-ranking official at scene, was demoted to commander and assigned home duty. On May 17, Carter announced his resignation from the LAPD, effective June 6. In his May 7 announcement, Bratton also announced that Carter's deputy, Louis Gray, would be reassigned to the operations bureau, and that about 60 officers who were involved in the incident would be taken off the street, pending the outcome of the investigations. On May 9, the Multi-Ethnic Immigrant Workers Organizing Network filed a class-action suit against the Los Angeles Police Department and the city. In November 2008, it was disclosed that the city was in negotiations and was willing to pay as much as $13 million to settle the lawsuits. On May 30, Bratton announced the creation of a new Incident Management & Training Bureau, and assigned Deputy Chief Michael Hillmann to head the newly created bureau. Over a year later, on July 8, 2008, the LAPD announced "that 17 officers and two sergeants from the department's elite Metropolitan Division should be punished for their roles in

he incident He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...

/nowiki>". The recommended punishment was not publicized, and could range from a simple reprimand to termination. Critics decried the announcement, saying that only officers "whose actions were captured on video" were recommended for punishment.

Incident

Response by government officials

Investigations

Community response

Fallout

References

Further reading