AP: Minuteman march turns violent

The Minuteman Project held a march in Hollywood yesterday, and the counter-protesters clashed with the police and several of them were arrested. Of course, from the AP report on the incident, you might be left wondering what really went on:

An officer was injured and several people were arrested during an anti-illegal immigration march involving the Minuteman Project and other groups Saturday evening in Hollywood, police said.

One female officer suffered a minor injury, apparently to her ankle, after clashing with protesters, said Officer Sandra Escalante, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Police Department.

KCAL-TV footage showed counter-protesters along the sidewalks shouting as anti-immigration demonstrators, including members of the Minuteman civilian border patrol group, marched along Hollywood Boulevard.

Escalante said several people were arrested, though it wasn't immediately clear if they were part of the anti-immigration march or the counter-protest.

...Messages left with the Minutemen were not immediately returned.

Many people only glance at headlines or don't pay full attention to news reports, so based on what appears to have happened, this AP report is highly misleading. Only some of that can be attributed to the fact that they apparently didn't have a reporter on scene. And, of course, the in the past the AP, Reuters, and other news groups have attempted to smear the MMP by any means necessary.

To get a better idea of what went on, see the videos here, here, here, or here (From this site). There's an SOS thread here and several pictures here. From the other side comes this.

Note that in the videos you can see the expected signs: ANSWER, one with "The Worker's Struggle Has No Borders" together with a picture of Che Guevara, another from the International Action Center, etc. And, there's that post at ANSWERLA's site promoting the counter-protest. Why doesn't the AP look into that side of things? Why doesn't it mention that the counter-protesters are just a tad on the left side of the spectrum?

In the videos, the LAPD appears to have been a bit more aggressive than I saw them during the "peace" protests in 2003 and 2004. Some of that may have been over the line. However, given the violent incidents that ANSWER and other groups have initiated (Garden Grove, Baldwin Park), perhaps they were just being cautious.

7/11 UPDATE: A press conference is being held to denounce "LAPD brutality":

Join the National Lawyers Guild, ANSWER Coalition, Latino Movement USA and other progressive organizations for a press conference to denounce last weekend's attack by the Los Angeles Police Department on the immigrant rights movement. Speakers will include Jim Lafferty and Carol Sobel, National Lawyers Guild; Juan Jose Gutierrez, Director, Latino Movement USA; Ian Thompson, Attorney, ANSWER Coalition; victims of police violence at the protest and other guests.

Immigration · Sun, 07/09/2006 - 08:41 · Importance: 1