Protesters Stirring Trouble? Egotistical Los Angeles Politicians Grapple for Appropriate Descriptions Amidst Chaos of Demonstrations
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L.A.'s Little Tokyo neighborhood saw chaos on Monday, with broken windows and graffiti everywhere. State Assemblymember Mark Gonzalez (D-Los Angeles) wasn't having it. Gonzalez, who recently took office, already spoke out against downtown district immigration raids. But this time, he called out the "anti-ICE rioters," labeling them self-centered and urging them to keep their distance from downtown protests.
"Causing chaos, damaging neighborhoods, and live-streaming for likes does no good," Gonzalez said in a lengthy statement. "Our elders, small businesses, and public spaces deserve better."
Gonzalez didn't stop there. He rebuked demonstrators for defacing historic landmarks and aiming fireworks at cops, telling them that "terrorizing residents isn't protesting."
"If you're out here chasing clout while neighbors are scared and storefronts are boarded up – you're not helping, you're hurting," Gonzalez, a former Los Angeles County Democratic Party chair, remarked.*
As city officials reacted to the week's violence, theft, and vandalism during anti-ICE protests, they used different terms to describe the perpetrators and their actions.
Los Angeles City Councilmember Ysabel Jurado, whose district includes much of downtown, called them "agitators" and "opportunists."
"Look, for the most part, this has been a peaceful protest," she said in an interview. "But there are definitely some other folks that join that are not here to support immigrants and peacefulness, but are taking this as an opportunity to do something else. And I definitely condemn that."
Jurado has spent the past few days trying to secure small business loans for affected downtown businesses, particularly those that were vandalized or had their merchandise stolen. She is also pushing for city leaders to find an additional $1 million to fund the legal defense of immigrants who have been detained or face deportation.*
The events of the past week have left Jurado in a tricky position. Her economic development staffer, Luz Aguilar, was arrested last weekend on suspicion of assaulting a police officer at an anti-ICE protest.*
Normally, an aide like Aguilar might have been asked to help some of the businesses whose windows were smashed or had merchandise stolen. Instead, Jurado found herself answering questions about Aguilar while appearing with Mayor Karen Bass at the city's Emergency Operations Center.*
The LAPD has refused to provide specifics on the allegations against Aguilar, whose father is Chief Deputy Controller Rick Cole. The union representing rank-and-file officers, the Los Angeles Police Protective League, said in an email to its members that Aguilar has been accused of throwing a frozen water bottle at officers.* Neither Cole nor Jurado's staff confirmed or denied this allegation. Jurado, in an interview, also declined to say whether she saw her staffer as one of the agitators.
"She is on unpaid leave, and we'll see what happens," she said.*
The search for the right words hasn't been limited to downtown politicians.
Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson offered a passionate soliloquy, stating that police in recent days have encountered looters leaving stores with merchandise in hand, who use ongoing protests as cover.*
"Someone at midnight running around looting, even though there was a protest earlier, that person's not a protester," Harris-Dawson told his colleagues Tuesday. "That person's a looter. That person's a criminal."
The same terms apply after Dodgers victories, Harris-Dawson said, when someone in a street celebration decides to set things on fire. "We don't say Dodger fans burned a building. We say criminals burned a building," he said.
Mayor Bass declared a local state of emergency in the wake of the downtown chaos, citing the violence against police, the vandalism, and the "looting of businesses." The declaration, issued Tuesday, simply referred to the perpetrators as criminals. The mayor sounded genuinely frustrated, telling The Times on Thursday that she was "horrified" by the graffiti covering the Japanese American National Museum, which highlights the struggles of immigrants, and other buildings in Little Tokyo.
Gonzalez claimed he produced his anti-rioter statement after hearing from senior citizens in Little Tokyo who were too afraid to leave their homes and venture into the chaos on the street. "They were literally throwing fireworks at cops' faces at San Pedro and 3rd," he said.
Other downtown residents seemed unfazed, telling The Times that the disruptions were "kind of the usual." In recent years, major sports victories have been just as likely to end with illegal fireworks, graffiti, and burned or vandalized vehicles downtown – even when the games weren't played there.*
Jurado said she is searching for "creative solutions" to prevent such crimes in the future, such as promoting the fact that downtown businesses are in "full support of the protests."*
"There were Little Tokyo businesses that weren't graffiti'd on because they had a sign on the window that was pro-actively 'Know your Rights,' or against ICE," she said. "So they didn't get graffiti'd on. At least that's from my anecdotal evidence."*
"So I think if we put that at the forefront, we can help educate our community members to keep our neighborhoods safe and beautiful," she said.*
- Mark Gonzalez, the California state Assemblymember, criticized anti-ICE rioters for causing chaos, damaging neighborhoods, and live-streaming for likes, stating that their actions are self-centered and harm neighborhood elders, small businesses, and public spaces.
- Los Angeles City Councilmember Ysabel Jurado described the perpetrators of the week's violence, theft, and vandalism during anti-ICE protests as "agitators" and "opportunists," asserting that most of the protests have been peaceful but some join to cause trouble.
- As part of her efforts to help affected businesses, Jurado is pushing city leaders to find an additional $1 million to fund the legal defense of immigrants who have been detained or face deportation.
- The events of the past week have put Jurado in a difficult position as her economic development staffer, Luz Aguilar, was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police officer at an anti-ICE protest.
- Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson differentiated between protesters and criminals, asserting that those who loot or commit violence during protests should be called criminals, not protesters.
- In the wake of the downtown chaos, Mayor Karen Bass declared a local state of emergency, citing the violence against police, vandalism, and looting of businesses, and referred to the perpetrators as criminals.
- Gonzalez shared that he produced his anti-rioter statement after hearing from senior citizens in Little Tokyo who were too afraid to leave their homes due to rioters throwing fireworks at police officers.
- Jurado suggested promoting the fact that downtown businesses support the protests to prevent such crimes in the future, as she observed that certain businesses in Little Tokyo were not vandalized because they had pro-immigrant signs in their windows.
