Civil Rights
Nov. 28, 2000
Legal Protests
Access to justice through independent tribunals has been a hallmark of the American system. It ensures that governmental officials, sworn to uphold the Constitution, are held accountable for violations when they don't. No right is more important than the right of citizens to hale lawless officials into court for constitutional rights violations.
Stephen F. Rohde
Email: rohdevictr@aol.com
Stephen is a retired civil liberties lawyer and contributor to the Los Angeles Review of Books, is author of American Words for Freedom and Freedom of Assembly.
By Stephen Rohde
Access to justice through independent tribunals has been a hallmark of the American system. It ensures that governmental officials, sworn to uphold the Constitution, are held accountable for violations when they don't. No right is more important than the right of citizens to hale lawless officials into court for constitutional rights violations.
While the illegal behavior of the Los Angeles Police Department in the notorious Rampart scandal has gripped everyone's attention, the far more ominous and institutionalized pattern of lawlessness in the LAPD's repression of political dissent has gone largely unnoticed.
On the eve of the Democratic National Convention, the American Civil Liberties Union sued the LAPD to ensure that protesters could exercise their constitutional rights to publicly express their views in a meaningful manner close to the Staples Center where delegates, officials and the world press could see and hear them. Only access to the U.S. District Court assured protesters that the LAPD's plan to segregate them at a distant location would not muffle their voices.
Having learned little about the protesters' rights, the LAPD began a campaign of surveillance and intimidation at places where protesters were organizing demonstrations and creating banners. Again, the ACLU had to get an injunction preventing the LAPD from interfering with the protesters' constitutional rights.
Then on Aug. 14, the first night of the convention, no doubt frustrated by the two court orders limiting their power to hinder demonstrators, the LAPD launched an assault on about 8,000 protesters, observers and journalists gathered for a rally and lawfully organized rock concert.
The pretext for the LAPD's overreaction was apparently a few people who threw debris and sat on top of a fence. But instead of citing them, the LAPD seized on this incident as an excuse to go after everyone else.
At about 8 p.m., an hour before the rally's conclusion, the LAPD pulled the plug on the event, even though rally organizers had assured LAPD officials that they would ask people to leave the area. Without allowing the organizers to do so, the LAPD shut off the electricity while the music was playing and declared the event an "unlawful assembly."
LAPD mounted officers in riot gear chased demonstrators, media and legal observers in one direction. Then, without warning, other officers chased the frightened people in the other direction, swinging batons and galloping after spectators. Still other officers fired on those who were trying to leave. Many innocent spectators, including legal observers and three members of the ACLU's team, were struck with projectiles fired from LAPD guns.
Part of the LAPD's duty to "serve and protect" is the responsibility to protect the constitutional right of demonstrators to demonstrate. The thousands of people at the Aug. 14 rally did not lose their rights merely because a few individuals may have broken the law. The only thing "unlawful" about the assembly was the conduct of the police, not the demonstrators.
Yet, highly trained members of the LAPD ignored their duty and turned an otherwise peaceful demonstration into a violent melee. Worse yet, fearing that photographers and TV crews were recording their rampage, the LAPD turned on the journalists themselves.
Al Crespo, a free-lance photojournalist, was standing one block from the demonstration area. He wore two cameras and several bright media passes. Crespo took several photographs of the LAPD firing on protesters. Though he was more than 20 feet away from the nearest protester, Crespo was shot with rubber bullets. He was taken by ambulance to a hospital to receive treatment for his wounds.
Award-winning journalist David Horowitz arrived after police had ordered protesters to disperse. He began to videotape the LAPD's attacks from a distance he thought safe, around 100 feet away from protesters. Though his press credentials were visible, an officer ordered him to move. As Horowitz turned around, an officer hit him three times with a baton, knocking him to the ground. Officers kicked his video camera and briefcase, which contained another camera. Three hours later when Horowitz returned, the camera was there, but the film was gone.
Greg Rothschild, an audio engineer and Kevin Graf, a cameraman, were working for ABC News that night. They walked backward away from the protest zone, filming as they left. At 75 feet to 100 feet away, officers opened fired on the news crew. Rothschild was hit six times, Graf at least 10.
Jeffrey Kleinman is a free-lance cameraman who was working for NBC News. He and his crew filmed demonstrators dispersing from the protest. Kleinman was filming while standing on a ladder. An officer approached in riot gear, told the crew to move, kicked the ladder and clubbed Kleinman with a baton, causing him to fall. As Kleinman continued to film, another police officer opened fire on him, striking him with rubber bullets. Kleinman was hit three more times in the back and shoulder as he tried to escape.
The ACLU filed a lawsuit on behalf of these journalists alleging violations of their constitutional rights under the U.S. and California constitutions. This third lawsuit makes "three strikes" against the LAPD.
On Nov. 7, U.S. District Judge George King denied the LAPD's motion to dismiss the plaintiffs' request for injunctive relief. The court found that the plaintiffs' allegations of an official LAPD policy to hinder media coverage of demonstrations showed that the plaintiffs' "face a real threat of future injury when they cover another protest in Los Angeles."
This isn't the first time the LAPD has been taken to task in court. From the LAPD's misconduct in the wake of the Rodney King verdict to its attacks on demonstrators after former Gov. Pete Wilson vetoed a gay-rights bill, the LAPD has been successfully sued at least five times, costing taxpayers more than $2 million.
Has the LAPD learned its lesson? Hardly. On Sunday, Oct. 22, the LAPD again trampled (literally) on the free-speech rights of peaceful protesters, legal observers and journalists at a demonstration of more than 2,500 people held under a lawful permit at LAPD headquarters in downtown Los Angeles.
As before, the LAPD attacked indiscriminately. The police, who did not declare an unlawful assembly, intervened without warning, on horseback and in riot gear, dispersing the crowd with batons and rubber bullets. Two legal observers, who were wearing brightly colored, clearly marked hats, were on a public sidewalk when they were rammed by two officers on motorcycles.
The LAPD will continue to flaunt the Constitution until they are restrained and sanctioned by the federal courts. But so long as the judicial system remains open to legal challenges against what Upton Sinclair called "lawbreakers in office," so long as men and women courageously resist police brutality and so long as journalists expose such lawlessness, no police force can quell free and open dissent.
Stephen Rohde, a constitutional lawyer, writer and lecturer, is president of the ACLU of Southern California.
Access to justice through independent tribunals has been a hallmark of the American system. It ensures that governmental officials, sworn to uphold the Constitution, are held accountable for violations when they don't. No right is more important than the right of citizens to hale lawless officials into court for constitutional rights violations.
While the illegal behavior of the Los Angeles Police Department in the notorious Rampart scandal has gripped everyone's attention, the far more ominous and institutionalized pattern of lawlessness in the LAPD's repression of political dissent has gone largely unnoticed.
On the eve of the Democratic National Convention, the American Civil Liberties Union sued the LAPD to ensure that protesters could exercise their constitutional rights to publicly express their views in a meaningful manner close to the Staples Center where delegates, officials and the world press could see and hear them. Only access to the U.S. District Court assured protesters that the LAPD's plan to segregate them at a distant location would not muffle their voices.
Having learned little about the protesters' rights, the LAPD began a campaign of surveillance and intimidation at places where protesters were organizing demonstrations and creating banners. Again, the ACLU had to get an injunction preventing the LAPD from interfering with the protesters' constitutional rights.
Then on Aug. 14, the first night of the convention, no doubt frustrated by the two court orders limiting their power to hinder demonstrators, the LAPD launched an assault on about 8,000 protesters, observers and journalists gathered for a rally and lawfully organized rock concert.
The pretext for the LAPD's overreaction was apparently a few people who threw debris and sat on top of a fence. But instead of citing them, the LAPD seized on this incident as an excuse to go after everyone else.
At about 8 p.m., an hour before the rally's conclusion, the LAPD pulled the plug on the event, even though rally organizers had assured LAPD officials that they would ask people to leave the area. Without allowing the organizers to do so, the LAPD shut off the electricity while the music was playing and declared the event an "unlawful assembly."
LAPD mounted officers in riot gear chased demonstrators, media and legal observers in one direction. Then, without warning, other officers chased the frightened people in the other direction, swinging batons and galloping after spectators. Still other officers fired on those who were trying to leave. Many innocent spectators, including legal observers and three members of the ACLU's team, were struck with projectiles fired from LAPD guns.
Part of the LAPD's duty to "serve and protect" is the responsibility to protect the constitutional right of demonstrators to demonstrate. The thousands of people at the Aug. 14 rally did not lose their rights merely because a few individuals may have broken the law. The only thing "unlawful" about the assembly was the conduct of the police, not the demonstrators.
Yet, highly trained members of the LAPD ignored their duty and turned an otherwise peaceful demonstration into a violent melee. Worse yet, fearing that photographers and TV crews were recording their rampage, the LAPD turned on the journalists themselves.
Al Crespo, a free-lance photojournalist, was standing one block from the demonstration area. He wore two cameras and several bright media passes. Crespo took several photographs of the LAPD firing on protesters. Though he was more than 20 feet away from the nearest protester, Crespo was shot with rubber bullets. He was taken by ambulance to a hospital to receive treatment for his wounds.
Award-winning journalist David Horowitz arrived after police had ordered protesters to disperse. He began to videotape the LAPD's attacks from a distance he thought safe, around 100 feet away from protesters. Though his press credentials were visible, an officer ordered him to move. As Horowitz turned around, an officer hit him three times with a baton, knocking him to the ground. Officers kicked his video camera and briefcase, which contained another camera. Three hours later when Horowitz returned, the camera was there, but the film was gone.
Greg Rothschild, an audio engineer and Kevin Graf, a cameraman, were working for ABC News that night. They walked backward away from the protest zone, filming as they left. At 75 feet to 100 feet away, officers opened fired on the news crew. Rothschild was hit six times, Graf at least 10.
Jeffrey Kleinman is a free-lance cameraman who was working for NBC News. He and his crew filmed demonstrators dispersing from the protest. Kleinman was filming while standing on a ladder. An officer approached in riot gear, told the crew to move, kicked the ladder and clubbed Kleinman with a baton, causing him to fall. As Kleinman continued to film, another police officer opened fire on him, striking him with rubber bullets. Kleinman was hit three more times in the back and shoulder as he tried to escape.
The ACLU filed a lawsuit on behalf of these journalists alleging violations of their constitutional rights under the U.S. and California constitutions. This third lawsuit makes "three strikes" against the LAPD.
On Nov. 7, U.S. District Judge George King denied the LAPD's motion to dismiss the plaintiffs' request for injunctive relief. The court found that the plaintiffs' allegations of an official LAPD policy to hinder media coverage of demonstrations showed that the plaintiffs' "face a real threat of future injury when they cover another protest in Los Angeles."
This isn't the first time the LAPD has been taken to task in court. From the LAPD's misconduct in the wake of the Rodney King verdict to its attacks on demonstrators after former Gov. Pete Wilson vetoed a gay-rights bill, the LAPD has been successfully sued at least five times, costing taxpayers more than $2 million.
Has the LAPD learned its lesson? Hardly. On Sunday, Oct. 22, the LAPD again trampled (literally) on the free-speech rights of peaceful protesters, legal observers and journalists at a demonstration of more than 2,500 people held under a lawful permit at LAPD headquarters in downtown Los Angeles.
As before, the LAPD attacked indiscriminately. The police, who did not declare an unlawful assembly, intervened without warning, on horseback and in riot gear, dispersing the crowd with batons and rubber bullets. Two legal observers, who were wearing brightly colored, clearly marked hats, were on a public sidewalk when they were rammed by two officers on motorcycles.
The LAPD will continue to flaunt the Constitution until they are restrained and sanctioned by the federal courts. But so long as the judicial system remains open to legal challenges against what Upton Sinclair called "lawbreakers in office," so long as men and women courageously resist police brutality and so long as journalists expose such lawlessness, no police force can quell free and open dissent.
Stephen Rohde, a constitutional lawyer, writer and lecturer, is president of the ACLU of Southern California.
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