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rJanitors urge .,""~
\ • i Title:
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. By Mary Ann Huser
STAFF WRITER
I
! Century. City janitors beaten during a
, clash with police last summer joined a I
I growing chorus of voices Thursday calling
1
for the resignation of Los Angeles police I
I Chief Daryl Gates. .
i Union leaders claimed that more·•than
janitors -· all of them Hispaniq ::.._
: were treated for injuries ranging from a
: skull fracture to a miscarriage during the I
~ melee on Olympic· Boulevard in June.
! Their experience contradicts Gates' :
: claim that the beating of motorist Rod- I
I ney King was an aberration, the janitors [
1 sa~d at a news conference at the Century
1
: City Shopping Center. . ~
I "It's much harder for Gates to refute !
! systemic problems when you look at po- ,
· lice treatment of Latinos and refugees," ~
~ said Jono Shaffer, an organizer for the •
; Service :Employees International Union i
! which represents the janitors. I
firmly believe that the decision to :
break up the demonstration was racist," ·
' Shaffer said. "If the workers were white, ·
: the police would have rolled out the red i
. carpet."
i Shaffer said two of the injured janitors ;
. have not been able to work because of 1
1
their injuries - including Ramon Mejia, :
who was shown in a graphic news photo- ,
• graph as he was clubbed from behind by ,
1
THE OUTLOOK
FRI, APRIL 5, 1991
Front Section, Page 3
JANITORS URGE GATES TO
QUIT
or
Classification:
Submitting Office:
IDS ANGELES
Indexing:
Strikers· were beaten
by police last june
two helmeted officers.
Union members claim police shouted
racial slurs before and during the demoni
stration. When Hector Alvarado told an .
: officer that he had a First Amendment
right to assemble and qemonstrate, he ·
. said the officer told him, "These are your
, f---ing rights, lousy Mexicans." ·
I Assistant police Chief Jesse Brewer
, said a week later that the officers had the i
' right to stop the demonstration because ,
were tying up traffic and ·
· planned to engage in illegal activities.
"They were told they were going to
disrupt Century City. They were pl!lnning
to block the entrances to the bmldings,"
Brewer said. :
On June 15, about 200 janitors and :
their supporters were met by police in 1
· riot gear as they marched from nearby '.
1
' Roxbury Park to the high-rise office enclave.
As they walked up Olympic Boulevard,
they stayed on sidewalks at first,
but as they turned onto Century Park :
East they found their way blocked by a
I
, police line, forcing the marchers into the 1
intersection.
i
A videotape of the demonstration dis- 1
tributed by the union Thursday shows a I
L~~=h~ being hit_~_:~e- b~ck o!_~~s- head_j
SEARCHED·-..,.-- INDEXED
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APR 1 2 1991
FBI - LOS ANGELES II
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