Agitators get what they aimed for
In a deliberately provoked riot situation, police cannot be expected to behave as judiciously as if they were in a court of law. So Leftists use that in an attempt to get the police to go easy on future street takeovers by thugs
A senior policeman in Los Angeles has been demoted and his deputy and about 60 other officers have been reassigned after an inquiry into May Day clashes. Last week protesters and journalists were injured when police fired some 140 rubber bullets to break up the crowd. The rally had been peaceful until the clashes, which the police department said were prompted by agitators throwing rocks and bottles at officers. But TV footage showed a police officer pushing people who were walking away.
Widespread outrage over the pictures of the incident prompted the city’s mayor to cut short an overseas visit and return to the city. News footage showed a police officer pushing a TV camerawoman to the ground and shoving people who were walking away from the officers. Officials have denied the police deliberately targeted immigrants or civil rights activists.
But police chief William Bratton has acknowledged that an order for protesters to disperse may not have been understood because it was issued in English when most of those attending the rally spoke only Spanish.
Nonetheless, the highest-ranking officer at the scene of the rally has been demoted and placed on house leave pending the outcome of an internal inquiry. His second-in-charge, a veteran of almost 40 years on the force, has been demoted and about 60 highly-trained riot control officers who were involved in the clashes have been reassigned.
Celeste Allen said,
May 11, 2007 @ 9:12 am
I don’t imagine it will do any good but is there any place people can write to protest the treatment of these police officers? It is ridiculous that a pack of illegal immigrant thugs can derail the career of dedicated law enforcement officers who are doing a thankless job for an even more thankless (if that’s even possible) group of citizens. Perhaps a case of the “blue flu” during the next ‘peaceful’ protest might show that city’s politicians that those “gentle” citizens who only ‘want to work’ but have time to march in the streets are not so benign after all. Particularly when that city has to pay for all their trash to be cleaned up, the broken glass from the looting to be swept up from the streets and reimburse small business owners for all the damages those “peaceful” protesters will leave in their wake if uncontrolled by police officers who now must be afraid of being disciplined for just doing their jobs…protecting the LEGAL citizenry from molestation. I’d like to hear what the politicians tell their constituents when there is no police presence at these ‘peaceful’ protests. One or two of those unsupervised protests might just raise their appreciation for the difficult job police officers do just doing their job from day to day without having to walk some tightrope of political correctness as well.