Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa today held a press conference and released a letter to the Occupy L.A. protesters, announcing his plans to evict them from their City Hall Park encampment at 12:01 a.m. this Monday, November 28. According to Villaraigosa:
The encampment in City Hall Park is not sustainable. This is especially true from the standpoint of public health and public safety. Accordingly, we must close, repair and re-open the park to public access. For this reason, we will close the park on Monday, November 28th at 12:01 am. The park closure will include a set of measures that will assist Occupy LA participants to move their personal belongings and property from the park. We will also offer social and health services for those in need.
Villaraigosa Walks a Fine Line
Mayor Villaraigosa appears to have made efforts heretofore to treat the Occupy L.A. protesters with restraint. According to Villaraigosa’s letter, “I am very proud of the fact that since the start of the occupation of City Hall Park, we have done things differently in Los Angeles.” The Mayor’s letter even compliments the Occupy L.A. protesters both for focusing public discussion on “issues of social justice and economic equality”, and for their “courage and character”.
There is no doubt that Mayor Villaraigosa is cognizant of the various incidents of police brutality towards the Occupy protesters in other cities, such as the recent pepper-spraying of peaceful student protesters at the University of California, Davis. A number of such incidents, often captured on video and spread virally on the Internet, have left a stain upon the officials and police officers in involved, with investigations ongoing and the possibility of lawsuits or even criminal penalties looming for alleged civil rights and other violations.
Accordingly, it has been reported that officials from Villaraigosa’s office have been in negotiations with Occupy L.A. representatives, and have offered the Occupy protesters a lease on 10,000 feet of nearby office space for $1 per year, as well as the use of farm land, if they would leave City Hall Park voluntarily. However, it remains to be scene whether the Occupy L.A. protesters will comply willingly with Mayor Villaraigosa’s latest order, or whether television and computer screens on Monday will be filled with images of the LAPD forcibly evicting the protesters, with accompanying physical clashes almost guaranteed.
© 2011 Matthew Emmer -- All Rights Reserved
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