Police tactics draw criticism outside convention hall
From staff and wire reports
LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- The heavy police presence around the Democratic National Convention has kept things under control, but given the event the aura of a siege.
Police have been criticized for their daunting, dominating presence on the streets surrounding the Staples Center, and particularly for their attempts to control demonstrations around the convention hall.
Los Angeles police say their heavy presence is necessary to provide safety and security during the convention. But leaders of some of the protests outside the convention hall claim the police have been antagonistic.
Some among the network of protesters say the Los Angeles Police Department -- the lead agency among several law enforcement organizations here -- is using the event to repair their scandal-tarnished image after a year of bad press.
The department is under investigation over allegations of excessive force and corruption in its Rampart Division, which polices a largely poor, Hispanic section of the city. More than 70 current and former officers are under investigation, and five are scheduled to stand trial on conspiracy charges next month.
"We are really worried that the LAPD has really seen this week somehow as a week of redemption," said Margaret Prescod, of the Direct Action Network, which is helping to coordinate demonstrations on behalf of causes ranging from opposition to free trade to animal rights to abolition of the death penalty.
'I got shot in Los Angeles'
Even those protests sanctioned by the city have been met by legions of heavily armed police in riot gear.
Wednesday, a sound technician working for CNN suffered bruised ribs during a demonstration outside the Staples Center when police struck bystanders with batons. LAPD Cmdr. David Kalish apologized for the incident, but said "this kind of thing sometimes happens" when reporters and technicians work their way into a crowd of demonstrators.
"There's simply just so many media people integrated into the crowds and it is unfortunate we had this situation, and again we apologize," Kalish said.
But Monday night, police moved to shut down an authorized concert by the politically oriented rock band Rage Against the Machine, and moved against the crowd on horseback, using rubber bullets.
Senior LAPD officers called it a "measured" and appropriate response, but those caught up in the action say it was anything but. Some said they were shot in the back, and representatives of some news organizations say police attacked them despite equipment and credentials identifying them as non-participants.
Photographer Al Crespo said he was hit by a rubber bullet fired at by police and close range.
"There's clear time on both sides to recognize who we are, who the police are and who the press is. And you know, we are supposed to have a white flag," Crespo said.
"I was in Kosovo last year, you know, and I didn't get shot there. I got shot in Los Angeles."
Nearly 200 arrested in protests
Police have arrested more than 195 people in three days of protests on charges ranging from misdemeanors such as failing to disperse and reckless driving -- on bicycles. But authorities have brought 59 felony counts, largely conspiracy and resisting arrest.
Tuesday, Kalish said police seized "improvised weapons" from about 45 demonstrators arrested outside a fur shop near downtown's Pershing Square. Police said the protesters planned to use the devices -- slingshots, aerosol cans and lighter fluid that he said could have been used as crude flame-throwers -- against area businesses such as a McDonald's and a fur store.
Wednesday, however, a march on the Rampart Division headquarters went down peacefully. Demonstrators and police consulted with each other and with the U.S. Justice Department's Community Relations Service to plan the event, which resulted in the arrests of 38 demonstrators.
CNN National Correspondent Martin Savidge and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Thursday, August 17, 2000
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