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Black Lives Matter Continues Protest at L.A. City Hall, Seeks Police Chief's Ouster
Black Lives Matter Continues Protest at L.A. City Hall, Seeks Police Chief's Ouster
The protesters object to a police commission ruling that an officer did not violate department policy in the fatal shooting of a woman last year.
One month and 29 days. That's how long Occupy Wall Street occupied New York City's Zucotti Park in 2011.
Black Lives Matter Los Angeles has occupied the grounds of Los Angeles's City Hall for 29 days now. Members made their way inside City Hall Monday to deliver petitions with more than 8,000 signatures they had collected to ask Mayor Eric Garcetti to fire L.A. police chief Charlie Beck.
Los Angeles Black Lives Matter activists are seeking Beck's ouster because they believe a ruling from the city's Police Commission was unjust. The commission ruled July 12 that an L.A. police officer who shot and killed a woman last year in South Los Angeles "did not violate the department's policy for using deadly force," reports theLos Angeles Times.
Garcetti is out of town this week because of the Olympics, but activists delivered the petitions to a deputy mayor in the meantime, reports the Times.
Black Lives Matter Los Angeles has been occupying the City Hall grounds since the day of the ruling. In an interview with L.A. radio station KABC, Garcetti showed support for Beck. The myor told the station that he has invited the group to meet with him inside City Hall, but he is not open to meeting outside.
"I've kept that door open to them, even if, in the past, they've been very confrontational with their tactics," Garcetti told the station. "I get that. But I'm interested in the kind of the work that we do, not just yelling at one another, and I want to make sure we have civil contacts, like we had in the White House, to get that work done."
He stood by Beck, saying, "I believe in Charlie Beck's leadership. I think it was something reflected when the White House called a few police chiefs from around the country. He was one of the ones they reached out to. ... He's not perfect, I'm not perfect, the city's not perfect, but he's somebody I strongly support as someone who has continued to push forward with constitutional policing as a foundation for how we win trust."
