“I’m not going to defend the indefensible,” Bratton told journalists during a meeting at a television studio in Hollywood.

“Things were done that shouldn’t have been done.”

Chief Bratton told reporters that those members will not be “returning to the Metropolitan Division, as a result of [their] findings.” Bratton eventually admitted that there were numerous departmental procedures failures as the horrific event was playing out during a peaceful and lawful rally. Bratton also told reporters that 600 police officers, including 100 from the Metro Division, fired more than 240 rubber bullets and beat dozens of people with their batons, without making an arrest.

It is not surprising to see how television has dramatically changed American society. It used to be that not everybody could afford a television, but now it is not that hard to find a house a where there is a TV in every room. Since it first became available in the late 1940s, the TV has become a common household item and the source for up to the minute news. With Americans watching so much television on a weekly basis, it was easy for the mass media to conjure up an enemy that is designed to sway public opinion. It was all fun and games until they too were part of the receiving end of the rubber bullets being shot by LAPD. It is interesting to watch the media trying to distance themselves from the “demonstrators,” by carefully making sure they are identified separately when they describe who were harmed in the incident – “demonstrators and members of the news media” or “protesters and reporters.” What makes it interesting; they were the same people who were reporting that this years protest was a bust because the turnout for the May Day march was much smaller to their liking. Maybe if they were actually reporting about America’s ugly underbelly that is deep-seated with undertones of class and ethnic conflict instead of covering the typical latest celebrity scandal, they would have known why the numbers were small.

Just as Nezua questioned the silence from the mainstream blogs about the lack of reporting on the demonstrations, we too should questions the intent of the mainstream media.

If “members of the [tag]news media[/tag]” were not harmed, would there be this silence when riot police marched in lines and fired from rifles into crowds that had even mothers and children in strollers in it? Would “members of the news media” follow the issue with the same amount of fire as they are doing day after day? Or would they have reported it one because it makes a good human issue story and go one to the next feel good celebrity story of the day?

Given the history of the police department’s racism, especially after witnessing the nationally broadcasted videotape of LAPD officers brutally beating Rodney King, it is not surprising to see this action again. Let us be clear, this is not the first time LAPD have come out using this type of force against immigrant rights demonstrators. Last year, LAPD were also in full riot gear instigating a wave of unprovoked violence on a progressive pro-immigration crowd.

After nearly two hours of peaceful protest, dozens of LAPD police in full riot gear instigated a wave of unprovoked violence on the progressive crowd. They pushed protestors, struck them with batons and wrestled several people to the ground while beating them brutally. Several ANSWER activists were brutalized and one was arrested because his friend was attempting to take photographs of riot police slamming a bystander against the back of a truck and hitting him with a baton. Top police brass later tried to justify their violence by saying protestors provoked the beatings by “crossing police lines” – an outright lie.

A Spanish-language media reporter from KPFK radio was shoved to the pavement, smacked hard and arrested for attempting to document the repression. The cops were attacking so wildly that even an elderly woman getting of a Metro bus was clubbed for being too close to the protest.

People from the surrounding neighborhood stopped and shouted at the police to stop their rampage against the protest.

The only difference between last year and this year, the mainstream media were not at the receiving end of the police’s brutality.

This morning, Police Chief [tag]William Bratton[/tag] in a press conference stated that he disapproved of the conduct of some of his officers and he vowed there would be a thorough probe into the use of excessive force. Mayor [tag]Antonio Villaraigosa[/tag] who is in El Salvador, has asked the the Police Commission, the civilian panel overseeing the Los Angeles Police Department, to assess the use of force by officers clad in riot gear, and the Radio and Television News Association called “for an immediate and complete investigation of the violent treatment of journalists at the conclusion of Tuesday’s [tag]immigration march[/tag].

“There is evidence that officers knocked reporters to the ground, used batons on photographers and damaged cameras, possibly motivated by anger over journalists photographing efforts by officers to control the movements of marchers,” an RTNA statement said.

Brad Friedman of Brad Blog, noted that the media once again are contradicting each other on this horrific event. According to Friedman, the UPI reported that the “Los Angeles police fired rubber bullets to disperse the crowd.”

A day of peaceful immigration rallies in major U.S. cities Tuesday was marred when Los Angeles police fired rubber bullets to disperse the crowd.

Witnesses said police wearing riot gear and wielding batons gave no warning before firing at rally participants gathered at MacArthur Park, CNN reported. Police said a protester knocked down a motorcycle officer, the news channel said.

There were no reports of serious injuries and no arrests were made.

However, LA Times has a different take on the event, which contradicts what was reported UPI:

Several people, including 15 police officers, were hurt. About 10 people were taken by ambulance to hospitals for treatment, said d’Lisa Davies, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles city Fire Department.
…
Late Tuesday, a staff member from [tag]Telemundo[/tag]’s newsroom confirmed that one reporter and three camera operators from the Spanish-language TV station had been injured and had been taken to a hospital by police.

Another TV station, Fox 11, showed video on its 10 p.m. newscast of a station camerawoman apparently being struck by a baton-wielding police officer in riot gear.

Here are three videos of the nightmare that the peaceful marchers had to endure on May 1 at MacArthur Park at the hand of the brutal LA police force (h/t to The Notorious VC at Chicano Forums, there are more videos there). This is not different from callus shooting of Ramiro Gamez Acosta, by the border by the Border Patrol.

Warning; Viewer Discretion Advised. Graphic images may be disturbing to some viewers.
Telemundo TV Crew caught in MacArthur Park clash

Footage from a local Fox TV Crew

The longer version of Fox’s raw footage of the event

Will post more if I happen to find new information.