Street protests at the Democratic convention remained peaceful for a second straight day Monday, as an estimated 1,000 to 2,000 demonstrators marched a mile from Pershing Square to near the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles.
LAPD officers on foot and in patrol cars led the chanting protesters while other cops sealed off intersections along the previously approved route along four main arteries through town.
An estimated 4,000 to 5,000 protesters had gathered Sunday to demonstrate against the death penalty and, in particular, the impending execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal, convicted 19 years ago of killing a Philadelphia police officer. Monday’s rallies ran the gamut but mostly were organized to protest Al Gore’s links to Occidental Petroleum Corp. A coalition of activist groups insists that the vice president’s Occidental holdings, valued at between $500,000 to $1 million, contribute to the plight of an indigenous group in Colombia, because Occidental is trying to get the OK to drill on their land. “What he does or doesn’t do about this will tell us a lot about what Al Gore stands for,” said Steve Kretzmann, an official of Amazon Watch, one of the coalition’s member groups. “We’re all looking at the issue of corporate control of politics.”
Gore campaign officials have said in the past that the Democratic presidential hopeful doesn’t have control of the Occidental investments in his late father’s estate. LAPD Capt. Paul Pesqueira said the demonstrations so far had “been very peaceful, very quiet. We met with organizers and went over the parade route. We’re here to accommodate the marchers.”
Before the march, protesters heard from speakers including former California assemblyman and 1960s radical Tom Hayden, and John Sellers, the Ruckus Society’s director. Nearby, a group called Seeds for Peace distributed free fruit and bread. One protester, dressed in a white shirt, conservative tie, and suspenders, said he was available to pose for pictures as a representative of Billionaires for Bush (or Gore). “The rich are getting rich and the poor are getting poorer,” he grumped.
Other rallies are set for later in the week, touching on such themes as economic and racial justice, environmental protection, and sexual liberation.
