Residents Protest Drug Dealing in Wilmington

Hundreds of Wilmington residents marched through two drug-infested neighborhoods Saturday to protest what police describe as one of the fastest-growing narcotics trades in Los Angeles.

The two marches were the first public expression of longstanding community anger with drug dealing. Some organizers had worried that turnout would be poor because of widespread fear of drug dealers among residents.

Nearly 300 marchers wound through the center of the Dana Strand Village housing project on Hawaiian Avenue, carrying anti-drug placards and chanting, “Wilmington, rocks out!” Rock cocaine--a highly concentrated, crystallized from of cocaine--is regularly sold at the project, police said.

In a separate demonstration, about 250 residents marched along O Street in east Wilmington chanting the same slogan in English and Spanish. The housing project and the east O Street area are the most active drug centers in the harbor-front community, police said.

“People need to know that there are people in Wilmington who care,” said Lilliana Gonzalez, 16, a junior at Banning High School who lives on O Street. “We just want the dealers to go away. It is very dangerous. There are shootings and the children can’t even play in their yards.”

Scores of residents in the two neighborhoods applauded the marchers from their front steps, and some spontaneously joined the stream of demonstrators.

But some protesters were also confronted by several men, identified by police as drug dealers, who drove alongside the demonstrators. One man shouted from his car, “Tonight you are dead.”

A 21-year-old man who watched the O Street march from his front yard said drug deals take place day and night outside his home, but he said he was too afraid to join the protest.

“I’d be shot by the dealers,” he said.

The two demonstrations were peaceful, and police reported no injuries or arrests.

Peter Mendoza, president of Wilmington Home Owners, the group that organized the demonstrations, said they were intended to let drug dealers and users know that the community wants them to leave. He said that frustrated, angry residents were also hoping to draw the attention of local politicians, whose help they want in increasing police patrols.

The demonstrations were supported by the Harbor Division of the Los Angeles Police Department.

While the number of crime reports in the harbor area is about average in the city, police say that residents are feeling overwhelmed by its drug problems because the area is experiencing a dramatic increase in the growth of crime.

During the first six months of this year, the Harbor Division--which includes Wilmington, San Pedro and Harbor City--experienced the largest increase in the city in so-called “repressible crimes,” police said. Those crimes--which include burglary, robbery and car thefts--jumped 30% over the same period last year, police said.