15 Arrested in May Day Disturbance

A May Day rally in MacArthur Park just west of downtown Los Angeles ended in violence and at least 15 arrests Tuesday when members of the Revolutionary Communist Party and Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade clashed with about 40 riot-clad officers, police said.

One marcher threw a bottle at an officer and fled to a restaurant where he was arrested, officers said. Another demonstrator allegedly hurled rocks and a five-gallon tar can at officers from a second-story perch and cried, “Shoot me! Shoot me!”

Two firefighters climbed a ladder to reach the man, sitting on a signpost mount at an Immigration and Naturalization Service detention center at 1115 Alvarado St., and herded him into the arms of several police officers on the roof.

Marchers chained the doors of the center, piled tires in front of the building and planned “to set them on fire,” said Sgt. Jim Mateer.

“That’s when we moved in,” he said.

In all, police said, they booked one demonstrator on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon, held two for spray-painting the initials “RCP” on walls, arrested two others on charges of interfering with a police officer and booked 10 for various other offenses.

The trouble started about an hour after approximately 100 people rallied in MacArthur Park at midafternoon, waving red flags, blowing whistles and yelling to protest resident-only barricades set up a year ago in the Pico-Union area to combat drug trafficking.

“The people who live in this area are mostly immigrants, and they are under a lockdown,” said Lucas Martinez, a spokesman for the May Day Committee 1990, which helped organize Tuesday’s rally.

Residents should not be held “hostage” because of what drug dealers do, he said.

Watched by police, marchers set off at 4 p.m., heading south on Alvarado from 7th Street. They shouted at officers making an arrest, and four demonstrators were taken into custody, two on charges of trying to take a prisoner away from police.

Police ordered the marchers to disperse, but they gathered again at the INS center. More officers arrived, and a police helicopter flew overhead. When the demonstrators refused to disperse a second time, police moved in.

LAPD spokesman Lt. Fred Nixon said several people suffered minor injuries, including a sergeant and two officers, who were hit with unknown objects.