Fiesta to Tighten Security

Next year’s Fisherman’s Fiesta in San Pedro will include more security to head off the fights and vandalism that marred one night of this year’s event, fiesta organizers and police said this week.

“We are not going to try and make any excuses for what happened. We just want to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” said Creig Michaelis, chairman of last weekend’s fiesta.

The event, which drew a three-day crowd of 40,000, was forced to close early Saturday when fistfights broke out along the fiesta’s midway about 8:30 p.m.

Although port police kept the fighting and vandalism to cars under control for a while, more than a dozen Los Angeles police officers were eventually summoned and helped disperse the crowd by 10 p.m., an hour before its scheduled closing.

“It wasn’t to the point where people’s lives were in danger. But if it had gone further, we could have had some serious problems,” said Capt. Richard Bonneau of LAPD’s Harbor Division.

Los Angeles police reported only one arrest at the fiesta Saturday night: A 16-year-old boy was arrested for shoving an officer.

Earlier this week, festival organizers met with representatives of the LAPD and port police to discuss the violence. They decided that similar problems might be avoided at next year’s event by having additional security. The final details will be mapped out later, they said.