4 Arrested as Black, Latino Students Riot at Leuzinger : Violence: Fight between two girls triggers a melee at the Lawndale high school, one of two schools where students walked out in a racial protest last year.

Dozens of black and Latino students brawled at Leuzinger High School on Thursday afternoon, prompted by an early morning fight between two girls that escalated racial tensions on the Lawndale campus, authorities and students said.

Most of the battling took place outside the school’s main entrance at about 1 p.m. as between 500 and 800 students streamed from the building to watch or join in scattered fistfights, said sheriff’s spokesman Fidel Gonzales. The disruption was halted by about 50 police officers and sheriff’s deputies.

There were no significant injuries. Four youths were arrested. Classes, which were cut short Thursday, will resume today.

Officials scheduled no special programs to deal with the latest demonstration of tension in the Centinela Valley Union High School District, which in the past year has experienced racial animosity among students, teachers, administrators and board members.

Witnesses to the brawl said they saw students with bloody noses, bruises and cuts.

“I don’t think riot would be too extreme a word to use,” said sheriff’s Lt. Larry Schwartz, who was among the first officers on the scene. “As their numbers grew, it went beyond our resources to control it. They had complete disregard for our presence.”

Lennox deputies called in reinforcements from sheriff’s stations in Lomita, Firestone and Carson as well as police departments in Hawthorne, Inglewood and Torrance. Two police helicopters circled the campus.

Arrested were one juvenile for failing to disperse and three others for threatening bystanders with a billy club, deputies said.

Board President Pam Sturgeon, who arrived at Leuzinger High as deputies swept through the campus, said the disturbances in the Centinela Valley district reflect wider racial tensions throughout Los Angeles.

Authorities said a black girl and a Latino girl fought sometime after 8 a.m., before school began, and tensions remained high throughout the day. Some fistfights broke out during lunch, and later fighting began in front of the school and spread along Rosecrans Avenue, authorities said.

Gang members were involved in the brawls, authorities said. One handgun was recovered off campus, they said, and there were unconfirmed reports of shots being fired.

“It had some racial overtones and some gang overtones,” said Schwartz. “When one gang member is involved in a confrontation, he expects others will back him up. Even if it doesn’t have gang origins, it can develop that way.”

The campus disturbance marks the second time in a little over a year that masses of students have disrupted classes in the district.

In March, 1990, 2,500 students from Leuzinger and Hawthorne high schools boycotted classes during two days of demonstrations. At the time, students said they were protesting the reassignment of Kenneth Crowe, who was principal of Hawthorne High and who accused the predominantly Latino school board of not supporting his efforts to eradicate racism against blacks.

An investigator hired by the district concluded last summer that the walkout was organized by black employees who wanted to discredit the school board. However, this month the state Department of Fair Employment and Housing accused the district of discriminating against Crowe and another black employee, both of whom have left the district.

Sturgeon said the fight reflects racial tensions throughout the area. “I have felt for a long time that there has been a battle going on between blacks and Hispanics over who is going to take control,” Sturgeon said. “It’s not just Centinela Valley. This is a very multicultural area and we have many, many gangs. I really and truly believe that (the fighting was) gang related.”

She cited an increase in graffiti in the area and a recent shooting at a fast-food restaurant as evidence that “gangs are on the move, and they have been for the past three or four weeks.”

Asked whether blacks and Latinos get along at the school, Valerie Archie, 17, a junior, downplayed the severity of racial tensions.

“I think if that fight didn’t break out this morning we wouldn’t have had a riot,” she said. “It’s not like every time there is a Mexican we bump them. It’s not like that.”

However, Willy Arias, a 19-year-old senior, said blacks and Latinos largely keep to themselves.

“When it comes down to it, it’s Mexican power and black power,” he said. “It’s OK most of the time, but then something like this happens.”

Antoin Lewis, 15, said he feared what the future might bring.

“It was like a bunch of animals in a cage fighting for their lives,” he said. “There were trash cans and bottles being thrown. Tensions are going to continue, only tomorrow people are going to come prepared.”

When classes resume today, extra security officers will patrol Leuzinger High, and police will be on the alert, Sturgeon said. “For right now, it’s going to be business as usual,” she said.