Gays Decry LAPD’s Behavior at Rally

Gay activists, who have demonstrated bitterly against Gov. Pete Wilson for three weeks, are directing their anger at a new target--the Los Angeles Police Department.

Leaders of several gay-rights groups Thursday blamed mounted LAPD officers for provoking a melee outside the Century Plaza Hotel on Wednesday night by forcibly moving about 200 protesters from a median on Avenue of the Stars. The incident, during a Wilson fund-raising dinner at the hotel, resulted in seven arrests and at least two instances in which demonstrators were struck down and beaten with nightsticks.

Police denied Thursday that they reacted without provocation, saying that protesters refused to move and presented a danger because of traffic in the area. Several activists reported being bruised by batons and horses. One demonstrator said he suffered a broken arm trying to protect a woman from being hit in the face by an officer’s baton.

“The LAPD rioted on peaceful protesters,” said Stuart Bailey, a member of ACT UP/L.A., during a news conference outside police headquarters. Bailey and other activists, who said personnel complaints have been filed over the incident, accused police of attacking protesters who did nothing more than show defiance by sitting down on the wide median strip.

“No rocks were thrown, no sticks were swung, no one was in the street, no traffic was being blocked by protesters,” Bailey said. “What did the police do? The cops came at us, wielding their batons at whomever they could hit, attacking us on foot and charging into the crowd on horseback.”

About 100 officers, 20 of them on horses, were involved in handling the protest, which drew about 500 gay and lesbian activists to Century City streets. The demonstration was another in a series of protests targeting Wilson because he vetoed a bill that would have protected homosexuals and lesbians from job discrimination.

Deputy Police Chief Glenn Levant, who was at the scene overseeing the LAPD operation, said the incident was being investigated by the LAPD’s Internal Affairs Division. However, during an interview Thursday, Levant said the night differed from previous peaceful anti-Wilson protests because of fears that activists might storm the hotel.

A stink bomb was set off at the hotel at about the time guests were arriving for the dinner, Levant said.

“We had just a . . . potentially dangerous situation,” Levant said.

Pete Jimenez, 27, a person with AIDS who belongs to the group Queer Nation, said as an officer prepared to swing at a woman protester’s face, he put up his arm to protect her. Jimenez, who had his arm in a sling Thursday, said it was fractured.

He was arrested and released on his own recognizance 3 1/2 hours later, he said.

Mark Kostopoulos, 36, a spokesman for ACT UP/L.A. who also said he has AIDS, ridiculed the notion that protesters might have stormed the hotel. “Clearly, the orders have come down that gay men and lesbians are getting too uppity,” he said.