Korean-American Protesters Pelted From City Hall Windows

Korean-American merchants were pelted with ink bottles, thumbtacks and other office supplies tossed out of City Hall windows Tuesday as they protested for a 17th day over the way government officials have treated them since the riots.

Seven people were slightly injured, according to Los Angeles police, including a 3-year-old child who was hit in the head by a tack. Several adults were cut when small glass bottles of red, black and white ink slammed against the pavement and shattered.

The demonstrators, who had been banging drums and chanting before the attack, started screaming and scattered in confusion. Several clutched at their ink-splattered clothing. The ink left stains on the paving stones and one wall of City Hall.

“They’re throwing this at my baby?” cried Marie Yu, mother of Andrew Yu, as she clutched the tack that had hit her youngster. “They hate us. They want to kill us.”

Mayor Tom Bradley called for an investigation by City Hall security guards and the city attorney. Los Angeles police also were investigating. Fire Department personnel checked the injured, but no one was taken to a hospital, a spokesman said.

Bradley also appeared on the steps of City Hall to express “apologies on behalf of all of us at City Hall” to about 100 demonstrators.

“We are proud of our traditions that permit people to express their point of view,” Bradley said, “even if that point of view is not approved by everyone.”

City Hall security services chief Hector E. Hernandez said objects were thrown twice, in the morning and early afternoon. His officers searched the 17 floors facing the courtyard where the demonstrators gathered but were unable to identify who threw the objects or determine whether city employees were responsible, Hernandez said.

The items thrown included a rubber stamp, paper clips and pushpins in addition to the ink and metal tacks. “It looked like stuff that would be inside someone’s desk,” said LAPD Sgt. Charles Mealey.

Inside City Hall, some staffers said they hated the incessant banging of drums, which have echoed through the cavernous hallways daily and made it hard to hear anything else. “It drives you crazy,” said Azzam Jabsheh, a transportation engineering associate who works on the ninth floor. “It’s been every day, the last couple of weeks. I’m getting a headache.”

Susan Bautista, a clerk working on the fourth floor, said about 30 of her fellow Building and Safety Department employees signed a petition against the noise. “It just goes on and on. It’s hard to concentrate, but we’re not throwing things,” she said.

Others said they have gotten used to the noise. “You know what time it is, because they always come at the same time, about 11 a.m.,” said Mei Tuey Ong, a deputy project manager in the Business and Economic Development Department on the 14th floor.

“We don’t want to bother them,” said protester Sang Ok Hong, owner of an appliance repair shop that was looted in the riots. “But we want answers and it’s been two months since the riots.”

After the incidents, the protesters resumed their chanting and drumming, louder than ever.

The merchants’ 17th day of demonstrations began with a hunger strike staged by Chung Lee, leader of the Assn. of Korean American Victims of L.A. Riot. The group has staged daily protests over several issues, including calls for reparations and faster processing of their applications for federal assistance. Their request to see the mayor was granted last week.

Tuesday’s demonstration and Lee’s hunger strike targeted a recent city ordinance that excludes swap meets, liquor stores and auto body shops--businesses run by many Korean-Americans--from streamlined procedures for rebuilding.

The demonstrators blame the City Council for failing to address their concerns about the ordinance, said Jin H. Lee, Chung Lee’s son and a victims’ spokesman.

“They’re making promises but wasting time,” he said. He termed the office supplies attack surprising. Another demonstrator, swap meet owner Jin Hyon Kwon, said the protesters would return today.

Hong was visibly upset by Tuesday’s pelting.

“If I had money, I would go back to Korea,” she said. “It’s too dangerous here. The American Dream, what is that?”