Shouting Punctuates Meeting on Riots : Inquiry: Activists promote their own causes at the Webster-Williams panel’s session on police responses to the violence.

A meeting called to discuss police responses to the Los Angeles riots degenerated quickly into a series of bitter shouting matches Wednesday night as activists seized the opportunity to promote their own disparate causes.

The first to grab the floor was Joey Johnson, a leader of the Revolutionary Communist Brigade, who denounced the panel created by the Los Angeles Police Commission last May after the worst civil disturbance in the nation’s history.

Pointing to the two men named to head the panel--former FBI and CIA Director William H. Webster and Hubert Williams, president of the Washington-based Police Foundation--Johnson yelled, “These people are the enemy! This whole thing is being run by the feds!”

Webster sat quietly in front of the stage at the Gompers Junior High School auditorium as Johnson, surrounded by about a dozen banner-waving supporters, called him a “pig” and a “murderer.”

Johnson was followed to the floor by representatives from the Free the Los Angeles Four group, which claims that the four young black men originally charged in the riot-related beating of white truck driver Reginald Denny have been unfairly treated by the justice system.

“We need to talk to each other,” said Yolanda Madison, a spokeswoman for the group. “Wedon’t need them (the panel).”

Some of the approximately 60 residents in the auditorium shouted their opposition to the demonstrators. Resident Charles Bratton complained that the “riffraff” who were taking over the meeting did not represent the feelings of the South-Central neighborhood.

“These people represent nothing that has to do with anything in this community,” Bratton said. “It’s outrageous.”

Despite the verbal disagreements, there were no physical confrontations, and private security guards hired to maintain order did nothing to interfere. After about 30 minutes, the demonstrations ended, and order was restored.

A parade of people then stepped to the microphone, complaining about a broad array of issues ranging from economic decay of the inner city to substandard housing and beliefs that there is racism in the Los Angeles Police Department.

“There’s a double standard of justice. There always has been,” said Sly Randolph, a South-Central resident.

Randolph and several others questioned the validity of the panel’s inquiry, saying the broad underlying issues that contributed to last spring’s “rebellion” are not being addressed.

“You ask us to address issues,” Randolph said. “You listen. And then you go back to your homes in Bel-Air and nothing happens.”

“We want results,” said the Rev. Carl Washington , a minister in Watts. “If it don’t happen, we’re going to make something happen.”

Wednesday night’s meeting in South-Central Los Angeles was the second in a series being held by the panel, which is investigating the LAPD’s much-criticized response to the riots earlier this year.

The Wednesday meeting took place about three miles from the intersection of Florence and Normandie avenues that became a flash point for the violence after LAPD officers were acquitted in the beating of motorist Rodney King.

While the Webster-Williams panel’s focus is limited to the LAPD’s handling of the upheaval, the community meetings have been the only official post-riot inquiry that has reached out for public comment in the most affected neighborhoods. As such, the meetings appear to be serving a larger role as a cathartic outlet for riot victims’ travails and continuing deep frustrations about the social conditions underlying the unrest.

“We may become, inadvertently, a kind of catch-all,” said Karen Randall, a deputy general counsel who has coordinated the public sessions for the panel. Many of the complaints and comments “may not be all that relevant to the report, but it is very, very good for people to have an outlet to express their frustration,” Randall said.

The Webster-Williams investigation is being conducted by a battery of more than 20 lawyers who are donating their services. Their report, including recommendations for dealing with major emergencies in the future, is expected to be released late next month.

Five more public meetings are scheduled, including one tonight at Adams Junior High School at 151 W. 30th St., and a session Friday at Berendo Junior High at 1157 S. Berendo St. The meetings begin at 7 p.m.