Melee Erupts Between Black, Latino Students : Violence: Mounting racial tensions lead to lunchtime brawl at Paramount High. A few minor injuries are reported.

A week of mounting racial tensions between blacks and Latinos at Paramount High School erupted into a lunch-period melee involving hundreds of students Friday, sheriff’s deputies and school officials said.

Only a few minor injuries were reported, and there were no immediate arrests.

Dozens of sheriff’s deputies helped school staff get students back into their classrooms, where they were held until they could be escorted off campus. About 1,000 refused to leave, however, keeping the deputies on campus until about 4:40 p.m., according to Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Angie McLaughlin.

Scores of parents, alerted by the commotion and a sheriff’s helicopter circling above the 3,100-student campus on South Downey Avenue, flocked to the high school and the elementary campus across the street.

Elseia Uhleirra arrived to pick up her daughter, Martha, a ninth-grader. “My daughter said there is a lot of racial tension here,” Uhleirra said. “She said things have been getting really bad this week.”

Paramount Unified School District officials confirmed there had been tensions between the high school’s 2,300 Latino students and its 500 black students this week but said Friday’s brawl involved far fewer students--perhaps 30 to 50 in the initial fight.

A large crowd formed around the melee, and deputies were called when the students would not disperse.

School officials said no weapons were involved. Students will be interviewed when classes resume Tuesday to determine whether there will be any suspensions, district spokeswoman Norma Ortiz said.

Principal Bruce Cantley, who assumed the post two weeks ago, referred all questions to the district office.

Ortiz said tensions between the two groups had been building since midweek and extra administrators were sent to the high school Friday morning. One student said there was a fight Tuesday or Wednesday when a Latino grabbed a necklace from a black student.

Friday’s melee began near the end of the lunch period, when someone pulled a fire alarm and a group of students turned over a couple of trash cans, Ortiz said. Others then started running around the campus and refused to go back to their classrooms. It was then that sheriff’s deputies were called, she said.

A sophomore identified only as Juan watched much of the melee from his biology classroom.

“People were just throwing trash cans and just standing around,” he said. “I could hardly get to my classroom. But nobody was really fighting.”

The district has several efforts under way to promote racial harmony, including multicultural activities. Ortiz said there had been no serious incidents until Friday, but some students said tensions had been high for quite some time.

With Friday’s brawl, Paramount joined a growing list of Los Angeles-area schools that have faced racial fights and other problems recently. In November, police were called to Pomona High School to help quell several fights, a day after nine were arrested in fights at Jordan High School in Long Beach.