Protest Organizers Vacate Office After Police Visit

At least five Los Angeles police officers made an unexpected visit Saturday night to the MacArthur Park headquarters that protesters plan to use during the Democratic National Convention, prompting about 25 organizers to vacate the site, activists and police said.

The officers from the Rampart Division, which covers the area, arrived at the office at 1919 W. 7th St. shortly after 7 p.m. They asked occupants for a copy of the lease and proof that the office had been inspected by the Fire Department, said Susan Goldberg, an organizer with the Direct Action Network, a group helping to coordinate protests.

Officer Don Cox, an LAPD spokesman, said that “an officer went by there and saw people running out of a building” that was believed to be abandoned.

The officer returned to the site with about five other officers, Cox said Saturday night. Cox was not sure of the precise number of police who responded. Goldberg estimated that it was 10 officers.

The police spoke to the occupants, Cox said, and then “they went away and we went away. That’s all there is.”

Goldberg said police stood inside the entrance to the office dubbed “the convergence center.” Police told her and about 25 others that they might be trespassing.

One sergeant, Goldberg said, told her that police are concerned about protests during the Democratic National Convention at Staples Center next month.

She said police did not search the building or look through files. Part of the incident was videotaped by the organizers.

Goldberg said she told police that the lease was elsewhere and time was needed to retrieve it and other paperwork, as well as to contact the group’s attorneys.

The group decided to vacate the office after discussions with police.

News of the police visit rapidly spread to the mountains above Malibu, where 150 activists are meeting to learn nonviolent protest tactics. When he heard about the incident, state Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Los Angeles), who was going to speak to the group, said “the overreaction continues.”

He was referring to what activists see as a campaign to intimidate the up to 50,000 protesters expected to take to the streets during the convention.

The Los Angeles City Council rescinded permission for organizers to gather in downtown’s Pershing Square. Advocates of protest groups and labor unions have sued the city to gain access to the streets around Staples Center.

Police have said a small group of rogue protesters could damage property, as occurred during demonstrations in Seattle last November during a World Trade Organization conference.