| Century
City has been the site of two important public protests and instances
of police abuse. In June 1967 a massive anti-war demonstration in
which ten to fifteen thousand people gathered to protest President
Johnson’s Vietnam policy. Protesters were met with batons, clubs,
and tear gas. Similarly, on June 15, 1990 when approximately 500 members
and supporters of Justice for Janitors (JfJ), Service Employees International
Union, staged a peaceful protest in an effort to seek union recognition.
The LAPD responded violently, producing many injuries, arrests and
one miscarriage. JfJ organizers worried that this beating would prompt
workers to drop their bid for unionization, but according to organizer
Rocio Saenz, “They got upset and angry, many are people that
never had political experience in the past. [They said], ‘That’s
it. They cannot treat us like this when we didn’t do anything!”
In 1993 L.A. city agreed to pay $2.35 million in damages. |
