LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Nearly three dozen people face criminal charges
stemming from three immigration protests that caused street blockages and
traffic disruptions in Los Angeles and Westwood, city prosecutors announced
today.
In the most recent protest on Labor Day, eight women and six men
participated in a protest against the Arizona immigration law outside of the
downtown Federal Building on Alameda Street, according to the City Attorney's
Office.
They were arrested when they blocked traffic by lying in the street with
their hands locked together in a locking device, according to prosecutors.
Authorities had to use a saw to separate the 14 demonstrators, causing a
massive traffic jam that blocked traffic for about three hours, the City
Attorney's Office reported.
On May 20, California Highway Patrol Officers arrested nine immigration
protesters in front of the Federal Building in Westwood.
The suspects allegedly sat in the street with their hands locked
together, refusing to move or obey officers' commands to disperse. The actions
caused a massive traffic jam extending for several blocks, and forcing officers
to divert traffic in the area, according to the City Attorney's Office.
The suspects in the Monday and May 20 protests are set to be arraigned
in Los Angeles Superior Court on Sept. 22.
The third demonstration occurred July 29 at Wilshire Boulevard and
Highland Avenue, where immigration protesters sat down in the middle of the
intersection and put their hands in a locking device, informing officers they
wanted to be arrested, according to the City Attorney's Office.
LAPD officers removed the locking device by sawing through the device.
The demonstrators were then arrested and physically carried to transportation
vehicles, causing a severe traffic jam, prosecutors said.
Those 10 suspects are scheduled to be arraigned Sept. 23.
Charges in all three cases include unlawful assembly, obstructing an officer
and blocking the sidewalk or street, prosecutors said.
The charges carry maximum sentences of 1 1/2 years in jail and fines of
$2,000, according to the City Attorney's Office.