LAPD has trained for melee-free May Day

Published 5:00 am Thursday, May 1, 2008

LOS ANGELES — A day before thousands are expected to converge here as part of the annual May Day pro-immigration rallies nationwide, police officials said Wednesday that new technology and better officer training and communication would prevent a repeat of the melee that concluded demonstrations here last year.

Tens of thousands of immigrants and their supporters marched peacefully last year across the country, and although organizers predict lower numbers this year, they said marchers would again demand legal status for illegal immigrants and an end to raids aimed at deporting them. Rallies are planned in New York, Chicago, Boston, Houston, Denver and many other cities.

Here, three marches are expected to unite downtown into a rally of 20,000 to 80,000, a far cry from the 1 million, by some estimates, who marched at the first demonstrations, in the spring of 2006.

The Police Department recognizes the damage its image and community relations suffered after the riot police last year swooped in and trampled demonstrators and journalists.

The city is facing legal claims from a few hundred people, and Chief William Bratton, acknowledging poor training and leadership lapses, shook up his command. Deputy Chief Michael Hillmann, at a news conference on Wednesday, promised new, more restrained tactics this year.

Since the marches began, Congress has failed to pass legislation revamping immigration laws, while states have passed or proposed 1,000 bills aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration. Fencing along the Mexican border has proceeded, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement has stepped up raids and deportations.

Joshua Hoyt, an organizer of some of the largest rallies, in Chicago, said protest efforts had largely shifted to voter registration and citizenship drives. He said the crowds this year might also be thinned by illegal immigrants seeking to keep a low profile and a sense that mass demonstrations had run their course.

“This is going to be a long-term fight,” Hoyt said. “The demographics, the economy and national security make some kind of legalization inevitable and necessary.” But people who support tougher enforcement of immigration laws have not been impressed by the rallies.

“We need to secure our borders and hold accountable employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens,” Rep. Brian Bilbray, a Republican from San Diego, said in a statement. “To those who believe that we should reward illegal aliens with citizenship, I ask: what part of the word illegal don’t you understand?”