Damian Kevitt spent Saturday afternoon on a 10-mile bike ride with hundreds of other cyclists, a sticker featuring Alex Pretti’s image stuck to his jersey.
“These are bikers, clubs, bike shops and people coming together and saying, ‘Hey, Alex was one of us,'” said Kevitt, while riding on Broadway in Santa Monica. “She was an ICU nurse, loved the outdoors, loved cyclists and loved cycling.”
The so-called Unity Ride was one of hundreds of protests across the country over the weekend in response to the immigration raids and killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by immigration police in Minneapolis.
Protesters gathered outside City Hall in LA for an anti-ICE protest on Saturday.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
“What he was doing was not a terrorist act – he was exercising his right as a citizen and he was killed,” said Kevitt, executive director of Streets Are For Everyone, an organization that aims to make streets safer for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers. “We shouldn’t be afraid of being killed for exercising our rights. … Even if you don’t agree with someone’s political stance, you shouldn’t be punished for having a political stance.”
Nationwide protests began on Friday when organizers called on people to avoid shopping and participate in a “national shutdown” that they hoped would convince the Trump administration to scale back anti-immigration policies and measures against protesters.
Several other protests were planned across California on Saturday, from Culver City to Aliso Viejo, Sacramento and Oakland.
In downtown LA on Saturday afternoon, hundreds of people gathered outside the steps of City Hall and across the street in Grand Park.
Loudspeakers screamed in joy while the protesters made noise with plastic horns and held up posters, driving cars honked their horns.
“I like to have my snow crushed,” read one sign.
“Mothers, don’t let your sons grow up to be ICE pits,” read another.
The comedian told vulgar jokes about President Trump and those under him.
Other protests were planned across California on Saturday, including in Culver City, Aliso Viejo, Sacramento and Oakland.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Between the speakers, the crowd chanted: “If we fight, we win! If we fight, we win!”
Vendors sold buttons and hats – some with the tagline “resistance is good” – while others collected signatures for various ballot measures. Music blasted from the speakers. Crowds of friends and families sat on the grass in Grand Park.
City resident Lisa Keller stood with two of her friends, one wearing a sign around her neck that read “Another peaceful protester.”
When asked why he came on Saturday, he sighed.
“I’m going to try to keep it PG,” said Keller, 64. “I think it’s very important to stand up for the rights of all people who live in this country, regardless of immigration.”
Anna Obropta, dressed as Lady Liberty, joins hundreds in the “ICE Out of Everywhere” protest in Los Angeles on Saturday.
(Carlin Stiehl / For The Times)
The demonstration in the city of LA on Friday evening ended when the law enforcement officers pushed through a crowd of about 200 people and sprayed a chemical agent on the protesters. The Los Angeles Police Department issued an order to disperse the area on Alameda Street between Union Station and 1st Street.
Officer Kevin Terzes, LAPD spokesman, said Saturday morning that eight people were arrested: six people suspected of failing to disperse, one for allegedly assaulting a police officer with a deadly weapon and for allegedly violating curfew. Terzes did not have information about the circumstances of the alleged assault or whether there was any property damage during the event.
