Los Angeles’ top prosecutor brought charges against eight people who allegedly attacked police, vandalized buildings and robbed stores during recent protests against immigration sweeps.
At a news conference Wednesday afternoon,Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman vowed to “fiercely protect people’s rights to peacefully assemble,” but also warned that those who engage in violence, theft or property destruction will face severe consequences.
“If people want to hurl insults, we will protect that,” he said. “If people want to engage in crimes, we will prosecute that.”
Hochman then addressed the broader narrative taking hold in national media that the city is under siege, saying that the portrayal that “somehow every second of every day there’s another exploding firework on our streets,” is wrong.
“Let me put this in perspective for you: there are 11 million people in this county, 4 million people in this city … thousands have engaged in legitimate protest. That means 99.9% of people who live in Los Angeles City, or Los Angeles County, have not engaged in any protest at all,” he said.
His office announced charges against three people with using fireworks and motorcycles to hurt officers.
Juan Rodriguez, of Gardena, was charged with assault on a peace officer, resisting arrest, advocating violence against an officer after he allegedly distributed fireworks and threw them at police during a protest scene.
Randy Paul Ruiz and Georgina Ravallero were also charged with assaulting police in connection with a Sunday afternoon incident near Temple and Alameda streets near the downtown immigration detention center that has been the flash point for many of the recent demonstrations. On Sunday, two motorcycles could be seen inching their way through a crowd of demonstrators, revving their engines to the cheers of the crowd. Moments later, the motorcycles crashed near a line of LAPD officers blocking Alameda Street.
On Wednesday, Hochman and LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said Ruiz and Ravallero deliberately slammed their bikes into the police skirmish line. Both face more than six years in prison if convicted as charged.
Hochman also announced charges against two people who joined a break-in at a Nike store in downtown L.A. on Sunday night, and felony vandalism charges against people who tagged the downtown Hall of Justice, which houses the headquarters of the district attorney’s office and sheriff’s department.
It was not immediately clear when each might appear in court or who their defense attorneys were.
Dozens of additional cases could still be brought as police continue to review video footage, according to Hochman.
During his successful election campaign last year, Hochman promised to be harsher on certain kinds of protest-related offenses, singling out people who block freeways and damage property.
Generally, Los Angeles-area prosecutors have drawn a firm line between First Amendment activity and violence in deciding to charge protesters during past instances of large-scale unrest. Thousands of people were arrested by the LAPD and other agencies for failure to disperse, disobeying a lawful order and other minor offenses following the 2020 murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, but both the Los Angeles City Attorney’s office and former Dist. Atty. George Gascón declined those cases almost universally.
Earlier this year, the city attorney’s office announced it would bring charges against just two of the 350 people cited during campus protests last year over Israel’s continued bombardment of Gaza. The district attorney’s office did file felony charges against two people who allegedly attacked a pro-Palestinian encampment at UCLA last year.
This story originally appeared on LA Times
