Police Brutality at Immigration Rally

On May 1st 2007, many cities hosted rallies in support of illegal immigrants. This year the participation was smaller than the million plus marchers last year but still hundreds of thousands turned out nationwide to participate. In Denver, Chicago, Atlanta and many other cities the rallies were well organized and peaceful.

However in Los Angeles a rally was broken up amid accusations of police brutality and promises from the Police Chief William Bratton to fully investigate the matter. Reports say that the police used rubber bullets, batons and tear gas to disperse the crowd. Many people were injured including reporters and cameramen who were on the scene. Here is an account from FOX NEWS by Christina Gonzalez who was personally involved in the incident:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AljZqoGqK8k]
Below is another account of what happened by another reporter. Be aware that this account contains strong language:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1kEu6eRklo]

Police Chief William Bratton said "certain elements of the crowd" started the disturbance but "the vast, vast majority of the people who were here were behaving appropriately". He issued the following statement:

"I regret and am, as are all of you, disturbed by the events so vividly depicted in the various news report videos. Police use of force in any context is always visibly and emotionally upsetting, even when necessary and lawful – our challenge in reviewing and investigating the actions of our Department and its officers, and that of the public, is to determine if that use of force was an appropriate response to the level of threat, disturbance and danger that the officers were encountering,"
"If you have information or complaints concerning yesterday's incident, we encourage you to contact Internal Affairs at 1-800-339-6868 or the Inspector General at 213-202-5866."

Bratton said investigators will also be interviewing injured members of the media and will work to identify the officers involved in the uses of force.