Police arrest 54 people in protest at Los Angeles Walmart

[n2doc]

by Philip J. Victor


Police in Los Angeles have arrested 54 people among more than 200 who were protesting outside Walmart's newly opened Chinatown store against the company’s treatment of employees.

Authorities said the demonstration Thursday evening was peaceful, but they declared it an unlawful assembly when many of the protesters sat in a circle that blocked the street and then refused to disperse.

The store, which opened in September, has spurred protests since its planning stages. Most have been carried out by labor groups criticizing the company's employment practices, with accusations of low pay, arbitrary cuts in hours and alleged retaliation for speaking out against the company.

"Walmart impacts us all — if the workers don't speak up, then who will?" Walmart worker Anthony Goytia asked on Thursday ahead of the demonstration in Los Angeles County, where Walmart says it has more than 13,000 employees.

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http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/11/8/police-arrest-54peopleinprotestatlosangeleswalmart.html

[AndyA]

1. Walmart has more than 13,000 employees in Los Angeles County...

Many of whom are being subsidized by the American taxpayer due to wages that are too low to live on.

Corporate welfare.

[Scuba]

2. Thank you protesters!!!

[Smarmie Doofus]

3. Kick, Rec. nt

[seveneyes]

4. Walmart can afford to pay everyone at least 12 bucks an hour

The few people at the top might make a couple less billion and they would still be billionaires. There would be more money in the system and our taxes would not need to be used to supplement their living. What the fuck is their damage to not see this?

[obxhead]

9. They would make even more money, not less.

You give the bottom 40% three times the wages they currently earn and they will STILL give it all back to the corporations with purchasing.

The economy would explode in a positive way.

[pinboy3niner]

5. This is reminiscent of the Black Friday W-M protest in Paramount CA last year

A photo frm yesterday's strike and two from last year:


Los Angeles police move in to arrest people during a protest for better wages outside a Walmart store in Los Angeles on Thursday.Lucy Nicholson/Reuters
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/11/8/police-arrest-54peopleinprotestatlosangeleswalmart.html



Protesters sit in street at 2012 Wal-Mart Black Friday protest, Paramount CA.



L.A. County Sheriff deputies making arrests at the 2912 Paramount Black Friday protest.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021875581

[FreakinDJ]

6. Removing any doubt Police work for the 1%

[aikoaiko]

7. Isn't getting arrested the point of knowingly breaking the law during protests.

50+ people getting arrested draws attention to the protesters and the cause.

[BrotherIvan]

8. I noticed this too

Isn't it special how police show up for every protest, even though it's people calmly exercising their Constitutional rights? There' nothing else going on in LA right now? But then again, I get angry that whenever there's some kind of studio thing going on, they feel free to shut down Hollywood Blvd and line it with cops. Free to those who can afford it, very expensive to those who can't...

[ReRe]

11. Absolutely...

...The police ought to be there protecting the protesters and their right to protest, instead of arresting them from doing so. Don't tell me this isn't a police state!

[Lint Head]

10. The Walmart Juggernaut has not only negatively impacted their employees it has destroyed small

businesses who cannot compete with mass Chinese production and volume sales. The meme that they cater to people who have to pay less for products and food because they can't afford some things and maybe live at a poverty level is so full of holes it's ridiculous. The savagely poor who produce the products under slave conditions are exploited along with the poor in this country who are having their foods stamps and help reduced while the GOP use the propaganda that Walmart is their Corporate Saviour.

[Mopar151]

12. Wal-Mart's Plan

Jesus loved the poor, so we'll make more!