[ad_1]
LOS ANGELES, Dec. 14 (AP) — Another round of loud, foul-mouthed protests took place Tuesday after a lawmaker facing widespread calls to resign amid a racism scandal doggedly returned to the chamber and took his seat Upset the city council.
The presence of MP Kevin de Leon prompted some MPs to walk out amid chants and chants from hostile groups in the audience, while council president Paul Crekorian ordered adjournment in an outburst.
Read also | World’s richest man in 2022: Bernard Arnault replaces Elon Musk as world’s richest man.
The chaos represented a repeat of Friday’s meeting, when De Leon made his first appearance in the ornate chamber since mid-October. He is the only city councilor embroiled in the scandal who still rejects President Joe Biden’s call to step down, while continuing to collect his nearly $229,000 annual salary — one of the most lucrative paydays for a city councilor in the country.
Protesters shouted and waved placards in the audience throughout the meeting. During public comments, most speakers denounced De Leon as a racist and called for the lawmaker to resign, but some supporters came to his defense, praising his work in his district, which includes downtown Los Angeles and its heavily Latino population The Boyle Heights community.
Read also | Brit man stabs colleague to death after she prepared to give him oral sex; court convicted.
The constant disruption has at times turned the meeting into a veritable theater of the absurd, with protesters screaming blasphemy, city workers pleading for calm, and police ejecting some protesters who refused repeated orders to settle down.
When De Leon appeared midway through the meeting, more yelling ensued, some council members immediately left the room, and council president Paul Crekorian quickly adjourned the meeting. The commission later returned to work, enacting Mayor Karen Bass’ signature proposal declaring a state of emergency for the homeless, something she promised on her first day in office.
“This is a landmark day for the city,” Bass said in a statement after the vote. “This manifesto will allow us to move faster and unlock all the tools we can” to tackle the crisis, where more than 40,000 homeless people are living in tent camps or rusting RVs in nearly every corner of the country. Community.
The scandal was fought by De Leon, then-City Council President Nuri Martinez, Labor leader Ron Herrera and then-Council Gil Zedillo — all Latino Democrats — at a time. Sparked by leaked recordings of rude, racist remarks made at a year-long session in which they conspired to expand their political power at the expense of black voters during the readjustment of parliamentary district boundaries.
Martinez and Herrera resigned within days of the recordings becoming public, and Zedillo disappeared from the public eye. Cedillo’s term ended Monday after his unsuccessful re-election bid earlier this year, leaving de Leon the only person still in office embroiled in the scandal.
It’s unclear who made the recordings posted on the website or why.
De Leon has repeatedly apologized but said he will not resign. He argued that he wanted to continue addressing homelessness, the impact of the pandemic and the threat of eviction for tenants in his area.
His colleagues have no legal way to remove him — the committee can only suspend a member while criminal charges are pending.
De Leon was disqualified from sitting on council committees, faced widespread pressure to resign and has struggled to return to public affairs after a long absence from council meetings despite being verbally abused by colleagues who said they could not work with him. field.
Last week, he got into a scuffle with an activist who heckled him at a holiday toy giveaway. (Associated Press)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
[ad_2]
Source link
