Skip to Content
News

Mayor Shut Down: Shouting Housing Activists Force Garcetti to Cut Short Speech at USC

8:44 PM PST on December 10, 2018

Courtesy of NOlympicsLA/Via Twitter.

[dropcap size=big]H[/dropcap]omeless advocates and other demonstrators forced L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti to halt a speech on Monday at USC, shouting at him and criticizing his approach to the city’s housing and homelessness crisis and other issues.

Garcetti was forced to end his speech just 20 minutes in, and then walked off the stage and out of the auditorium. The protest was organized by several groups, including the Los Angeles Community Action Network (LACAN), the L.A. chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, NOlympics LA, and Los Angeles Catholic Worker.

Garcetti planned to deliver the keynote speech at an event celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to an audience of about 350 people at the Bovard Auditorium when the demonstrators began shouting at him. The UN declaration was inaugurated on Dec. 10, 1948.

“This was almost making a mockery of the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” Hamid Khan, organizer for the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition, told L.A. Taco. “As residents of Los Angeles it was our duty to bring in the reality from the street.”

“When you look at the criminalization of poverty, homelessness and failure to invest in life affirming programs, when you look at the level of policing and police violence, it was necessary to lay bare these things in a public forum,” Khan said.

As he spoke, protesters stood up in the audience and criticized Garcetti on housing, gentrification, and the 2028 Olympics, as well as homelessness.

https://twitter.com/TheGussReport/status/1072272367164899328

[dropcap size=big]G[/dropcap]arcetti tried to respond each of the protester’s complaints and move on, but each time, another person stood up and lobbed a new criticism at the mayor. At one point, many in the audience applauded in an apparent show of support for the mayor. Minutes into his speech, however, Garcetti stopped his speech and left the auditorium. Some attendees gave him a standing ovation as he exited.

Garcetti has been facing tough audiences or demonstrators who employ direct-action to get their points across. In October in the beach neighborhood of Venice, activists jeered at the mayor at a town hall meeting over a proposed 154-bed homeless shelter.

Last year in December, at an event in Skid Row, General Dogon, a homeless man and advocate ripped up an award he received saying, “This award is just like the mayor and his cronies: it’s worthless,” said Dogon, an organizer with the Los Angeles Community Action Network (LACAN), as he tore a commendation from Garcetti in half.

The mayor, who was re-elected in March 2017 virtually unopposed with more than 80 percent of the vote, has not officially declared he is running for U.S. President. But he’s already traveled to early primary states, such as Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, spending 112 days traveling outside California during the 12 months from September 2016 and September 2017, a third of his time not attending to the city’s business.

RELATED: Downtown Development Is Pushing Homeless Encampments and RVs Into Residential Streets of South Central

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from L.A. TACO

Woman Brings Claim Against City, Alleging Former LAPD Assistant Chief Put Tracking Device on Her Car

While on a trip with friends in September, the plaintiff discovered an Apple Airtag in a black box attached to the undercarriage of her vehicle, the claim states. Her friend scanned the Airtag and found that the serial number and owner information matched the last four digits of former Assistant Chief Alfred Labrada's city cellphone, according to her claim.

December 6, 2023

Exclusive: Macheen and Horchatería Rio Luna to Open New School Torta Shop in Paramount

Expect a tender beef barbacoa torta served with guajillo consomé to dip, a torta ahogada de camarón (shrimp) with a yuzu avocado puree drowned in a spicy lobster stock, and a "Mexi-Italian" sandwich with panela, hot pistachio salsa macha, and mortadella. This innovative torta venture in SELA is set to open next week on Monday.

December 5, 2023

Bésame Mucho 2023 Proved It’s Officially the Best Latino Music Festival Right Now

The ticket price of Bésame Mucho may be worth it alone for the amusing, overwhelmingly positive people-watching experience, especially seeing multiple generations of Latinos dancing to the same live music many of us grew up listening to at family parties.

December 4, 2023

Who Keeps Whitewashing Boyle Heights’ Anti-Gentrification Mural?

“We’re not going to let the gentrification of Boyle Heights go under the radar," says Viva Padilla, the founder of the anti-gentrification collective who collaborated with local artist Sergio Robleto to create the Posada-inspired art. They both have their suspicions of who is responsible for it.

December 2, 2023

L.A. Mayor Warns Unhoused Not to Sleep Alone As Police Seek Killer of Three Sleeping Homeless Men

Los Angeles police are searching for a man suspected of walking up to three unhoused people this week while they slept during the early hours of the morning and shooting them to death.

December 2, 2023
See all posts