After a group of protesters managed to halt operations at the Dodger Stadium mass vaccination site, COVID-19, on Saturday, some Los Angeles officials expressed fury at the protesters while calling for greater security at the testing and vaccination facilities.
Los Angeles Fire Department officials closed the main entrance to the stadium – one of the nation’s largest vaccination sites – for about an hour on Saturday, after a group of 40 to 60 protesters showed up on Stadium Way holding placards denouncing masks while shouting baseless claims about the dangers of the vaccine.
The group dispersed at about 3 pm, and there were no reported arrests or injuries, according to LAFD Asst. Chief Ellsworth Fortman, who oversees the department’s COVID-19 response. Fortman said approximately 5,740 doses of the vaccine were distributed on Saturday at the site, which distributes between 5,700 and 7,700 daily doses. Workers were still vaccinating people inside the stadium during the time the main entrance was closed, he said.
Both firefighters and police said the group was not violent and that the decision to close the facility’s entrance was a precaution. The protest angered several city leaders, with some questioning why the police were no longer aggressive towards the protesters, claiming that the LAPD has been more proactive in suppressing anti-police protests or Black Lives Matter.
“Look, the world sees this. What it does is harm our public security community. It is not good for our public safety community for people to believe that there is unfair treatment, ”said councilman Gil Cedillo, whose district includes Dodger Stadium. “It does not help them to do their job. When some people are spoiled and others are not. “
The protest came while frustration with the virus management by state and municipal authorities remains high. The number of coronavirus deaths in California exceeded 40,000 on Friday. More than half of these fatalities have occurred since November 1, 2020, part of a surprising increase in the lethality of the virus, amid concerns that more dangerous strains are emerging. At the same time, business owners struggling to keep the lights on have repeatedly called for relaxation of the rules that limit dinners and other meetings.
Fortman said the decision to close the gate was made after the protesters approached the entrance to Stadium Way, due to concerns about the safety of workers and the protesters themselves, who he said could have been hit by cars while marching through the venue. .
After 45 minutes, Fortman said, LAPD officers approached the group and warned them that they could be summoned or arrested if they entered the vaccination site and ordered them to leave the street. The group complied and dispersed widely around 3 pm, according to Fortman, who said the protesters’ actions did little to inhibit the distribution of the vaccine.
“At the end of the day, it didn’t have much of an impact,” he said. “I feel bad for these people [who] ended up waiting another 50 minutes. “
It was unclear how many people left the line to enter the site and missed the consultation during the closing of almost an hour, but the long lines have already proved to be a major impediment for the elderly Angelenos who seek the vaccine. Some expressed concern online on Saturday that his grandparents probably gave up trying to get vaccinated on Saturday due to the protest.
Despite the fact that the demonstrators’ actions led firefighters to close the stadium’s entrance, police said there would be no reason to declare an assembly illegal or to order arrests on Saturday. Officer Mike Lopez, a spokesman for the LAPD, said the protesters followed police orders to stay out of the street and did not violate any other law or decree outside Dodger Stadium.
Andrea Garcia, spokesman for Mayor Eric Garcetti, said the city is “reviewing the vaccine site security protocol” after the incident and will establish designated spaces for protesters should demonstrations take place at vaccination sites in the future.
While it is unclear who exactly organized the protest, pamphlets promoting the event have been shared online by the “Shop Mask Free Los Angeles” group, whose members have repeatedly appeared in local supermarkets and retail stores in recent months and have tried to buy items without masks. The events usually end in discussions between group members and store employees, and sometimes generate responses from the police, according to videos the group posted online.
The LAPD responded to several incidents involving the group, usually bringing peaceful purposes to its demonstrations, but rarely issuing citations, despite the group’s obvious and repeated violations of municipal and municipal health laws that mandate the use of masks. Los Angeles police arrested a member of the group during an incident on January 20, according to city officials, but Lopez was unable to provide information immediately about the incident or other contacts between the LAPD and the protesters.
Cedillo said he was especially furious at the demonstration in his district, which was hit hard by the virus. In the past few weeks, Cedillo’s office has placed multilingual signs in parts of Westlake, Lincoln Heights, Highland Park and Koreatown warning people who were entering a “high-risk area” for COVID-19, and he also said that he had sent members of staff to knock on the doors to provide vaccine information for elderly residents.
The Cedillo district includes several neighborhoods that are predominantly working-class and Latino, two groups that have been disproportionately affected by the virus. The number of Latinos in LA County who die from the virus daily has risen to a shocking extent in recent weeks.
“This mob feels they have the right to try to prevent people such as the elderly, janitors, domestic workers in restaurants and supermarkets from receiving the vaccine they so desire. That they want, ”said Cedillo. “It is very offensive. Very arrogant. It feels incredible right. “