The Los Angeles City Council has passed a motion to ban protests in the vicinity of LA politicians’ private residences. It only required 12 votes in favor of the ordinance for the LAC Council to pass the motion, but there was 1 more vote than that. Nevertheless, District 4 representative Nithya Raman and 11th district representative Mike Bonin voted against it. With the passing of the move, protestors should be positioned 300 feet or at a longer distance from Los Angeles politicians’ private locations.
LAC Council Member Nury Martinez stated that protests are allowed outside of the City Hall for people who disagree with pieces of legislation here. At the same time, Martinez dissuaded them from doing it at the locations of legislators. As for Martinez, doing it there would start escalating the ways in which protestors target lawmakers.
Los Angeles introduced the motion in August 2021 after an activist shared the residential addresses of councilors and promoted protests related to a vaccine ordinance there. The activist even encouraged people to bring guns and knives to protests at the residential areas of legislators who favored the motion and intimidate them. Then, Councilor Mitch O’Farrell and Martinez drew up this ordinance.
Protestors on social networking websites echoed a collective form of agitation and showed up at the addresses of politicians in the recent past. In this kind of political climate, Martinez stated that drawing up the order is no overreaction to these protests. He also stated that because these kinds of situations are starting to increase rapidly, he is bothered about a violent event in the neighborhoods of LA’s politicians.
On September 22, 2021, a protest happened outside of his residence where activists raised their voices against the so-called 300-feet law. KtownForAll, an advocacy group in Los Angeles that works for homeless people, led the protest. During the recent rally, it said that LA officials did everything they could to end public engagement following the recent uprisings and that the prohibition is their latest strategy. People who violate the new piece of legislation could end up facing $1,000 in the way of a fine.
