After years of increasingly severe crackdowns, push cart vendors in the area of MacArthur Park are organizing a collective to fight for their right to sell in the Westlake neighborhood. Yesterday, a few dozen vendors held a rally to say they’re fed up with the near daily sweeps by three different law enforcement agencies: the LAPD, the LA County Sheriff’s Department and the CHP, California Highway Patrol.
Their actions come after an undercover Sheriff’s operation on Tuesday led to a violent confrontation that was caught on a cell phone camera. In the photo, a youth who was cited for selling pirate DVDs was wrestled to the ground. The Sheriff Department says its looking into the incident. Pacifica’s Ernesto Arce files this report from Los Angeles.