Chanting “this is what democracy looks like,” several dozen Black Lives Matter demonstrators spent Friday on the steps of Los Angeles City Hall for a fourth day as they demanded the firing of Police Chief Charlie Beck in protest of a fatal police shooting.
Members of the group said they did not plan to leave until they received a meeting with Mayor Eric Garcetti, or until Beck was fired. They referred to the sit-in it as an “occupation.”
About 100 people stayed on the steps of City Hall overnight Thursday, said Melina Abdullah, a Cal State L.A. professor and prominent member of Black Lives Matter who organized a news conference at 1 p.m. in front of City Hall.
She said Beck and police commissioners have been unwilling “to hold the police force accountable for what they do to black communities.”
Abdullah said the mayor’s office this week offered to meet with a smaller group of protesters privately inside City Hall. They declined, saying they want Garcetti to meet with them publicly outside, she said.
“We are not willing to live in conditions where black people are treated like enemy combatants rather than residents of this city,” Abdullah said.
In a statement Friday, Garcetti said he is open to speaking to demonstrators, but didn’t elaborate on the specifics of the meeting.