Los Angeles police in riot gear faced off with protesters outside the latest meeting of the embattled city council as they demanded that two of its members resign over a racist tape scandal.
More than 50 protesters gathered outside a door of City Hall on Tuesday, chanting “no resignations, no meeting”, despite the latest meeting being held virtually.
Council members Kevin de León and Gil Cedillo have apologised but refused to step down after they were secretly recorded in a meeting with former council president Nury Martinez as she made a string of racist remarks.
Ms Martinez resigned as council president before giving up her council seat totally in the wake of the scandal that has rocked LA politics.
The politician said she was “truly ashamed” of the alleged racist comments she was caught on tape making about a fellow council member’s Black son, who she called a “monkey” in Spanish.
Ms Martinez was captured on a leaked audio recording referring to the alleged past misbehaviour of councillor Mike Bonin’s son. She is also accused of saying in front of other council members, “I was like, this kid needs a beatdown.”
The leaked audio involved three council members, including Gil Cedillo and Kevin de León as well as Los Angeles County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera, who resigned from his position.
Both Mr Cedillo and Mr de León have been stripped of their council committee assignments.
The comments were reportedly recorded in October 2021 and released on Reddit just weeks ahead of the 8 November election.
The Los Angeles Police Department has not launched an investigation into who recorded and leaked the audio because no one has filed a report, according to The Los Angeles Times.
But recording a conversation without the other party’s consent is largely illegal in the state of California.
The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, where the conversation was secretly taped, says that the actions were “illegal.”
The latest council meeting was held virtually because of a Covid-19 exposure last week in the council chamber.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
