Activists Disrupt LA Mayoral Homelessness Forum at LA Synagogue, Accuse Candidates of Being for “White Rich People”

Several protesters disrupted a mayoral forum at Temple Beth Hillel in Valley Village about the homelessness crisis in Los Angeles on March 21, shutting down the event early.

The Los Angeles Times and Fox 11 Los Angeles reported that the forum featured mayoral candidates Representative Karen Bass (D-CA), City Attorney Mike Feuer, City Councilmember Joe Buscaino and Councilmember Kevin de Leon. About 30 minutes into the event, protesters in the audience got up and started shouting at the mayoral candidates “about an array of topics, including the size of the police budget and the city’s recent effort to clear homeless people out of Toriumi Plaza in Little Tokyo” as well as the enforcement of a city law banning homeless encampments in more than 200 locations. Among the things that were shouted included accusing de Leon of “being here for all the white rich people in this room” and suggesting that de Leon is “fresh meat.” One protester similarly accused Bass of being focused on her “rich constituents” and not giving “a f— about poor people,” and yelled at her for not having a plan to address climate change. Buscaino was also laughed and booed at when he called himself “a man of faith.”

Eventually, the candidates walked off the stage.

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The People’s City Council Los Angeles, which describes itself as “an actions-oriented coalition of social and climate justice organizations and organizers,” tweeted that the forum organizers “shut down this debate the second that these criminalization candidates were forced to face the Unhoused people who they regularly demonize, sweep, and harm. We attended this debate as a citywide coalition of Unhoused people and advocates to give a voice to the people.” They criticized the forum for not including “a single Unhoused person, instead providing an uncritical platform for these politicians to peddle false narratives, fearmongering, and dehumanization without pushback.”

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