Los Angeles Mayor Fears New Violence p. 1

Los Angeles Mayor Fears New Violence p. 1

" Sacramento, Calif. – Communists and racial zealots are threatening Los Angeles with “urban guerrilla warfare” this summer according to Mayor Samuel W. Yorty. He said plans were being laid to burn and sack the huge metropolis in a catastrophe that could exceed last August’s Watt’s riot, where 37 persons died a n d property damage reached several million. Yorty and Police Chief William H. Parker appeared before a State Assembly committee to seek approval of legislation strengthening California law against inciting a riot. “We are now facing planned riots”, Parker told the Criminal Procedure Committee. He noted rumors of a serious July Fourth riot and said if it occurs “the Fourth of July won’t look like the Independence Day of this country, it will look like an armed state . . .” But Negro spokesmen promptly challenged Yorty’s and Parker’s testimony. They said statements that racial tensions in Los Angeles were “explosive’ were “completely false.” Bill Greene, Democratic candidate for the State Assemblyman from the Watts district, accused Yorty of “grabbing the old red flag” by charging communists were leading the city into racial troubles. Leon Ralph, another Democratic Assembly nominee representing Watts, denied that the predominantly Negro area was an “armed camp” and charged that the two officials themselves threatened to incite a riot with their public statement."

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Chicago Defender

1966-7-02