Violent protests on Sunday The synagogue has inspired Mayor Karen Bass Los Angeles should consider rules for demonstrations and for protesters to wear masks.
Bass made no proposals Monday, but said the city needs to consider the issue — including “the idea of people wearing masks at protests.” Many pro-Palestinian protesters covered their faces Sunday.
At an afternoon news conference, the mayor also said she was seeking funding from the city and state for additional security measures at places of worship in the city. Hours after the clashes, she ordered the LAPD to increase patrols in the predominantly Jewish Pico-Robertson area, where the protest took place, and at places of worship.
Masks have been featured in many pro-Palestinian and some pro-Israel protests against the war in Gaza, including on college campuses.
when the mob attacked At a pro-Palestinian camp at UCLA in May, suspects were hard to identify Because many people were wearing masks Police said they would use technology that captures images and outlines of faces and name the faces by comparing them with other images on the internet and social media.
It is unclear how the government might restrict the use of masks at protests.
During the 2020 George Floyd protests, some health officials urged protesters to wear masks to protect against COVID-19. Coronavirus cases reduced While the number has dropped dramatically since then, masks can still provide protection, especially for people with underlying health problems.
Earlier this month, New York Governor Kathy Hochul said she was considering banning face masks on the New York subway because she was concerned people wearing masks might commit anti-Semitic acts.
“We will not tolerate individuals who use masks to avoid responsibility for criminal or threatening behavior,” Hochul said. From reporters At a news conference. “My team is working on a solution. But in the metro, people should not be allowed to hide behind masks to commit crimes.”
New York Mayor Eric Adams supported the idea. telling reporters that “cowards cover their faces.”
Some civil liberties advocates opposed the idea.
“Mask bans were originally developed to stifle political protest, and like other laws that criminalize people, they will be selectively enforced — used to arrest, surveil, and silence people of color and protesters who disagree with police,” Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement. According to the Associated Press.
also in north carolina There has been talk of a mask ban, citing protests over the Gaza war. But there has been opposition from some health professionals and people with health problems.
a North Carolina resident told the washington post“I thought I should wear masks that say something like ‘immunocompromised’ or ‘cancer patient.’ But we shouldn’t do that.”
A new proposal This now includes health discounts,
There has been no formal proposal in Los Angeles, and it’s unclear whether the City Council would support the idea.
But local Anti-Defamation League officials expressed support for the mask ban Monday. Jeffrey Abrams, the ADL’s Los Angeles regional director, stood on stage with Bass at an afternoon news conference and said the city needs to do more to protect the community.
“As Mayor Bass said, we need to look at every available legal tool, as city attorneys look at existing anti-masking laws in the state of California,” Abrams said.
Sunday’s protests were condemned by top officials including Bass, President Biden and Gov. Gavin Newsom.
A pro-Palestinian protester was surrounded by pro-Israel counter-protesters and forced into a car near the Adas Torah synagogue on Sunday.
(Zoe Cranfill / Los Angeles Times)
The protest began Sunday afternoon at the Adas Torah synagogue in the predominantly Jewish Pico-Robertson neighborhood but eventually spread to surrounding neighborhoods over several hours. Scuffles broke out between pro-Palestinian demonstrators — who said they were protesting an event at the synagogue promoting the sale of stolen Palestinian land — and Israeli supporters.
“Yesterday’s events were abhorrent, and restricting access to a place of worship is completely unacceptable,” Bass said Monday. “This violence was designed to instill fear. It was designed to divide. But hear me loud and clear: It will fail.”
“Intimidating Jewish worshippers is dangerous, unconscionable, anti-Semitic, and un-American,” the president said in a statement. “Americans have a right to peaceful protest. But blocking access to a place of worship — and engaging in violence — is never acceptable.”
Law enforcement sources said the program was advertised in Friday’s issue of the Jewish Journal, promising information on “housing projects in all of Israel’s finest Anglo neighborhoods.” “Anglo” is a direct translation from Hebrew meaning “English-speaking.” The ad did not specify where in Israel the real estate was located.
Protesters posted on social media said “our land is not for sale” and denounced “land theft,” according to an Instagram post by the Southern California chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement, which did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday.
Hussein Ayloush, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Los Angeles office, said the protest site was not selected because it was in front of a synagogue, but because an event was being held there.
“This protest was in response to the gross violations of international law and human rights by agencies that seek to profit by selling brutally stolen Palestinian land, while the Israeli government continues its eight-month-long campaign of genocide and ethnic cleansing in Gaza,” he said in a statement.
“Elected officials and the mainstream media have politicized this incident as religious discrimination rather than a human rights issue,” Ayloush said.
Rabbi Hertzel Ilulian, founder of the JEM Community Center in Beverly Hills, arrived to worship at Adas Torah during noon prayers on Sunday and was confronted by a group shouting into a megaphone. He said some who arrived at the synagogue were prevented from entering.
“We couldn’t pray properly because people were shouting outside,” he said.
