A blistering anti-police, anti-ICE screed played out inside Los Angeles City Hall Friday — not as a protest gone rogue, but as a fully sanctioned event greenlit and hosted by far-left DSA Councilwoman Eunisses Hernandez.
The presentation took place behind what is widely regarded as a “sacred” area of City Hall, a space reserved for official proceedings and accessible only with approval from council leadership. The event was allowed to proceed uninterrupted for 15 minutes, with speakers calling to “abolish police,” denouncing law enforcement funding and urging the city to divest from LAPD.
The event centered on the New Year’s Eve shooting of Keith Porter, who was fatally shot by an off-duty ICE agent after allegedly firing a rifle into the air, an illegal and dangerous practice city officials warn can seriously injure or kill bystanders when bullets fall back to the ground.
Porter’s family and advocates argue the ICE agent overreacted.
Inside City Hall, speakers and attendees wore “Abolish Police” jackets and shirts reading “F— the police.” One attendee wore a keffiyeh, a polarizing symbol increasingly visible at far-left demonstrations.
The California Post is coming soon. Sign up for updates.
Get in early. Be the first to know about launch and home delivery.
Thanks for signing up!
Black Lives Matter Los Angeles activist Joseph Williams used the official forum to demand divestment from law enforcement and to blame both federal immigration enforcement and local policing for Porter’s death.
“We must move money away from law enforcement,” Williams told councilmembers, calling on them to hold the mayor accountable and redirect city resources.
Williams is no stranger to City Hall confrontations. He previously helped lead Black Lives Matter protests that clashed with LAPD officers in riot gear during the council’s leaked-audio scandal, when demonstrators attempted to force their way into the building and accused police of brutality.
Hernandez, the far-left District 1 councilmember who swept into office in 2022 on a police-abolition platform, presided over the presentation. A former community organizer, Hernandez has repeatedly positioned herself against traditional law enforcement, opposing police raises and voting against Mayor Karen Bass’s 2023 city budget because it devoted roughly a quarter of city spending to the LAPD.
The Post reached out to Hernandez for comment about the presentation but did not receive a response.
The Post has previously reported extensively on conditions in Hernandez’s District 1, particularly MacArthur Park, which has become ground zero for police calls as the area has been overrun by overdoses, drug deaths, open-air meth and fentanyl use, and chronic public safety emergencies that have drawn repeated LAPD responses.
