A Los Angeles City Council member and an activist fought during a holiday event on Friday night.
The Los Angeles Times stated that Kevin de León was involved in an incident at a toy distribution and holiday tree lighting in Lincoln Park.
In a statement to the newspaper, León claimed he was assaulted, while protestors claimed he was the aggressor.
The Times stated that two local activist groups, RootsAction and J-TOWN Action and Solidarity, uploaded a video on Twitter depicting a section of the altercation between De León and a guy named Jason Reedy, a People’s City Council organizer.
The administration of De León stated that Reedy and other activists were at fault. The Times stated that De León spokesperson Pete Brown said Reedy head-butted the council member, elbowed a member of his staff in the face, and hit a volunteer in the arm.
Kevin de Leon, a member of the council, believes he was attacked first.
AP
De León’s statement to the Times stated that they were “violently and physically assaulted by self-proclaimed activists at a community holiday event, much to the dismay of a large number of families and children who were there to celebrate the lighting of a Christmas tree and receive gifts and food.”
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“The rising rhetoric has reached a fever pitch, transcending verbal threats into actual acts of violence, and must cease before more severe damage or loss of life occurs,” the statement stated. “Violence is not protected by the First Amendment and has no place in politics or democracy.”
Shakeer Rahman, Reedy’s attorney, termed De León “a disgrace” in a Friday night statement to the Times.
“As Mr. Reedy lies on the ground, video footage shows him and his followers instigating this assault,” Rahman added. “Not only has Kevin de León lost all political legitimacy, but his assertions that he was the target of this attack demonstrate that he has lost touch with reality,” the author writes.
Following a scandal involving elected officials’ racist remarks, De León attended his first City Council meeting in almost two months on Friday.
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