Speaking Wednesday at a press conference at Crenshaw Boulevard near Stocker Street, community activists including Jim Lafferty of the National Lawyers Guild, actor Harry Lennix, (pictured) Rev. Meri Ka Ra of KRST Unity Center of African Spiritual Science, as well as writer and KPFK radio show host Michael Slate, accused the Los Angeles Police Department of utilizing illegal and intimidating tactics to prevent promotion of the premier of the movie “BA Speaks: Revolution-Nothing Less.”
The accusations stemmed from an incident that happened on March 9 and involved LAPD bicycle officers threatening to cite and arrest a group of individuals who were handing out flyers about the movie and selling copies of the Communist newspaper Revolution.
Allegedly, the police initially refused to supply the codes that were being broken, but then relented after about an hour, and came back with six codes including Loud Noise Coming From Person, Distributing Flyers on Public Street and Soliciting Donations on Public Property.
BA Speaks will be screened Saturday from 1-8 p.m. at L.A. Theatre Center, 514 S. Spring St., Los Angeles. Tickets are $20. For information, call (323) 463-3500.
