BLM Leader Filmed Being Dragged Away by Police From Mayoral Debate in Los Angeles
© AP Photo / Richard Vogel
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California State University at Los Angeles said in a statement that "one person was removed from the debate, arrested, and released at the scene".
A Black Lives Matter leader named Melina Abdullah ended up being evicted from a mayoral debate at Cal State, Los Angeles on Sunday.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Abdullah explained that she was carried out by two campus police officers from the room where the debate was about to take place, as she did not have a ticket to the event.
"I’m processing that as I was yelling for help, that I was being hurt and called for Karen Bass and Kevin De León … two people who have been very close for more than 20 years, they said nothing, not even a simple ‘Please put her down’, nor did any other candidate", she said in a written statement. "It’s both hurtful and outrageous".
She also insisted that she "should have been able to watch the mayoral debate that was happening on my own campus".
The university has since issued a statement saying that "one person was removed from the debate, arrested, and released at the scene", and that "there were no other arrests".
Meanwhile, Abdullah herself said that the police "were attempting to arrest" her, but did not do so at the scene, telling her instead that they would be reaching out to her later.
Videos that have emerged on social media show Abdullah being dragged from the auditorium.
Today I attempted to watch the mayoral debate held on the campus where I’ve taught for 20 years. As I waited for it to start, the white @PBI director called the police on me. He and each of the candidates watched as I was brutally removed. @CalStateLA
— Melina Abdullah (@DocMellyMel) May 2, 2022
pic.twitter.com/cjihRrwtJq
The newspaper points out that the main candidates have been “dogged” by activists in recent months, and a mayoral forum that was held in Little Tokyo on Saturday ended up being “briefly disrupted”.
