So I ran into this chick at the Anti-Bush Rally/March Thursday night in Westwood, whom I met once before at another anti-Bush event, her name is Julia. She invited me to help out as a Legal Observer at a Protest of Milk N’ Honey, a restaurant in downtown Los Angeles. I have never heard of Milk N’ Honey before, but It sounded fun and I wasn’t doing anything else this Sunday.

So I drove down to the Star Bucks across the street from Milk N’ Honey, and met the rest of the protestors. There were about 15 protestors in all, college-aged with an axe to grind over the unfair labor practices of Milk N’ Honey: paying under minimum-wage and not paying workers over-time. So we crossed the street; me armed with a day-glow green “Legal Observer” hat and camera in hand, while the rest of them carried their colorful protest signs to the protest at the front steps of Milk N’ Honey.

As soon as we arrived the protestors started to chant and march in a picket line in front of Milk N’ Honey. The owner of the restaurant, along with other people from inside, came out yelling and harassing us. They were saying things like “Get a Job!” and “You guy’s have no life!” followed by “Don’t you losers have anything else better to do on a Sunday?”

When these people from the restaurant saw that their intimidation wasn’t working, they drove and illegally parked two big-moving vans in front, so passers by couldn’t see the protestors picketing in front of the restaurant. By this time the LAPD had arrived on the to evaluate the scene. The protestors started to chant “Tow that Van! That van is illegally parked! Tow that Van!” When I asked the police sergeant on the scene how come the van wasn’t being towed away, she tried to tell me that the van wasn’t parked illegally because it hadn’t been there for more than one hour. And so I told the sergeant that the van was illegally parked because it was in a red-zone. Then the sergeant told me, that she would have to wait for more officers to evaluate the situation. And I just thought to myself, there are already like five officers here, how many does it take to write a damn ticket?

Then, out of nowhere one of the protestors who was filming the whole event was struck in the face by her own video camera, when another person who wasn’t happy with us being there, shoved her video camera into her face and hit her eye. The police arrested that man and took his sorry ass to jail. When I was trying to take photos of the guy getting arrested, his buddy kept shoving his hand in front of my camera. I told this dude to stop, and that “This is America” and that I can take pictures here if I want to. Then this loser started screaming that I broke his hand, because my camera lens cap bumped his hand. I basically told him in so many words that he was full of shit, and that my lens cap barley bumped his hand and to stop lying about it. Heh. One of the officers on the scene told us to “Knock it Off!”

After a few hours the demonstration was over, one ass-hole went to jail, and the person who was struck by said ass-hole is recuperating. The protestors were successfully able to turn away a few customers, and the owners of Milk N’ Honey know they can’t fuck with people who know their rights, and won’t be intimidated my empty threats and harassment. This is America, and people (like these 15 students) who stand-up and fight against injustice, greed, and intolerance are what make this country so great…regardless of what corporate-slut is president. Peace.