Dec. 10 (UPI) — Embattled councilman Los Angeles City Councilman Kevin de León ignited protests Friday with an unannounced return to City Hall and later was filmed fighting during a local holiday event.
Pandemonium broke out inside the Los Angeles City Council chambers in the morning after de León unexpectedly took his seat for a scheduled meeting — his first appearance since October when he was caught on tape with two other council members making racist comments and suggesting manipulating the city redistricting process.
Council Member Nury Martinez resigned as a result of the incident, while de León, who was first elected in 2020, and Gil Cedillon have so far refused to follow suit, despite repeated calls to do so.
De Leon’s sudden appearance prompted some council members to walk out while protestors also chided him outside of the meeting.
Councilman Mike Bonin left the meeting after de León arrived, as did fellow council members Nithya Raman and Marqueece Harris-Dawson.
Los Angeles Police Department officers wearing riot gear were also present at one point.
City Council President Paul Krekorian called for a 10-minute recess which ended up lasting 45 minutes. By the time the meeting resumed, de León had left.
The Los Angeles city clerk on Friday approved a recall petition against de León, allowing organizers to begin collecting signatures.
The council meeting wasn’t the end of de León’s troubles on Friday. A video later surfaced showing the him involved in a fight during a holiday event in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood — part of the district de León represents.
He claimed in a Twitter post that he and two others “were violently and physically assaulted by self-proclaimed activists” at the event “to the dismay of a multitude of families and children who were there to celebrate a Christmas tree lighting and to receive toys and food.”
The short 10-second clip shows posted by activists shows de Leon grabbing a man and shoving him back towards a wall.
“What the video doesn’t capture, most conveniently, is he thrusted his pelvis into me and then he head-butted me right into the head,” de León said after the event. “When he head-butted me is when I grabbed him and put him on the table — I held him on the table there for maybe five to 10 seconds.”
