Facebook Campaign Against Huizar’s Plan to Restrict Public Access to City Hall Park

A Facebook campaign is building against to protest his plan to restrict public access to City Hall’s lawns after 7 p.m. daily.

On Wednesday, Huizar introduced a motion in the City Council to close the City Hall Park to the public after 7 p.m.—and a more detailed proposal by the Council member is expected to come before the City Council next week.

The sprawling area in the heart of downtown L.A. was the scene last fall of eight weeks of protests by the Occupy L.A. movement, which left the park in a shambles. The park is currently undergoing a thorough restoration at a reported cost of nearly $400,000. It was open earlier to the public until 10 p.m., although Occupy L.A. protesters were allowed to camp there overnight until police forcibly evicted them in December.

Click here to read our previous story about Huizar's plan and his views about the Occupy L.A. sit-in.

The Facebook campaign against Huizar, titled “EMERGENCY PROTEST against L.A. Councilman Jose Huizar's proposal to repress the People of Los Angeles' right to peaceably assemble at City Hall Park and petition the government for a redress of grievances,” currently has 705 invitations to Facebook members, of which 30 are listed as “Going” and 23 as “Maybe.”

The campaign’s Facebook page features an image of Huizar in a dark suit, white shirt and tie. Next to the image is a graphic displaying the words “The Godfather” in white letters suspended like puppets on strings.

The protest appears to be organized by two people identified on the Facebook page as “Alissa Occupied Everywhere” and “Ryan Rice.” The venue for the protest has yet to be announced. The date and time scheduled is Monday, 7 p.m.—but two messages posted by “Alissa Occupied Everywhere” on the page indicate that Thursday, 7 p.m. might be the eventual date and time for the protest.

“Hey! I'm thinking about moving it to Thursday, which is the night before the proposal is presented,” reads one of the messages, adding: “Would that work better?”