De Leon and activists swap assault allegations

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Los Angeles City Councilman Kevin de Len and activists on Friday night traded assault allegations related to embattled councilmen appearing at a Christmas tree lighting in Lincoln Heights.

De Lens communications director Pete Brown told KCAL9 the councilman was on stage in Lincoln Park around 6:30 p.m. when a group of five to six people approached him. The group rushed from Len as he tried to leave the stage with a woman and her baby, Brown said.

One of the group headbutted de Len, which sparked an altercation between the two men, the station reported.

De Len released a statement saying that a staff member, a volunteer and I were violently and physically assaulted by self-proclaimed activists at a community holiday event to the dismay of a multitude of families and children who were there to celebrate the lighting of a Christmas tree and to receive toys and food.

The growing rhetoric is reaching a fever pitch, escalating from verbal threats to actual acts of violence and must stop before more serious damage or loss of life occurs, the statement said. Violence is not freedom of expression and has no place in politics or democracy.

J-Town Action & Solidarity, which markets itself as a collective grassroots community power in Little Tokyo, and the progressive group Roots Action have accused de Len of assaulting local organizer Jason Reedy. The organizations shared a 10-second video on Twitter of Len holding Reedy, then pulling him to a table.

De Len then pushed Reedy away from the table and towards a wall at the end of the video.

The Los Angeles Police Department told KCAL9 they responded to the venue after receiving a report of a large group fight. Authorities told KCAL9 that when officers arrived, a man was being treated by paramedics for body aches.

The LAPD has not released the names of those involved and has not taken anyone into custody.

The Lincoln Park appearance came hours after de Len attended a council meeting for the first time since Oct. 11. His appearance was brief as protesters immediately yelled at him to leave, and he was no longer present after a break of around 45 minutes.

De Len has defied widespread calls to resign for his involvement in a 2021 racist conversation with Council members Gil Cedillo and Nury Martinez and a top county labor official who was leaked in October. He also faces a recall effort that is collecting signatures.

Protesters have regularly shown up at meetings demanding that de Len and Cedillo resign before the city conducts its business.

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