Coincidence Or Not? Occupy LA's City Hall Eviction Coincides With Major Movie Shoot
LOS ANGELES (CBS) — Protesters allege the eviction of the Occupy L.A. encampment by city officials may be due to a scheduled shoot of the movie, "Gangster Squad."
Sources with Occupy L.A. tell CBS2 that on Nov. 20, the location manager for the Warner Bros. film starring Ryan Gosling and Sean Penn asked Occupy L.A. members to move several portable restrooms near Spring and Main streets for a shoot scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 29 in front of city hall.
Occupy L.A. agreed to move the restrooms but only at the studio's expense, movement leaders said.
On Nov. 22, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced the planned eviction of the Occupy L.A. camp with a deadline of midnight Monday.
"While Occupy L.A. has brought needed attention to the economic disparities in our country, an encampment on City Hall grounds is simply not sustainable indefinitely. We will close and rebuild the park so that any individual will have the opportunity to use this free speech zone to exercise their first amendment rights at City Hall," Villaraigosa said in a statement.
Protestors allege that the timing of the Mayor's eviction plan was based around the movie's shooting schedule and monetary incentives.
Mayor Villaraigosa has yet to comment on the accusations.
"Gangster Squad" chronicles the "LAPD's fight to keep East Coast Mafia types out of Los Angeles in the 1940s and 50s," according to IMDb.com. It is scheduled to be released in 2012.
