Black Lives Matter activists protested outside the home of Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, opposing the mayor’s potential nomination to President-elect Joe Biden’s cabinet.
A few hundred people gathered at the house Saturday morning chanting “F— Garcetti.” “Garcetti is the worst mayor in the nation, don’t choose him for transportation,” other protesters reportedly shouted.
Demonstrators have gathered near Garcetti’s home for days. On Thanksgiving, the protest was declared an unlawful assembly and two people were arrested, according to Fox 11 Los Angeles.
Protesters vowed to gather “every single day” at 9 a.m. “We’re telling @joebiden not to appoint @mayorofla to his cabinet. We won’t allow his failed policies to become a part of the national agenda,” Black Lives Matter Los Angeles wrote on its Facebook page.
Garcetti served as co-chair of the Biden-Harris campaign but has repeatedly said he is not seeking a cabinet position.
He reportedly has been under consideration for secretary of Transportation or Housing and Urban Development.
When asked Monday if he’d consider a position, Garcetti told reporters it was “one of the last things” on his mind.
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“I have been focused 110% … on COVID and on saving lives,” Garcetti said. “It’s one of the last things on my mind right now. You know, we have deaths that are going to be increasing, we have record numbers of cases, and so I don’t have anything to add on that, not because I have anything to hide, I just have nothing to add. Right now, my job No. 1 is to make sure I protect the lives of Angelenos.”
Black Lives Matter activists have been critical of his handling of the LAPD and police brutality protests in the wake of the death of George Floyd.
During the summer the mayor rejected the group’s proposal to cut the police department’s $1.8 billion operating budget by 90%.
“We are demanding that [Garcetti] stop giving the most murderous police department in the U.S. a blank check,” BLM-LA stated in an email, obtained by City News Service.
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The email continued: “We must defund the police and invest in life-affirming services. We also demand that the Biden administration refuse to select L.A.’s sycophant, self-seeking mayor for a Cabinet position in which he is completely unqualified.”
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Biden has rolled out Cabinet and other administration picks this week. They include Antony Blinken as secretary of state, Alejandro Mayorkas as secretary of homeland security, and Avril Haines, who would be the first woman to lead the intelligence community.
Fox News’ Adam Shaw contributed to this report.
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