- MTLB
Vandals sprayed graffiti on the Long Beach Convention Center days before the site is to house migrant children.
Details:
Police responded to the Convention Center at roughly 6:30 a.m. Monday morning over vandalism reports, which were littered along the promenade walkway on windows, walkways, and pillars between Seaside Way and Shoreline Drive.
LBPD spokesperson Brandon Fahey said the graffiti appear "to be politically motivated" and that about 3:45 a.m., four unknown suspects wearing dark clothing, masks and backpacks, approached and vandalized the area then fled the scene on foot.
By 9 a.m, police placed crime scene tape around the area, detectives from the Violent Crimes Detail and Crime Lab team responded to the scene to assist with the investigation.
Most of the graffiti was anti-ICE and anti-detention center, with some expressions calling the convention center a "concentration camp," "Fuck ICE," and "No Human is Illegal."
The vandals also sprayed the names of Long Beach City Council members on the convention center's windows.
Background:
Activists gathered outside the Long Beach Convention Center over the weekend to protest the detention of migrant children and for transparency.
Maggie, the 20-year-old sea otter, died Friday due to advanced age, the Aquarium of the Pacific announced.
Details: The Aquarium says the beloved otter has been "showing a decline in health in recent months," and that Maggie reached the "maximum age" for sea otters.
Staff conducted a standard blood draw to assess her condition; She passed away shortly afterward.
Origin Story: Maggie arrived at the Aquarium in 2010, at nine years of age, after being stranded and rescued. She was later considered to be "non-releasable to the wild" by the Aquarium.
The Aquarium's staff "considered Maggie to be a motherly sea otter with a kind and gentle nature. Over the years when young rescued sea otters would be introduced to their new home at the Aquarium, Maggie would share food and swim gently with them. She will be greatly missed by staff and her many public fans."
A handful of Bixby Knolls residents encountered flyers bearing White nationalist literature on storefronts and buildings along a stretch of Atlantic Avenue early Wednesday morning, according to multiple reports.
What Happened:
The flyers appeared to be handwritten and included a well-known White supremacist slogan known as "the 14 Words," which declares the importance of securing a future for "White children," per the LB Post.
It's unclear if the racist flyers are a response to the Long City Council's acceptance of a temporary shelter for unaccompanied migrant children at the convention center.
Chris Collopy, executive director of the Teachers Association of Long Beach, said he spotted a flyer on a glass case in front of his office, checked the building's security camera footage after removing it and calling the police, and saw a person hang the flyer approximately 1:15 a.m.
The LA Times reported the presence of fliers featuring Ku Klux Klan propaganda was found in downtown Huntington Beach on Easter Sunday.
Collopy told the Post It's just so bizarre," Collopy said. "I've been working here in Long Beach for 13 years, and I've never seen something like that before."
The big picture:
White nationalist recruitment activities, which included the circulation of racist, antisemitic, and anti-LGBTQ fliers, stickers, banners, and posters, nearly doubled in 2020, according to a report by the Anti-Defamation League's Center on Extremism.