Thousands protest Walmart in Los Angeles

 Led by a motorcycle brigade and Chinese lion dancers, thousands of Angelenos marched through the heart of Chinatown Saturday to protest a Walmart moving into the historic downtown Los Angeles neighborhood.

 

The Huffington Post:

 

Led by a motorcycle brigade and Chinese lion dancers, thousands of Angelenos marched through the heart of Chinatown Saturday to protest Walmart moving into the historic downtown Los Angeles neighborhood. Walmart workers, large groups from various unions and others shouted slogans such as "Walmart hurts the 99 percent" and "Walmart, Walmart, you're no good. Treat your workers like you should" as they passed many of the neighborhood's small Chinese businesses.

While less vocal than the chanting activists, many of the mom-and-pop owners and employees held anti-Walmart signs or had them in their storefront windows. 

"When they corporatize business, all small businesses do die," Carter Lee, son of the owner of Ocean Pacific restaurant, told The Huffington Post. "They just keep sucking profit out of the local community. It's like a black hole."

Several protestors told HuffPost that they did not want a Chinatown Walmart because they wanted to preserve the culture and businesses of Chinatown. Others expressed concern about Walmart's non-union jobs and reputation for low wages and lack of benefits.

 

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