Venice Councilwomen File ‘Hate Crime’ Charges with LAPD Against Protestors Over Wednesday Attack

Two women who were with Gubernatorial candidate Larry Elder in Venice Beach Wednesday say they were attacked by several protestors hurling eggs and racial epithets while walking through the Venice neighborhood. Soledad Ursua and Chie Lunn have filed police reports with the LAPD demanding the case be filed as a hate crime.

Ursua says she and Lunn, both members of the Venice Neighborhood Council, “are the only women of color on the council,” and felt targeted.

“The Elder campaign had just begun its final leg of the campaign by instituting a statewide ‘Recall Express’ bus tour on Tuesday, with stops in Los Angeles, Venice, Northridge, and Santa Barbara scheduled on Wednesday,” the Globe reported. “His Venice stop was across from the Gold’s Gym, a popular campaign stop for many politicians due to its proximity to many large homeless encampments in the area and many services catering to low-income and homeless people.”

Larry Elder attacked by leftist group of Democrats by throwing eggs at him & assaulting others in the group while the egg throwing assailant donned a gorilla mask. Imagine if this same scenario happened to a black democrat candidate? #DemoKKKratspic.twitter.com/vd2rE56Qec

— Max Andrews (@realthinkmax) September 9, 2021

The Globe spoke with Soledad Ursua Friday who said she filed the police report Thursday evening. “We’re the only two women of color on the [Venice] council,” she said. “We don’t know if those eggs were meant for both of us standing next to him, or for him.”

“Larry was our guest,” Ursua said. “We invited him to Venice. This is Skid Row West, and candidates need to see this.”

Ursua said the group of seven outside Gold’s Gym were excited to have Elder visit. Ursua said Lunn is a mother and a teacher, and had a homeless encampment outside her house for 6 months. Lunn was prepared to talk to Elder about it. “We also had the President of the Venice Chamber of Commerce there,” Ursua said. “Businesses are paying $5,000 to $10,000 a month in security right now because of the homeless crisis.”

“We also had a local environmentalist who has been testing the local water and found E-Coli in it,” Ursua said. “He’s been trying to get people to understand that everything on the streets runs into the water and ocean.”

“We were so excited to talk to Larry,” she added. “A landlord there wanted to talk to Larry about his tenants not wanting to live there any more.”

“Larry was getting the local perspectives on the failed homeless policies,” Ursua added.

“Suddenly there’s pushing, shoving and then the eggs came flying,” Ursua said. She said she’s only 5’2″ and couldn’t see initially where the eggs came from.

“The protestors called us ‘f*cking whores,’ and “‘f*cking bitches,’ and the N-word to intimidate us,” Ursua said, reiterating that they wondered if the attack was meant for them.

Ursua provided this Tweet, and said you can hear the racial epithets hurled in the video:

Some profane heckling of Elder as he walks past homeless camps in Venice pic.twitter.com/rVepYyeSx6

— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) September 8, 2021

In an interview Thursday with John Phillips on KABC in Los Angeles, Phillips asked Ursua if ever in her experience as an elected local official and member of the Venice Neighborhood Council has anything close to this and the racial ugliness happened? “No, and these were not Venice people,” Ursua said. “Chie Lunn is African American. What will her kids think?” Ursua asked. “They’re going to see a white woman in a gorilla mask calling her the N-word and throwing eggs at her.”

“My biggest regret was that I did not rip the mask off that woman so everyone could see the face of racism and bigotry,” she said.

“I feel like these are people doing performance art protesting,” Ursua told the Globe. She said there was a skinhead guy all tattooed up protesting. She got photos of him, and because his tattoos were recognizable, found out he’s a local MMA fighter. “That’s expensive to do,” Ursua said. “He’s not some homeless guy out for a protest.”

Ursua told the Globe that not one local elected member of the LA City Council has commented publicly about the attack on Elder, Ursua and Lunn. “Sheriff Alex Villanueva is the only one who asked about this being a hate crime,” she said. “Where’s the FBI? Where’s the LAPD?”

QUESTION: How is this not a hate crime?

ANSWER: Because “woke privilege” means a white woman can wear a gorilla mask and attack a black man without fear of being called a racist.

Where is the outrage from our politicians?#Hypocrisy #WokePrivilege @LarryElder @GavinNewsom pic.twitter.com/h6vnXQ2Uzd

— Alex Villanueva (@LACoSheriff) September 9, 2021