Los Angeles, CA – On May 5, students and community members protested the visit of presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Clinton spoke to supporters on the East Los Angeles College (ELAC) campus Thursday afternoon. 500 protesters demanding she leave the campus marched on the gymnasium where she spoke.

Protesters gathered in nearby Belvedere Park and marched to the campus chanting “Deport Hillary!” “Hillary fuera! Fuera de East LA!” and “Chicano power!” Once on campus they were met by East LA sheriffs. Many of the sheriffs were on horseback. Many police helicopters hovered overhead. As the protesters kept chanting they gathered on campus for a round of speeches. After the speeches, they marched on the gymnasium and were met by barricades and more police.

Irving Grey Angeles, one of the organizers with MEXA de ELAC said, “The message is clear. She represents the 1%. She gives closed door speeches to Wall Street for hundreds of thousands of dollars and won't release the transcripts. She has called for the deportation of undocumented people, even children. As a working-class and immigrant community, clearly, she does not have our best interests at heart. In a classic display of pandering, she decides to visit us on 5 de Mayo. We're not having that. The protest brought out hundreds of students and community members who are tired of being lied to and misled by opportunist politicians. All power to the people!”

A few protesters went into the event and chanted during her speech. Clinton's speech was cut short by ten minutes and she was forced to leave early. As Clinton supporters filed out of the event, the protesters kept chanting: “Hey hey ho ho! Hillary Clinton's got to go!” “Vendidos!” and “Sell-outs!”

Long time Chicano activist Carlos Montes said, “We're not going to get Chicano political power through Hillary Clinton or the elections. We need to keep organizing and fight for equality and self-determination!”

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