The sound was off on my television when I first saw video of police in riot gear attacking reporters covering a demonstration. I assumed I was seeing footage from a police riot in Bogata or Buenos Aires.

In fact, the scene had taken place at MacArthur Park near Downtown Los Angeles, just five miles from my home.

The demonstrators were protesting treatment of Mexican illegal aliens by the government, marking the first anniversary of immigrants rights protets that brought tens of thousands of people to the streets downtown. This year’s event was much smaller, and would have been relegated to footnotes in the news, if the cops hadn’t over-reacted.

It’s hard to imagine a worse PR move than clubbing reporters who are simply doing their jobs. It’s equally hard to think of an organization that needs to avoid bad PR, especially among minority communities, more than the Los Angeles Police Dept.

Worse, this is not the first time the LAPD has been caught on tape roughing up reporters at a big event. The department and the city were sued after the Democratic Convention here in 2000 for precisely that. The matter was settled in 2002, with an agreement that officers would not use force against reporters even when they were covering an unlawful assembly during an order to disperse.

Oops.