LAPD shifts 2 commanders

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LOS ANGELES, May 8 (UPI) -- The Los Angeles Police Department has reassigned two commanders following a bungled response to minor violence during an immigration rally.

Seven police officers and 10 protesters and reporters were hurt during the incident last week, The Los Angeles Times reported.

"We're not going to shift responsibility down the chain of command," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said at a news conference with LAPD Chief William J. Bratton and Police Commission President John Mack. "Accountability begins at the top. What happened on May 1 was wrong. We're taking immediate action to address it."

Deputy Chief Cayler "Lee" Carter Jr., commanding officer of Operations Central Bureau, and Cmdr. Louis Gray, the No. 2 official in the bureau, were moved from their command posts.

During the large and mostly peaceful rally in MacArthur Park, about 30 to 40 people outside the park began throwing plastic bottles at police. Officers on the scene pushed them into the park, setting off a chain of events that led to a baton charge and the firing of 150 "less than lethal" rounds into the crowd.