BLM Holds Protest At North Hollywood Church Where Black Woman Was Harassed

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – A Black Lives Matter protest was held Sunday outside a North Hollywood church where two parishioners were caught on video harassing a Black woman who was sitting on the property.

Earlier this month, a woman was sitting on a patch of grass under a tree outside St Paul's First Lutheran Church, located at 11330 McCormick St., when two volunteers came over and put up a "no trespassing" sign.

In cell phone video shot by the woman, identified as Alex Marshall-Brown, the men admit that the sign was put up because she was sitting there.

On Sunday, BLM protesters gathered outside the church to voice their disappointment over the incident. The church has since apologized for the volunteers' actions and removed them from their positions.

On Sunday, Marshall-Brown attended a service at the church which parishioners say was focused on kindness and inclusion.

"It is odd to be still back in these surrounding, but I'm here," Marshall-Brown told CBSLA Sunday. "And everyone so far has been very nice, so it's just an emotion-filled moment for me."

The church has a school attached to it. While the church has a policy against loitering within a certain radius of the school for the safety of the children, and in response to incidents of vandalism, St. Paul's School Acting Principal Santiago Botero said Marshall-Brown was clearly not harming any person or property.

"Our staff acted in a manner that wasn't loving, that did not represent the love of God, and in a manner that was racially biased," Botero said Sunday.

Marshall-Brown said the church has told her it will introduce sensitivity and racial-bias training.