Saturday November 29, 2014





The LAPD have been using constitutionally dubious crowd-control tactics. On Wednesday, the police failed to properly notify demonstrators and make sure they heard the order to disperse before arresting them. Last night, Friday the 28th, the LAPD told the crowd of protestors I was with to make a right on Alvarado after blocking off Beverly. I was behind the crowd when I was informed of the change in direction. Less than a minute later, an SUV with 8 cops in riot gear hanging off went down Bonnie Brae. I tried texting my friends to warn them that they’re being flanked but it was too late. LAPD trapped them at the intersection and told them they needed to go back to Beverly and Alvarado. That’s exactly what they did when they were kettled. There was no order to disperse and no one declared the demonstration an unlawful assembly yet protestors were being detained. According to multiple friends who were detained, the police didn’t announce their intentions until 30 minutes into the detainment. I was hit with a baton so hard that I lost my breath for attempting to reach the crowd. I was then aggressively shoved by the same officer who told me to move back. I told him I have breathing difficulty and a balance disorder and to please not hit me on my chest or shove me too hard. I turned around to walk away and he pushed me so hard I, with two backpacks filled with water bottles and first aid supplies weighing me down, was thrown off balance and stumbled. A friend that was being detained was released and told me he was given a citation for illegal assembly but wasn’t given a copy of the citation. He also told me that whoever doesn’t have a clean record in the group being detained, which is a group of 25-30 people, are being arrested. I asked multiple officers if this is an unlawful assembly, as well as the officer in charge, and they all refused to answer me. After detaining the group for 2 hours, they finally announced on the PA that our protest was an illegal assembly and to disperse or we will be subject to arrest. The man in Yellow in the bottom picture was the only protestor who was being disruptive and disrespectful. He was antagonizing police and attempting to get into physical fights. When he was kettled with the group, 3 officers walked up to him to whisper something in his ear and left. He was finally taken by police in what looked like a staged arrest yet he was seen later walking around. Apparently the LAPD called on a city-wide Tactical Alert yesterday as well. There was a heavy presence of sheriffs at MacArthur Park with guns out looking for protestors. An officer who was in front of the group of detainees had a green-label rifle he was playing with. When the rest of the detainees were released they were released with a police escort, could only leave in groups of 2 and could only leave north up Alvarado away from downtown. The LAPD are violating our rights with “failure to disperse” and kettling. The National Lawyers Guild was there and said what the LAPD was doing was violating our constitutional rights. It wasn’t declared an unlawful assembly and no one was given an order to disperse until AFTER people were detained. Then it was explained to KCBS that they were taking the time to read protesters their rights individually and then give them the choice to disperse or get arrested. Only those with outstanding arrest warrants were not given the choice.
Indict the system. Give the people their justice.