CovOps
Location : Ether-Sphere Job/hobbies : Irrationality Exterminator Humor : Über Serious
| Subject: Los Angeles ArtWalk turns into violent clash between police, Occupy Sat Jul 14, 2012 12:42 am | |
| Occupy LA supporters organized a "Chalk Walk" movement during the monthly ArtWalk event, protesting a slate of recent arrests of people who wrote messages in chalk on the streets, reported KTLA.
The chalk drawings said things like, "Welcome to the police state," "May the youth rise," and "End the Fed," the Los Angeles Times reported.
The Occupy LA Facebook page describes the arrests as "an attempt to stifle dissent."
"We will be handing out free chalk for free speech," Occupiers wrote on Twitter.
The ArtWalk tour opens restaurants, bars and galleries to attract hundreds to the revitalized downtown neighborhood. Joined by demonstrators and eventually hundreds of police officers sent in to control the protests, the crowd grew to more than a thousand people, shutting down the intersection at Fifth and Spring Streets, KTLA reported.
Police tried to separate the residents touring the event and the Occupy protesters, according to the station. Demonstrators were ordered to disperse shortly before 10 p.m. after they began writing on the sidewalks and buildings with chalk.
Protesters say officers used rubber bullets and batons to disperse the crowd. Demonstrators in turn threw rocks and bottles at police. Three officers were treated for minor injuries and one policewoman received a mild concussion when she was struck in the helmet, reported the Associated Press.
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/los-angeles-artwalk-turns-violent-clash-police-occupy-article-1.1114068 |
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