By Timothy Kudo and Linh Tat
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Protesters and police avoided violence yesterday after the two
groups negotiated for nearly an hour toward a compromise.
Demonstrators marched against police brutality and some resisted
entering the fenced-off protest area in front of Staples
Center.
In response, police intervened, dividing protesters into two
groups – one in the middle of the intersection of Figueroa Avenue
and Olympic Boulevard and the other already inside the protest
zone.
"We’re not cattle," the protesters yelled, adding in chant
"Who’s streets? Our streets."
During the clearing, police arrested two people and fired rubber
bullets. Protesters also started throwing bottles, cans and water
balloons in the air.
"I’m trying to facilitate a movement into the protest pit so you
can exercise your First Amendment right," said Los Angeles Police
Department Officer Green over a police loudspeaker.
Despite such reassurances by police, demonstrators weren’t
easily convinced that the law enforcement officers’ presence were
only trying to maintain order – and not prevent them from
protesting.
"I can understand perhaps they were trying to control the site,"
said Johnny Lai, a third-year UCLA law student and legal observer
for the National Lawyers Guild, whose job it is to make sure police
do not violate protesters’ rights.
"Even if this is what their goal was, they didn’t deliver it
very well to the protesters," he continued.
Police wanted the group to enter the protest zone, but
protesters wanted to remain in the street and have police leave the
area. The two groups also considered whether protesters should
continue the march back to MacArthur Park, located next to
protester headquarters.
Lai said some demonstrators did not want to enter the pit for
fear police would seal off exits once they were all inside.
"At that point the marchers were too afraid they were going to
get blocked in and not be able to get out," Lai said.
Dissension existed among protesters, marooned between hundreds
of police officers. Some wanted to enter the pit; others wanted to
stand their ground.
"We can show them what democracy looks like," said Lisa Green,
speaking for the half of the protest group already inside the pit
as group leaders conferred about what to do.
"No, no. Democracy looks like this," responded Xochitl, a member
of Refuse and Resist, a protest group for social and environmental
justice who spoke for the other group. "This is a police
state."
"I’m not gonna impose myself on the people. If they want to
stay, they’re gonna stay," Xochitl said.
While protest leaders argued over who could speak to the police
for the crowd, members of the crowd attacked the way things were
handled.
"I think these people are just taking control in a roguish way,"
said Justin Clark, one of the protesters.
The confrontation ended when police agreed to drop the blockade
between the pit and protesters and to let the protest group march
to Pershing Square, where the protest started hours earlier.
When protesters began marching from the square around 2 p.m.,
storeowners closed down their stores on streets where demonstrators
were marching, watching the march’s progress through store
windows.
After making their way to police headquarters protesters heckled
police standing guard in front of the building.
Police encircled the protesters, sending out group after group
of officers in riot gear, including tear gas guns and plastic
handcuffs used to make mass arrests.
The contingent, as well as the anti-police mood of the protest
sparked tensions that left many protesters on edge. Later in the
day, tensions would flare up again when a large group of police ran
in with batons, during a confrontation in front of Staples
Center.
Overhead, helicopters circled the area while employees stood on
the building’s rooftop with binoculars, watching protesters
below.
On the ground, protesters clad in clown and pig suits verbally
assaulted police.
At one point, anarchists burned an upside down American flag,
amid a crowd of cheering demonstrators.
Though protesters verbally attacked police for more than an hour
in front of police headquarters, no violence erupted.
Some protesters said they were not surprised at the turn of
events.
"I expected it to be loud at times, but not violent," said Julie
Carl, a protester who lives in the area covered by the LAPD Rampart
station.
She said she decided to protest against the police after hearing
about the Rampart scandal, in which officer impropriety led to the
overturning of more than 100 convictions as well as the indictment
of several officers.
"(The police) did a pretty good job today," she continued. "But
you could tell they were really frightened."
As the march returned to Staples Center, mild confrontations
took place when police hit two people and immediately cleared the
scene of media and protesters who rushed to the incident.
The first incident occurred when an officer bashed a man goose
stepping in mockery of the police for forcing him back. As police
cleared the sidewalk, protesters threw eggs and bottles while
shouting at police.
Shortly thereafter, police knocked over a man with a cane who
came too close to them.
The actions of small groups of protesters escalated later that
day as one person stole a police bicycle and another spat on a man
in a blue business suit carrying a leather brief case who gave
protesters a thumbs down.
Police rushed in to protect the man who stood thumbs-down with a
frustrated look on his face as the spit hung from his chin.
By the end of the march, tensions had escalated to the point
where several hundred officers in riot gear surrounded the
protesters arriving back at Pershing Square.
One man gazing at police recalled the protest slogan from
earlier in the day but gave his own twist to the scene.
"Who’s streets?" asked the man before giving an answer that more
or less summarized what happened. "I don’t know."