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Subscribe to RSSPolice in riot gear were dispatched to Los Angeles after hundreds of people, including occupy LA protesters, gathered in the downtown area. Msnbc.com's Dara Brown reports.
Police clad in riot gear skirmished with protesters, including Occupy demonstrators, in downtown Los Angeles late Thursday, leaving four officers injured and 17 people arrested. At least one man, who said he was not part of the protest, reported being struck by a rubber bullet, local media said.
A woman who said she was an Occupy member told the Los Angeles Times that protesters attended the monthly “ArtWalk” on Thursday to support those who had previously been arrested for writing on the sidewalk with chalk.
The demonstration started at about 8:40 p.m. (11:40 p.m. ET) Thursday, when protesters began taking over the intersection of Fifth and Spring streets, LAPD Officer Karen Rayner said. At times during the first hours of the protest, crowds and police could be seen running from the area. Police ordered the crowd to leave around 11 p.m., and a few skirmishes appeared to break out as officers tried to move the protesters.
Police spokeswoman Rosario Herrera told msnbc.com that protesters threw rocks and bottles at police officers, who responded with baton strikes, rubber bullets and bean bags.
Three police officers had minor injuries while a fourth one suffered a mild concussion, she said. Of the 17 arrests, one was for assault on a police officer and two for assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer.
Read the full story on NBC Los Angeles
'Chalk walk' march
Protesters posted this notice about the demonstration on their Facebook page Thursday afternoon:
"Tonight, #ArtWalk in #DTLA becomes #ChalkWalk! Occupy Los Angeles has had a laughably ridiculous 12 arrests the past 6 weeks for children's sidewalk chalk. Tonight from 7-9pm, occupiers, artists, enthusiasts, rebels, and the intrigued will defend the First Amendment and freedom of speech."
"We were handing out free chalk for freedom of speech," Cheryl Aichele, 34, a member of Occupy L.A. told the LA Times.
Messages written in chalk covered the downtown intersection, including: "You wouldn't shoot your kids for this, why shoot us?" and "Chalk the police."
Police used batons and non-lethal projectiles to get the crowd to leave, the newspaper reported. Demonstrators threw bottles and cans at officers. Some people in the crowd also told fellow protesters to remain peaceful.
A man said he was visiting ArtWalk when he was struck in the ribs with a rubber bullet.
"I was walking down the street and I saw a group of people. I was just here for ArtWalk, I didn't know anything was gonna happen," Charlie Shepherd said.
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Grant Hindsley / AP
A unidentified man is arrested by Los Angeles police on Fourth Street and Spring Street in downtown Los Angeles late Thursday.
Skirmishes
Aerial views of the scene showed demonstrators throwing objects at police. A member of the crowd threw a traffic cone at an unmarked police car driving by and some people could be seen dancing in front of police lines.
During the dispersal orders, police told media outlets to stay at least 40 feet away from the standoff between the crowd and officers in riot gear.
The nationwide Occupy movement grew out of contempt for the “1 percent,” and targeted Wall Street, corporate greed and political corruption. Spotted protests have continued after authorities shuttered many of the movement’s encampments late last fall and over the winter.
Occupy LA set up its campsite outside City Hall for about two months last fall before some 1,400 police officers swept demonstrators off the lawn. As many as 500 men, women and children were estimated to have participated in the encampment.
The city council estimates the costs related to Occupy LA could reach $5 million for policing, cleanup and other costs.
Msnbc.com's Miranda Leitsinger contributed to this report.
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I think Obama sabotages himself in many ways. He plays the rich poor game continuously and along with the liberal vs conservative game, he divides people. He has plenty of help on both sides but his job is to unite people not divide. Nobody can be a successful leader if they can't unite their people. It takes some finesse to bring people together and get things done. He also has been in office for close to 1 full term and he still blames Bush and the the republicans for all the problems. It was o k in the beginning but it really makes him look bad now. Its time to take office and take responsibility, it is his show now. Republicans aren't going to make him look good in an election year, but he has to find a way to get things done. He also has to quit inserting himself into incidents like the arrest of the guy in Cambridge Ma and the Trayvon Martin case, it can only work against him. He and democrats should avoid OWS and others like them because they are great dividers.
Hey, lazy freeloaders: get a job, cut the grass, do something productive. Those of us who work for a living and support our families are tiring of your crybaby antics. This isn't a revolution...it's a measly gathering of useless douchebags.
"it's a measly gathering of useless douchebags"...... Useful Idiots.
"Useful Idiots" is the term Karl Marx used to describe an uneducated mass of people that accomplished a goal of political puppetmasters unbeknownst to them. These people thought that they were carrying out good works that would better society, but in reality they simply were sold a bill of goods and duped into worsening their own societal position. Used and abused by a deceitful taskmaster.
That sound slike a pretty accurate description. I've read the OWS is getting a lot of support from lefties like Soros and the majority of them probably don't even know it....or who Soros is.
Criminal Offence: "Protesters were arrested for writing on the sidewalk with chalk."
Question: In which country did these arrests take place? Syria; China; Russia; Iraq; Afghanistan; USA ?
Answer: Not Communist China or Russia, Not civil war torn Syria, Not war torn Iraq or Afghanistan.
There are ways to control unarmed crowds, without reverting to GUNS...
The UK, EU, and other countries:
1. They first try to use barricades and fences to control the flows of people...
2. Then trucks with water-cannon and POLICE with mace & batons...
3. The final defenses are the people with the GUNS...
4. CCTV has become an effective tool to identify and convict the law breakers. Against both the civilians and authorities...
But they have been controlling civil disobedience for DECADES and have become very effective...
It is the Dictators, Thailand, and the USA where the front line is armed POLICE and backed-up with armed Military. No wonder there are ALWAYS causalities...
Civil disobedience has its place in society, but when your answer is GUNS and violence, you are part of the problem not the solution...
This is corporate media. OWS is about Corporate greed. The corporate media doesn't want to bite the hand that feeds it.
And all threw it the rich get richer.
It sure is a good thing that the officer didn't say anything about that big ugly bum of hers. Either one of them as a matter of fact.