Police were planning for another challenging day Saturday after multiple businesses were looted and hundreds of protesters arrested Friday night in downtown Los Angeles, amid demonstrations against police brutality following the in-custody death of George Floyd in Minneapolis on Monday.
Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore said all restrictions have been lifted in the downtown area, and appealed for calm.
“While more protests are slated for various locations throughout the city today, we remain hopeful those demonstrations will be peaceful,” Moore said in a series of tweets sent shortly before noon Saturday.
“I am asking for all of Los Angeles to come together and find the ability to peacefully express individual and collective grievances while also maintaining the safety of all of Angelenos,” he said, adding that the LAPD will be deploying additional resources to maintain order.
Moore said 533 people were arrested overnight on charges that include burglary, looting, probation violation, battery on a police officer, attempt murder and failure to disperse. All but 18 have been released.
“Six Los Angeles Police Officers were injured during the protests on Friday night and early Saturday morning,” Moore tweeted. “They sustained non-life-threatening injuries ranging from lacerations to impact wounds.”
Saturday’s events were scheduled to begin at noon, with a demonstration calling for justice for Floyd and immediate safe release of prisoners in the Men’s Central Jail and Twin Towers Correctional Facility. Demonstrators are scheduled to meet on the corner of Alhambra Avenue and Vignes Street, then caravan to the jail facilities and end with a rally at LAPD headquarters. That event is organized by the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.
Also at noon, Black Lives Matter Los Angeles will hold a rally at Pan Pacific Park, 7600 Beverly Blvd., to call for an end to police brutality against unarmed black Americans and for justice in the death of Floyd and for “the 601 people murdered by police in L.A. County.”
Another protest, hosted by the Coalition for Community Control Over the Police, is set for 1 p.m. outside LAPD’s Southeast Station, 145 W 108th St. and will include a march to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s office at 1310 W. Imperial Highway.
At 3 p.m., a demonstration is scheduled at Mariachi Plaza, 1831 E. First St. to demand the release of all prisoners, as well as an end to police terror and “crime against Latinos and blacks.”
People took to the streets Friday for the third consecutive night to demand justice for George Floyd, who died Monday after being handcuffed and pinned to the ground by a white Minneapolis Police Department officer, Derek Chauvin, who pressed his knee on the 46-year-old man’s neck for several minutes while three other officers looked on.
Video footage of the arrest, in which Floyd is heard saying “I can’t breathe,” spread widely online, and all four officers were fired.
Chauvin was charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter on Friday.
The LAPD was placed on tactical alert at 2:20 p.m. Friday as a precaution ahead of the protests, according to Officer Tony Im.
“While the vast majority of individuals in Los Angeles have expressed those views in a peaceful manner, we have witnessed an increasing level of violence and property damage committed by a small number of detractors,” the LAPD said in a statement issued Friday afternoon.
The issuing of a tactical alert requires all on-duty personnel to remain on duty, Im said.
“We’re going to have more people on-duty because staff is not going home… For example, all the day watch people stay on and the night watch people have started, so we have double the amount of staffing,” Im said.
The Target store at Seventh and Figueroa streets, a Rite Aid store at Seventh and Hope streets, along with the Sixth Street Market and the Starbucks on Sixth Street between Broadway and Main Street and jewelry stores near Sixth Street and Broadway were among the businesses looted just before midnight Friday.
A trash can was set on fire near Olympic Boulevard and Hill Street and quickly extinguished by officers. Three fires were set near the intersection of Hill and Seventh streets, one in the intersection, another south of the intersection on Hill Street and a third on a sidewalk near a building.
As Los Angeles firefighters arrived to extinguish the flames, someone in the crowd grabbed a department fire hose and tossed it into the fire burning in the intersection.
At least one Los Angeles Police Department cruiser was tagged with graffiti.
Police set up skirmish lines throughout the downtown area and, in at least one instance, fired non-lethal ammunition as they pushed a crowd out of the area, some in the crowd stopping to hide behind vehicles to throw objects at officers.
A person answering the phone at the Metropolitan Detention Center could not give an exact number of arrests, but stated it was a “busload.”
The looting came about four hours after several people were detained shortly before 7 p.m. near Fifth and Olive streets for allegedly throwing objects at officers and damaging police cars that were parked near the intersection.
A protestor was seen on video spraying a fire extinguisher at officers, then running through the crowd spraying fire retardant.
“I’m sorry that L.A. failed tonight,” Moore told reporters Friday night. “Our ability to have a demonstration, express our views, our anger, our disgust unfortunately turned into an unruly situation with officers being injured, property damage occurring.”
An officer was put in a chokehold and kicked by some protesters in the Pershing Square area. It was not clear if this was the same officer who was sent to a hospital with injuries from a confrontation with demonstrators.
LAPD Capt. Gisselle Espinoza told reporters it was disappointing to see protestors attack the officer.
“This was not what we wanted,” Espinoza said. “We wanted it to be peaceful. We want people to exercise their First Amendment right to assemble, for speech and we wanted this to be peaceful. We want peoples’ voices heard and that’s not what’s happening.”
Shortly before 7:30 p.m., a group of about 100 blocked traffic on the Harbor (110) Freeway, near the James M. Wood Boulevard exit. They were cleared from the freeway, but re-entered near Fifth Street at 8:20 p.m.
KNX Newsradio reporter Pete Demetriou was attacked during the protests, he said on Twitter. About five people punched him before others came to his aid, and a woman grabbed his microphone and yelled obscenities into it, but he was able to push her away.
Photos posted by Demetriou showed items confiscated by officers, including brass knuckles, knives, bottles of urine, spray paint cans and a gun that fires pepper balls.
A photo also circulated on Twitter of an KABC7 van tagged with illegible graffiti.
Demonstrators initially gathered at 5 p.m. outside City Hall and marched south on Spring Street, then north on Figueroa Street.
The protest was declared an unlawful assembly shortly before 9:30 p.m. due to “repeated acts of violence and property damage,” according to the LAPD.
People were advised to get off the streets and businesses were told to close in the downtown area from the Santa Monica (10) to the Santa Ana (101) freeways and the Harbor (110) Freeway to Alameda Street.
A helicopter announced that those left protesting could be arrested.
Mayor Eric Garcetti sent a message on Twitter at 10 p.m. Friday calling for calm.
“I believe in our city. L.A. is strong enough to stand for justice and walk in love,” Garcetti said.
“We respect every Angeleno’s right to protest, but violence and vandalism hurts all. Let’s remember why we march, protect each other, and bring a peaceful end to a painful night.”
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