We get an update from the University of California, Los Angeles, where police in riot gear began dismantling a pro-Palestinian encampment early Thursday, using flashbang grenades, rubber bullets and tear gas, and arresting dozens of students. The raid came just over a day after pro-Israel counterprotesters armed with sticks, metal rods and fireworks attacked students at the encampment. The Real News Network reporter Mel Buer was on the scene during the attack. She describes seeing counterprotesters provoke students, yelling slurs and bludgeoning them with parts of the encampment’s barricade, and says the attack lasted several hours without police or security intervention. ”UCLA is complicit in violence inflicted upon protesters,” wrote the editorial board of UCLA’s campus newspaper, the Daily Bruin, the next day. Four of the paper’s student journalists were targeted and assaulted by counterprotesters while covering the protests.
Archiv: LAPD (Los Angeles Police Department)
Chancellor Block claims unsafe university conditions led to encampment closure
Chancellor Gene Block released a statement Thursday afternoon claiming that the Palestine solidarity encampment had been shut down because it led to unsafe university conditions and interfered with UCLA’s educational mission.
Block confirmed that more than 200 people were arrested, with more than 300 leaving voluntarily Thursday morning following a police sweep of the encampment. The dispersal followed an outbreak of violence on Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning, during which counter-protesters attacked the encampment using fireworks, tear gas and by throwing projectiles.
UCLA Pro-Palestinian Encampment Raided after Dispersal Order
Throughout the night and into the morning, students outside the encampment linked arms against the police and a small group of counter protesters, remaining peaceful. Around 1:20 a.m. police dressed in riot gear broke through the west barricade unexpectedly after a loud boom sounded from a flash-bang grenade. The protestors quickly formed a human chain, slowly pushing forward, and shouting “peaceful protest,” as well as phrases such as “shame on you.”
The students pushed the officers back, regaining control of the perimeter in approximately 30 minutes and rebuilding their barricades.
Police then began shooting fireworks into the air above protestors’ heads…
Delayed police response at UCLA “unacceptable,” Newsom says
Gov. Gavin Newsom Wednesday criticized law enforcement‘s slow response to violent brawls that broke out between pro-Palestinian protesters and counter demonstrators on the UCLA campus Tuesday night.
“The limited and delayed campus law enforcement response at UCLA last night was unacceptable – and it demands answers,” Newsom said in a statement. “As soon as it became clear that the state assistance was needed to support a local response, our office immediately deployed CHP personnel to campus.”
Editorial: UCLA is complicit in violence inflicted upon protesters, failed to protect
This came after a source in the encampment told the Daily Bruin that at least five protestors have been injured.
But for hours, UCLA administration stood by and watched as the violence escalated. LAPD did not arrive on the scene until slightly after 1 a.m. – once Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass sent them in for assistance at Block’s request.
Daily Bruin reporters on the scene were slapped and indirectly sprayed with irritants. Despite also being students, they were offered no protection.
The world is watching.
Take a close look at this video. An #LAPD officer points a „less than lethal“ rifle directly at this journalist. There appears to be no immediate threat anywhere. Earlier @JamesQueallyLAT is arrested, now another reporter faces the barrel of a gun. @pressfreedom @ACLU_SoCal
Here is the moment @LAPDHQ escorted me out of the crowd and zip tied my hands. I’m turning back and insisting that I promised my newsroom I would protect my crew and identifying the photographers who are with me.
This is the moment @RosenfeldReport and I were nearly kettled. Those on the other end of this line of officers, including our colleagues from the @latimes and @SpecNews1SoCal were improperly detained, zip tied and later released.
Reporters, legal observers cry foul after being caught up in LAPD’s mass arrests at Echo Park protest
They also accused the LAPD of issuing confusing directives and attempting to force media members into a designated observation area that would not have allowed them to see the protest or the arrests that followed.
While some detained reporters and observers were released without being arrested, others — including reporters for less-established media brands — were held for hours and then formally charged, raising additional questions about police picking and choosing which outlets to acknowledge as legitimate.
Fire Police Chief Moore
Step one by removing police officers who may carry the same “gang member mentality”
„Eric, do you really believe that Los Angeles police officers are killers?“ LAPPL board member Jamie McBride said. „The same officers that provide you 24-hour security at your residence 365 days a year?“
During a contentious meeting between LAPD officers and @MRodCD7 , one officer says that if the city is going to cut, it should start by cutting protection details at council members‘ homes (see minute 15:30 or so)
Homeless man in a wheelchair shot by cops during a demonstration in LA “He pleaded with police not to use force on him before being shot in the face,” the suit reads A Times review of LAPD records found that only 5% of arrests were for “looting”
LAPD shot a homeless man in a wheelchair in the face with a „less than lethal“ bullet as he happened to be on a street they were walking down. Man wasnt even protesting. Just sat there.
(05.06.2020)
OH YEAH
Incase ya‘ll thought this pic could be taken outta context, here‘s the reverse angle.
Advocates sue LAPD over protest tactics, alleging disabled homeless man was shot in face with rubber bullets
Protests over the death of Floyd, who was killed while in Minneapolis police custody on May 25, have led to unrest that Los Angeles has not seen since the 1992 riots sparked by the acquittal of four LAPD officers in the beating Rodney King. While businesses were looted and buildings were damaged and burned in downtown, Van Nuys and the Fairfax District, activists said protests have been largely peaceful and police have focused most of their attention on arresting demonstrators instead of looters.