Josh’s hand, hit by rifle-fired projectile. This photo was taken at 3:50 am Wednesday on Main Street about a block south of La Placita Queen of Angels Church. A man with him who declined to be named or photographed had been struck in the face with a police baton; there was slight swelling around his mouth, and the inside of his lip was broken. He told me

I forgive the cop, I forgive him.

Josh had been in City Hall Park when the dispersal order came. He and his friends told me an office called out

Hey you!

and Josh turned, pointing at himself as if to ask,

Who me?

and was struck in the wrist by an LAPD projectile fired from a green shotgun at a distance of about 30 feet away. He was triaged by roaming medics once he left the park, and had an ice pack on his wrist. He could move his fingers slightly.

About 45 minutes later he walked into the parking lot of La Placita Queen of Angels. I had already spoken with one of the legal observers from Peace in Harmony about him, and pointed him out to the medics when he arrived to get him a fresh ice pack before he spoke with the legal observer (LO). His hand had swollen considerably, but he was still able to move his fingers and asked for a cigarette before talking with the LO. He was sleeping in the medic tent when the National Lawyers Guild arrived from the park. I provided these photos to the NLG rep.

Ruth Fowler wrote on Occupy LA’s website:

No bad treatment of protestors occurred while the mainstream media was watching – it was only at the end that this occurred, when the non pool reporters were separated from the pool media, and the reporters not in the pool were shoved and hit by cops.

At this point I left, but other non-pool media refused to leave and wanted to stay reporting on the scene. Jared Iorio, our photographer, stayed for fifteen minutes after me and was hit twice in the chest with a baton by a policeman until he left Solidarity Park…

She goes on to say that after leaving the park and assembling on Los Angeles Street:

We were blocked (kettled) in on Alameda between second and first. The police started running towards us – the group was now about 100 people by this point – and everyone ran into a parking lot to escape. The police ran after them and started beating protestors with batons repeatedly as they were running away trying to escape. I saw about ten police hit protestors. I did not get video footage nor photographs as I was running…

This media pool drew mainstream media into the inner circle, where they were treated to a display of courteous policing and nonviolence by the police. Even I was impressed by the police. The operation was smooth and efficient and tactical.

Then the pool media was divided from the regular media, and kept in the inner circle. They were not present to witness the brutality and violence enacted by LAPD officers who were kettling and running after protestors in order to beat them outside the park and mainstream media attention. LAPD smoothly kept MSM from witnessing this, and tried to control other media by constant kettling and dividing of the crowd.

Occupy LA has received their official, “Time To Go” notice from the city for midnight Monday morning, and many people, including the cops, the mayor, and the majority of Occupiers hope that whatever goes down doesn’t involve nasty gas, truncheons and/or rubber bullets.

But as usual, there is always some eejit or five who are itching for a fight. Occupy LA’s listserve–which is open to the public with nothing off the record–has some interesting correspondence.

One of the loudest voices in real life at the camp and online crying for Occupy LA revolution–let’s call him Che-Shirt–has basically said Occupy Los Angeles is a bunch of scaredy cats because they haven’t gotten tear-gassed or beaten like comrades in Oakland and Wall Street, and on Friday announced proudly:

Solidarity with Oakland tonight, who are sending down many I know of to help us with the raid/reoccupation.

Che-Shirt however is disinclined to get arrested himself because he has been to jail. Despite decrying leaders and patriarchy, he’d rather direct the action than participate in it.

Tomorrow, as a countdown to eviction the band NOFX is playing a free show and all of Los Angeles is invited down. This has its pros and cons, as you can imagine. Occupy LA is saying there is a chance the police will start barricading the streets at some point.

Meanwhile one lawyer has filed a federal injunction to prevent the eviction, though naming (former) police chief William Bratton in the paperwork is pretty fail. The National Lawyers Guild is seeking to file a temporary restraining order with the city, but there is some confusion about whether or not Occupy LA is still working them.

So tomorrow will be interesting. Monday day even more so.

An aide to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa confirmed that the city will order Occupy LA to leave City Hall Park sometime next week after informing Occupy LA representatives and also Jim Lafferty of the National Lawyer’s Guild for Occupiers at City Hall that the order was coming down. Lafferty and the Occupiers walked out of the meeting with city officials when they were told that Occupy would be forced to move. Lafferty told the LA Times they:

walked out of the meeting in anger after the announcement and told city officials they “have not been operating with good faith.”…

Lafferty said the city had not given the liaisons enough time to discuss the offer with the protesters.”They are not willing to give us time to have that discussion,” Lafferty told the protesters. “”I said, ‘The democratic practice here may be slow but it is beautiful and it works.”"

Yesterday the Times reported that the city had offered to lease offices to Occupy LA for $1 and allow them to farm unused city land, an offer the city later wavered on. The offer would have had to have been approved by Occupy LA’s general assembly which could be a long process since many Occupiers are opposed to leaving the lawns around City Hall.

The city cites the need to water the huge, decades-old trees and re-seed the lawn as the reason for Occupy’s eviction. The trees have not been watered in weeks and are legitimately at risk.

Notes taken during the meeting between OLA, city officals and the LAPD show, Matt Szabo, a spokesperson for Villaraigosa saying:

Just came from meeting w/ boss, clear difficulties. We cannot refer to these as negotiations. This is a new situation. We’re trying to work together to best manage this for the city. We are working to secure your first amendment rights, but acknowledge that city hall park is an unsustainable situation

The decision-making and governing process is cumbersome

The mayor WILL CLOSE THE PARK NEXT WEEK

I do not know when that will be, but you will receive notice

The mayor will announce today that we will be making available at least 50, but as many will be required, homeless shelter beds

We’ll continue to be as open and honest as we can possibly be

Difficulty: we wanted to move this forward in a productive way… the issue of whether or not the park is open or closed is NOT A NEGOTIATION

The city has a right to close the park

Some would argue there is a responsibility to enforce the closing

All the issues we’ve been discussing are still on the table, but the closing of the park WILL HAPPEN

An OLA representatives responded that the SEIU will not be happy if Occupy is evicted:

Talked w/ SEIU, their message is that an injury to OLA is an injury to SEIU. If something happens to us, something will happen in the streets.

City officials say they will give 72 hours warning to Occupy to vacate. The Los Angeles Police Department will enforce the order.

The live feed from the General Assembly was down Wednesday night, but I will post the archive when it is available.

Jim Lafferty of the National Lawyer’s Guild, Los Angeles, was on Randi Rhoades’ radio show Wednesday night and said the following, which was typed out during Thursday’s livestream chat and read durng General Assembly:

I have just been assured by Sargent Baker, who speaks for the LAPD on OLA, that the ABC report upset the LAPD because they have absolutely no plans to move against, attack, etc. OLA. Baker said the LAPD was as surprised as we were to hear [councilman Bill] Rosendahl say what he said. Baker said the Chief’s position is that, “If the council decides there must be some change in OLA, we will all sit down with OLA and NLG and have discussions about what the council wants and what the OLAers want. Jim,please tell them we have no plans to attach the occupation and will NOT do that.”

Tuesday Rosendahl was on local KABC-TV and said:

They’ve made their statement. I agree with their statement, but it is time to move on. The trees are in the process of being impacted. The grass is being impacted. Other activities that we need to do on the lawns are being put on the back burner. I frankly think if we can be civil about it, they should get the message that it’s time to move on from our lawn at City Hall. It is everybody’s lawn, not just those with their tents right now.

However in Wednesday’s city council meeting, Rosendahl said he was taken out of context/edited.

The comments from the LAPD’s Sgt Baker to Lafferty of the NLG have definitely allayed some of Occupy LA’s fears, as did deliveries of food from Firedoglake’s Occupy Supply Fund (100 jars of peanut butter, 70 lbs of fruit, and loaves of bread) and the Santa Monica farmers market which dropped off even more fruit and loaves of bread. On top of that bounty, Mary and her mom, who sell bacon wrapped hot dogs, donated their wares to anyone who came by their cart.

Mary also spoke at General Assembly because she and her immigrant mom have been hassled by a couple of the 99% for vending just outside the park. She said that they are struggling too, that they work hard and she is in school and wants to be a lawyer. I’ve eaten a lot of bacon wrapped hotdogs in LA, and the ones from Mary’s family are definitely awesome! And while there is no vending in the park per city regulations, there’s no reason this delicious food, a Los Angeles tradition, can’t be sold just outside the park limits.

Local rabble-rousers John & Ken of radio station KFI–who recently angered immigrant rights groups for broadcasting the phone number of a pro-DREAM Act activist (which was on the guy’s press release)–came by Occupy LA. John & Ken aren’t all bad: They have been loudly calling for the ouster of Fullerton city council members and the police chief over the beating death of Kelly Thomas by Fullerton patrolmen; and by devoting three hours to Occupy, and giving the Occupiers the opportunity to speak about why they are there, to tell their stories, John & Ken were actually supporting Occupy. Over the weeks Occupy has been at City Hall, the anti-government corruption duo has expressed displeasure with banksters, saying that

Wall Street goons ought to go to jail

and today’s show gave listeners a direct unfiltered view of Occupy LA. The Occupiers were, for the most part, clear, direct, informed and personal in their responses to why they are there and what they hoped to see accomplished. John & Ken were also outraged over the actions in Oakland. Despite their often mocking tone–especially about the lawn being damaged, John and Ken are actually subversively spreading the Occupy message to their most conservative audience.

On Sunday from 2 to 4 pm, KFI holds Occupy KFI and have invited several Occupy LA members to come on air at the Clear Channel studio and speak their pieces with Shannon Farren. KFI’s attention on Occupy is overall positive (okay there are the occasional joke about pot smoke and BO, as well as mock outrage over the lawn dying) and shows that Occupy’s overall message is catching the ears of Southern California. Thursday’s live KFI broadcast from Occupy LA is archived here.

Occupy LA still has needs: They are out of most medical supplies, including bandages, both adhesive and elastic; single use antibiotic ointment packs; powdered electrolytes like Emergen-C; hand sanitizer; alcohol wipes; single use saline eye drops; Lysol; bleach wipes; tear-off paper covers for exam tables; latex-free gloves; Maalox or other liquid antacids. Blankets are especially important as it gets colder. Thanks to Firedoglake’s Occupy Supply Fund and a private donor, I can pick up some of these items, but more are constantly needed by the LA medics, and by medics at other Occupys.

And Friday one of Occupy’s media team, Lisa Clapier is getting married on the steps at City Hall, and there are rumors of three other Occupy weddings in the works!

Here’s 30 minutes of Occupy LA and the FDL Occupy Supply funfood delivery.

It’s 10/22. Do you know where your POTUS is? Today in Los Angeles the 110, 101, 2, 5, and 134 freeways  will be affected impacted by Obama appearing at USC and then taking a cruise to Glendale to tape an interview with radio personality Piolin on a Spanish-language station. Question of the day–will the President try  Glendale’s local delicacy Zankou Chicken, made famous by its Faulkern-esque family murder-suicides and redolent garlic sauce?  The rain and mist might make it non-viable for Obama to take a helicopter like Cardinal Roger Mahony used back when he had a bishop-prick to attend to, so expect freeway and street closures.

There’s also a big rally downtown outside at Pershing Square with the October 22 Coalition marching as part of a National Day of Protest

to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation

which will have observers from the National Lawyers Guild present. In Los Angeles during a September marches expressing outrage at the shooting of Guatemalan day laborer Manuel Jamines (Jamines Xum) by the LAPD, four protesters were arrested–two of whom were turned over ICE–and three officers injured by rocks and bottles thrown by demonstrators.

Considering marijuana prohibition’s affect on

the criminalization of a generation,

and POTUS’ stance on pot, expect some pro-Prop 19 groups  at both events.