According to KTLA, broadcasting live at 10:25pm in Los Angeles, the LAPD is on citywide tactical alert, with rapid response teams and hundreds of officers in downtown Los Angeles. Non-lethal “stinger balls” were fired at protestors, reported to be from Occupy LA. An  LAPD officer was injured, a suspect captured, and hundreds of protestors and just folks driven from the Art Walk area.

There were numerous arrests, KTLA says that bottles have been thrown. (You can read KTLA’s account and see their video here.)

This action was to be people chalking the sidewalks and in the street, according to Occupy Los Angeles’ Facebook. 

“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.”

Using washable chalk on the sidewalk is not in and of itself a crime. Blocking sidewalk is the issue.

Downtown Art Walk draws thousands of people to check out galleries and socialize, and many of them were just hanging out during the protest to see what wass going on. Live video from KTLA  anbd a photo on qmanhellerman’s photostream shows chalking in the streets (including some suggestions to commit certain Anglo-Saxon verbs on the police) and people sitting in the street.

More from Facebook:

[Live!] LAPD taking care of crime? Chalking is NOT a crime! Be our eyes and ears tonight! Watch us Live! -GR

[Live] Children & young people yelling at LAPD to go away. Even children know more about our rights than them. Please be our eyes & tonight!
Watch us Live or get down to DTLA and support us!-GR

[Live] People now filling the streets as LAPD in tactical gear are putting on facemasks and look like theyre moving in. Crowds chanting “Whose streets! Our Streets!” -GR

[Live]Thousands in the streets now, still no dispersal order, cops have leathal weapons, the people chanting “Show me what a police state looks like, this is what a police state looks like!”
Watch Live: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/pmbeers  [La Figa note: That Livestream is down at press time; try this Global Revolution link]

From the news media: There  have been dispersal orders, but the LAPD is allowing the media to stay within 40 feet of police at all times. KNBC reports that bottles were thrown at their news vans and some protestors tried to climb onto the news vans. A police vehicle was also vandalized. The reporter added

In all fairness, some protestors were calling out others to stop throwing rocks and bottles.

These photos from my TV show the police in stand off mode and one bystander who said he was just walking down the street when he was hit by a rubber bullet. Occupy LA, per KNBC, says they will try to spend the night. There are currently more officers than protestors, per KNBC’s 11pm broadcast.

Officer Karen Rayner from the LAPD called into KNBC to report  that at least one officer was injured, struck by a skate board. There was no official arrest count at press time.  Officer Rayner says that incident began at 8:40pm when protestors started blocking the intersections during Art Walk.

The monthly Art Walk is when the majority of downtown businesses, which are locally owned, experience a huge upsurge of customers; one business owner told me that he and other small businesses depend on Art Walk, since it’s when thousands of Angelenos come to Downtown. It’s also when dozens of locals artists get the opportunity to show and sell their work. Art Walk has experienced some troubles in the past–public intoxication, crowds spilling into the streets; and a death when a car jumped the curb, striking and killing an infant. Local merchants, artists and residents  have worked hard to make Art Walk a success after every setback, and it is a treasured event, one of the few places where people from all over the city mix and mingle. You can hear the subtle thought process:

This is why we can’t have nice things.

At 11:27, KNBC says the police are reopening Spring Street, and situation is over, but it remains fluid. Occupy LA says, per KNBC, that they will be back tomorrow.

Update from eyewitness Eric Copeland via my Facebook page:

news stations came late to the party and all got their info from the police spokeperson. police gradually increased tension – first by slowing traffic with orange cones and dozens of police cars and motorcycles, then bringing in riot squads, then moving people around, then pushing people, then clubbing people, and finally firing rubber bullets. most all civilians were artwalk attendees. sick stuff. reminded me of the old police incited punk confrontations. no cops = no problems! the great chalk riots of 2012! so shameful those chalk games of tic-tac-toe on the street. sorry, but if “occupy” is trying to claim credit they are deluding themselves. i was right on 5th and spring. people ignored the guy on the megaphone. artwalkers were intrigued, then bothered by the police actions – not rallied to action by politicos.

UPDATE: Twenty arrests per KTLA, 19 according to LA Times; four officers injured, one with a concussion.

From a friend attending artwalk via my Facebook:

The cones and dozens of bike cops had been dispatched by the time we left at 9. The occupy protectors were making a big scene from early, maybe 7, over (at that time) two people who had been arrested for chalking. So then they handed out more chalk. Self-fulfilling prophecy, I say.

The Livestream is back up http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/23953533. From Occupy LA’s Facebook:

ABC 7 tried to block the livestream around the 13 mark and fights with livestreamer.

Shot fired around 14 min mark.
—
Streams-
http://occupystream.com/

And another photo of an injured civilian form Occupy LA’s Facebook

OpBART began the week with another protest at San Francisco BART stations and myBART.org being taken offline to protest the shut off cellphone service on BART out of fear of a demonstration against the shooting of a homeless man by BART police, the second fatal shooting by BART officers in two years. There was a high turn out of both BART police and SFPD in riot gear, and from photos and video there appeared to be five officers to every protester.

According to SF Appeal, the majority of protestors did not wear Guy Fawkes masks, though some were barely clad. Civic Street Station was closed, and police arrested a man and a  woman at the Civic Center station.

San Francisco Bay Guardian reported:

As a few protesters began to gather, surrounded by dozens of riot police and media, a uniformed BART police officer told a young African American man he would be arrested if he raised his voice. Chanting began in response among the small pack of protesters, and the man was promptly arrested by BART police.

As he was being led off the platform by police, a woman who stood in the center of the platform began verbally engaging a BART officer, saying, “BART police need to be reformed. Make BART Safe. Make BART safe.” She was apparently arrested for nothing more then her words. Deputy BART Police Chief Daniel Hartwig said he could not provide any information about what the arrestees would be charged with.

The SFBG video of arrest is here.

The crowd, estimated between 80-100, outnumbered by police, moved up and down Market Street. Powell Street Station was opened and closed then opened again. The Ferry Building was closed to prevent protesters from entering.  Firecrackers were thrown at the police, and some hooligans pounded on the windows of closed shops. Protesters keep in touch via Twitter.

The crowd chanted

Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot!

as they stood  in front the cops. The photo above, of her friend risking a photo, was taken by Vivian Ho who posted it to the #opBART twitter feed. Other video of march here and here.

Some tweets included

8pm:

4th and Market. Group trying to start fire. Throwing Firecrackers at Police and Crowd? #OPBART-RadioRelay

KEEP IT PEACEFUL. WATCH FOR THOSE THAT TRY TO MAKE IT VIOLENT #opBART

Thx for the tweets everyone, I was able to show police my business card and was let go #opbart #mlnow

The journalists tweeted that they were released after showing police their webpages:

Demand Progress has petition up to protest BART censorship:

This one’s simple: Last week Bay Area Rapid Transit shut off cell service to stifle protests of a killing by transit police.  We’ve seen officials across the globe threaten and take similar actions: from dictators trying to cling to power in the Middle East, to Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron, to Joe Lieberman and his Internet Kill Switch legislation.

It’s time to draw a line in the sand: Please sign our petition condemning BART, encouraging the Federal Communications Commission to investigate, and warning other public agencies that we won’t tolerate censorship.

AT 9pm, this was posted to #YourAnonNews and #opBART which also warned against a tweeter under the handle of Nov5 who was acting as an agent provocateur on the Twitter feed. Protesters were also urged to move away from anyone acting disruptively.

SFGate reports 35 arrests:

Most were cited for failing to disperse or illegally blocking traffic. Police spokesman Albie Esparza said no vandalism was reported in connection with the demonstration, but police did confiscate a hammer from one demonstrator.

Anonymous promises more protests on Monday August 29 beginning at 5pm.

photo 1: VivianHo, via  Twitter to #opBART.

photo 2: Anon Medics! Jay@pghTiger via Twitpics

video 1: Mission Local

video 2: Typographicalterrorist

Other great  #opBART /Anonymous protest photos here.

Tonight a friend and I headed out for the premier of Electric Daisy Carnival Experience, August 22nd’s FDL Movie Night subject, directed by Kevin Kerslake. EDCE documents the huge two day rave–featuring world renowned acts and DJs like Swedish House Mafia,  Groove Armada, Kaskade and Moby, plus art installations and carnival rides–which, up until this year, had been held in Los Angeles.

Traffic was barely moving when suddenly five cop cars sped past us and we saw helicopters spinning overhead. We could see Hollywood Blvd was shut down at Highland Avenue. Stuck on the road, with no news stations on the radio (wtf? it’s all talk radio now in LA, sucks when you need up to the minute information and there was nothing on Google news or Facebook yet either), we rolled down the window and asked a traffic officer what was going on. He said

Bomb threat

Needless to say, we didn’t tweet that or post that to Facebook without confirmation! Thankfully it wasn’t anything that awful (kind of irresponsible for him to tell us that, btw). But it was a full-on tactical alert.We parked and ducking under the police tape, worked our way through the crowds.

The officers  holding riot batons would not let us near Graumann’s Chinese Theater and wouldn’t tell us what was going on.

Even when I identified myself as a member of the press to the officer in charge–though maybe my long red dress, fishnet hose and army boots may have lacked fourth estate authority, but hey I was going to a film premier–the only information I got was:

There are thousands of people here, this is an emergency.

Oh, and no, we couldn’t go see the movie.

So we did the only logical thing; we went to Musso & Frank for a snack, on the way overhearing a pair of passersby discussing

Did you see that dude who lit the cop car on fire?

At Musso’s we ran into some would-be EDCE attendees also displaced by the LAPD who had seen what went down. Over salads and drinks, they told us their story.

DJ Kasakade drove his flatbed truck down Hollywood Blvd. to the theater, and a crowd followed him. The police came, but by then there were several hundred people–thanks to Twitter–who had shown up for Kaskade’s appearance dancing, plus tourists and locals. Some were kind of upset that there was no rave/show, some were just cranky, period. And they got angrier when more and more police showed up in response to the crowd not dispersing when ordered to.

At the film’s afterparty EDCE director Kevin Kerslake told me that about 600 people out of an expected 1000 were able to get into the theater (they must have gotten there very early; we were aiming at 7:10 for a 7:30 arrival/8pm showtime). Kerslake said that

it was crazy, they set cop cars on fire!

The Los Angeles Times and Variety report that the police said rocks and bottles were thrown, and that two police cars were set on fire.

This video shows kids jumping an police cruisers and shots fired, beginning around 3:00

Our dinner companions did not see the action around the cop cars, though they did see the police fire projectiles at

kids, these skinny little rave kids

hitting one, though no injuries were reported, per the police.

The UK Mail Online was upclose and caught all the action, including rioters jumping on police cruisers.

Insomniac, Inc .,which produces Electric Daisy Carnival, was not involved in the impromptu block party that arose when when Kaskade appeared.

Pasquale Rotella, chief executive of Insomniac Inc., issued the following statement:

Tonight’s premiere of the ‘Electric Daisy Carnival Experience’ film was designed to highlight one of the largest and most prestigious electronic music festivals in the world. Unfortunately, a small group chose to disrupt the film’s premiere due to their mistaken belief that a ‘block party’ with a popular artist was going to occur.

I want to make clear that while this film showcased an Insomniac event, Insomniac had nothing to do with the supposed ‘block party,’ which was not a part of the premiere. The crowd issues that arose were a result of individuals responding to social media information which mistakenly led them to believe they could see artists perform…Insomniac strongly believes in personal responsibility and hopes that anyone who didn’t comply with police orders is held accountable.

The LAPD arrested two people after detaining dozens. Joyfully, the planned after-party at a nearby club went off without a hitch, with Kaskade spinning and dozen of elaborately costumed dancers performing.

Insomniac, Inc. had staged the hugely popular all-ages Electric Daisy Carnival in Los Angeles at the LA Coliseum and neighboring Sports Arena for 13 years, moving to Las Vegas this year.  In 2010 a 15-year girl died from an Ecstasy overdose. Police reported 165 arrests during 2010′s two-day long event attended by 185, 000.  Thing went smoothly this year at the Las Vegas event which drew 230,ooo people, and Insomniac donated $75,000 to Nevada charities.  In recent years raves were one of the few sources of revenue for the aging Coliseum–built in 1921 and enlarged for the 1932 Olympics–which also hosts the USC Trojans football games, other occasional sports and music events, and over the years has been used as a location in film and television.

A 2011 LA Times investigation revealed an official at the Coliseum had worked as a paid consultant for the company, planning the medical and emergency services, with the approval of by then-Commission General Manager Patrick Lynch. Lynch  resigned in the wake of the Times disclosures, and while the  Los Angeles County district attorney’s office and the state Fair Political Practices Commission began investigating the employee, Todd DeStefano, who denied any wrong doing.

The movie, Electric Daisy Carnival experience will be in theaters one night only, August 4.

Photos 1, 3 and 5: Lisa Derrick. Photo 2: Amanda Grace. Photo 4: Monah Li

Firing bean bags and rubber bullets while spraying mace into a crowd of concert goers, Los Angeles Sheriff Department deputies closed down Sunset Boulevard from Doheny Avenue to San Vincente Boulevard for two hours last night. Backed up by members of the Los Angeles Police Department’s riot squad and the Beverly Hills Police Department, LASD arrived as patrons exited a punk rock nostalgia show featuring Ill Repute, TSOL and Youth Brigade at the Key Club on Sunset Blvd.

The riot began around 10:30 p.m. Thurssday night, and closed down Sunset Blvd. — the scene of much earlier clashes between law enforcement and non-mainstream types, like 1966′s hippie riots immortalized in the film Riot on the Sunset Strip and the punk rock riot when Black Flag played the Whiskey in August of 1982. Their second show for that hot August night was canceled and the Whiskey’s then-manager told the Los Angeles Times that

it wasn’t really a riot until the police showed up.

Kinda’ like last night.

By 11:00 p.m., patrons of other clubs were told to go to their cars or stay inside. Here’s an eyewitness account which differs substantially from that given by law enforcement.

According to man-about-town and punk rocker Andre Boutilier, before he and his friend entered the club to see the second billed act TSOL, there was scuffle at the club’s entrance. The guy causing the problem was joined by a couple of buddies; more bouncers joined in the melee. When Boutilier and his companion entered the club,

We noticed there were no bouncers that we could see, and so we figured they were outside dealing with the situation. After TSOL, we went backstage to chat with the guys. A club staffer came back and said Youth Brigade would not be going on, and told them to pack it up and leave. No announcement had yet been made in main part of [the 450-person capacity club]. We helped the bands get their stuff together and walked out with them chatting on the way to their cars. We saw about 50 or 60 kids out front and overheard them being told that they couldn’t go in, despite having tickets. [La Figa: Well, yeah, the show was over]. That’s when the sheriffs started arriving, just a few cars at first, some of which set up a barricade to the west, towards Beverly Hills. Even before fans left the club, the sheriffs were  announcing that this was an illegal assembly and anyone remaining in the area would be arrested.

Boutilier and his friend had already left the venue and ducked into Shamrock Studio Tattoo. They witnessed the sheriff department’s riot squad take their position. About ten minuted after they were in place, fans were let out of club. It appeared to Boutilier that  in a move coordinated between the club and LASD, patrons were being keep inside until the riot police were in place.

As patrons were exiting, the sheriffs made another announcement that everyone should walk east, while repeating that this was an illegal assembly.

Patrons tried to move eastward, but it was very slow going as 450 people squeezed into the sidewalk, some looking for their friends, others confused. They didn’t move fast enough for the sheriff’s riot squad, which started firing rubber bullets with backup by the LAPD and Beverly Hills Police Department. Both KTLA and FOX News LA covered the scene. Fox’s on-air coverage varies from Boutilier’s and KTLA’s reports; FOX’s spin on the incident suggests the fans started the riot by throwing rocks and bottles, in opposition to the other stories.

Boutilier who I spoke to at 4:00 a.m. before any news aired told me,

stupid kids threw rocks and bottles after the rubber bullets were fired.

(in the video the narrator says “automatic guns; he meant gunfire)

Boutilier sums it up on his FB page:

Police overreact to minor conflict outside club. Shutdown the show before YB can take the stage. Then fire rubber bullets into crowd, unload industrial fire extinguisher filled with mace. Beat up the wrong kids. In their defense some idiot kids throw bottles at the cops that broke at their feet which was stupid of them.

The versions aired by KTLA — yes I’ve watched the local news from 4:30 a.m. on — showed police arriving, firing of rubber bullets, macing the crowd, and then the fans throwing rocks and bottles.

Even with editing footage from the two-hour long riot, the footage on KTLA broadcast supports Boutilier’s version, showing a sheriff’s deputy holding a large canister of mace and spraying several nonviolent patrons at close range as they walked away form the club.

What KTLA didn’t show (perhaps because of fallout from Rodney King video and the MacArthur Park May Day riot?) but Boutilier saw:

The deputy, after he emptied the canister, began hitting  kids with the metal container and several other officers had to pull him off.

The official law enforces chronology is different from that of Boutilier and KTLA. LAPD’s Sgt. S. Ruda told the LA Weekly:

Bouncers at the club got into it with fans outside the club, and responding deputies were met with rocks and bottles…Deputies responded and some patrons started forming a crowd..More deputies responded and they started taking bottles and rocks.

On their website KTLA reports

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies arrived in riot gear and used rubber bullets and mace to try and tame the hostile crowd. The rowdy group threw rocks and bottles at deputies.

There have have been three reports televised by KTLA so far, each one progressively making fans look worse, but still showing the sheriff’s firing before fans react violently; one kids is shown kicking a street sign, and people are indeed throwing rocks — totally stupid. Don’t you ever wonder where these urban rocks come from? I have walked up and down Sunset plenty of times and never seen a rock. Bottles, yeah, but not a lot of them, and trash cans aren’t that easy to dig into in the hope of finding a bottle. The second KTLA report had a voice over from the Sheriffs’ Dept. explaining that the sheriffs responded to a 911 call from the Key Club and showed up; once patrons exited the club, they started throwing things at the sheriffs.

[all photos, video Andre Boutilier, used by permission]