Occupiers gathered in downtown Los Angeles Thursday night for a “Chalk Walk” protest scheduled to coincide with the monthly ArtWalk. Here’s how Occupy LA described the peaceful night of sidewalk decorating:
It's not too late to come out to our first ever Chalk Walk! We will be handing out free chalk for free speech!-GR pic.twitter.com/2729zU8s
— #OccupyLA (@OccupyLA) July 13, 2012
https://twitter.com/passantino/status/223662927817879552
Bring your creativity … and your glass bottles.
The organizers left out the part about violent riots, vandalizing city property and assaulting police officers. Fancy that.
#BREAKING #OccupyLA: #LAPD tells me 3 officers injured. Arrests, well over a dozen, continue pic.twitter.com/qu5dC3W0
— Robert Kovacik (@RobertNBCLA) July 13, 2012
#OccupyLA just peacefully injured a female cop. Jerks. #tcot #p2 #fb
— Shaun McDonnell (@McShauno) July 13, 2012
Occupiers, of course, blame law enforcement.
@villaraigosa Tell your officers to STAND DOWN! Stop hurting PEACEFUL protestors! #OccupyLA #LAPD
— Lauren Pespisa (@SplendidSpoon) July 13, 2012
Peaceful protesters like this?
#BREAKING Chaos in Downtown LA
Police in riot gear dealing w/ crowd throwing bottles & trying to vandalize cop cars. pic.twitter.com/tejxNnbq— David Begnaud (@DavidBegnaud) July 13, 2012
Some maggot parasite #OWS moron threw something at a female LA cop, and injured her… while protesting an "ART WALK" #occupyLA
— ¡El Sooopèrr! ن c137 (@SooperMexican) July 13, 2012
https://twitter.com/liliana_mota/status/223647956685950978
#BREAKING People taunting officers and chanting "terrorists" City on tactical alert. Additional resources on the way.
— David Begnaud (@DavidBegnaud) July 13, 2012
#BREAKING female officer put into ambulance. Appears ok.
— David Begnaud (@DavidBegnaud) July 13, 2012
Police were authorized to respond with non-lethal force and they did.
Several hundred #LAPD officers called in to deal with the scrum on Sprint Street. Crowd was estimated 1,000-2,000 http://t.co/9WNiDEIa #DTLA
— Andrew Blankstein (@anblanx) July 13, 2012
#BREAKING Reports now #LAPD officers shooting rubber bullets at crowd. Crowd throwing rocks and bottles according to police.
— David Begnaud (@DavidBegnaud) July 13, 2012
#LAPD arrest tally so far: 12 booked on suspicion of vandalism & 2 others in custody on suspicion of ADW on a police officer. #DTLA #ArtWalk
— Andrew Blankstein (@anblanx) July 13, 2012
The Occupy side of the story:
This is why LAPD created a riot scene tonight. #chalkwalk #occupyLA #aintthatamerica http://t.co/lAgue2qz
— Josh Kirchmer (@nonotechnology) July 13, 2012
@OccupyLA peaceful chalk assembly at DTLA artwalk assaulted by cops in riot gear firing weapons. what free speech? harassment #ows #oo
— antifascista (@exdystopia) July 13, 2012
@modelunited People there for #artwalk say #LAPD officers overreacted to chalk drawings. We'll try to sort it all out. All comments welcome.
— Andrew Blankstein (@anblanx) July 13, 2012
https://twitter.com/cbolton97/status/223640058639556608
So, they injured a female police officer by drawing with chalk? That’s some chalk, what with the shards of broken glass flying from it.
Oh, and just what were they drawing?
https://twitter.com/passantino/status/223653288262897664
https://twitter.com/bmvaughn/status/223660792556421120
Note to Occupy L.A.:
@OccupyLA: Just so you know, "kill cops" isn't "free speech".. neither is throwing rocks/bottles/fireworks… It is inciting mayhem (crime)
— Rambling Chief (@RamblingChief) July 13, 2012
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