Protests and Demonstrations

The State of the Occupation

From City Hall to suburban Van Nuys: Occupy L.A. looks much different one year later

VIDEO: L.A. Journalists Amber Lyon, Tim Pool, Steven Gregory Shot at by Anaheim Police

Approximately 500 protesters, majority Latino, were showered in police beanbags, rubber bullets and pepper balls last night outside Anaheim City Hall as they rioted over two recent officer-involved shootings in the Orange County town. (And the fight wasn't one-sided: Protesters reportedly hurtled bo ... More >>

Santa Monica College Protesters Pepper Sprayed: VIDEO

Students protesting a proposed class-free hike at Santa Monica College tonight were hit by pepper spray from cops. Video (after the jump) depicts some of the mayhem. The demonstrators are unhappy with a plan to possibly quadruple fees to $180 per unit or more for the most popular classes, which are ... More >>

Occupy L.A. Port Protest Causes "Minimal" Disruption

​Several hundred Occupy L.A. demonstrators picketed this morning outside the Port of Long Beach, as part of a coordinated effort to shut down the West Coast ports.At least two people were arrested near the south entrance to Pier J. The Port of Long Beach diverted traffic to another gate."It was a ... More >>

Patrick Meighan, 'Family Guy' Writer, Recalls LAPD Raid of Occupy Camp as 'Super Violent'

familyguy.wikia.comComedy writer Patrick Meighan tries his hand at tragedy.​It's been almost one week since the Los Angeles Police Department deployed about 1,400 officers to infiltrate and bulldoze the Occupy L.A. encampment outside City Hall. In that week, as the nearly 300 protesters arres ... More >>

Tyson Heder, Photojournalist Mauled by LAPD, Still in Jail After Occupy L.A. Raid; Others Allege Baton Brutality

Updated at the bottom with a photo of Heder's black eye. Update, 7 p.m.: According to the "Free Tyson Heder" Facebook group, his bail is set at $20,000 -- four times the standard $5,000 bail of the other protesters. Update, 5:30 p.m.: According to the City Attorney's Office, Tyson Heder (or Header ... More >>

Shepard Fairey Designs 'Occupy Hope' Poster, Replaces Obama's Face With 'V for Vendetta' Mask

Updated after the jump: Fairey changes the "Occupy Hope" poster to please occupiers. "Anonymous" hackers, who also rep the Guy Fawkes mask, are likely still unsatisfied. Originally posted November 18 at 3:50 p.m. Here we go again. L.A. street artist Shepard Fairey has released a second original de ... More >>

Occupy L.A. In Standoff With LAPD, As Midnight Eviction Deadline Passes

​Updated at the bottom: A representative of the occupiers filed suit in an attempt to prevent the eviction.  Last updated at 6:48 a.m. First posted at 6:10 a.m.Occupy L.A. continues to hold its ragged patch of ground at City Hall, six hours after a deadline passed for protesters to leave ... More >>

Occupy L.A. and the Art World

A wave of art projects go hand in hand with the protest

Occupy L.A. Offered Office Space, Farmland, Housing Assistance, To Go Away

​After 52 days of Occupy L.A., City Hall is ready to make a deal. According to Jim Lafferty, an attorney working with the Occupy movement, the city has offered to lease space in the L.A. Mall for $1 a year to the Occupy movement.The city -- which won't confirm any of this -- apparently offered the ... More >>

LAPD Arrests 23 Occupy L.A. Protesters in Downtown Financial District for Civil Disobedience

John Cádiz Klemack via TwitvidCops in riot gear swarmed the financial district this morning.​Update: As of 10:30 a.m., Figueroa has been reopened for cars and foot traffic. The first real arrests of the two-month Occupy L.A. demonstrations just went down at Fourth Street and Figueroa, where ... More >>

Occupy L.A.'s Dilemma

Protesters share enthusiasm and disenchantment, but need unity to survive

Plenty to Occupy in L.A. as Area Ranks Near Top of List of Wealthy Cities in Amerca

L.A. to the bone.​Occupy L.A. is often cast as an offshoot of the epicenter of the movement -- Occupy Wall Street, where protesters are shining a light on the mess bailed-out big banks have made of the nation's economy. But there's plenty to Occupy right here in Southern California. As we not ... More >>

Henry Rollins: The Column! Occupy America

​[Look for your weekly fix from the one and only Henry Rollins right here on West Coast Sound every Thursday, and come back tomorrow for the awesomely annotated playlist for his Saturday KCRW broadcast.] My editor contacted me the other day and asked if I had an opinion on the Occupy protes ... More >>

'Occupy Long Beach' Campers Arrested for Refusing to Vacate Lincoln Park

Occupy Long Beach via Facebook​As the Occupy Wall Street movement spreads worldwide, it's also filling itself out here at home -- building slowly but surely in small towns and communities surrounding the big urban hubs. (Occupy Venice, Occupy Northridge, Occupy Irvine, Occupy Riverside, etc.) ... More >>

Union Workers Picket Hotel Bel-Air, Favorite Haunt of Hollywood Celebrities

Picketers outside the Hotel Bel Air​Several hundred union demonstrators picketed outside the Hotel Bel-Air this evening, calling on managers to rehire workers who were laid off when the hotel closed for renovations."They say go away! We say no way!" the protesters chanted. After a march down to Su ... More >>

'Occupy Colleges' Campus Walkout Today Has L.A. as Epicenter: UCLA, Cal State Northridge, Santa Monica College Participate

We had a little fun with the two-man "Occupy USC" operation yesterday. Perhaps the rich kids' school identifies more with the 1 percent of billionaires that is the ire of the Occupy Wall Street movement that started in New York a few weeks back and branched out to L.A. this week. It looks like the ... More >>

Occupy L.A.: Wall Street Protesters Hit L.A. City Hall

​See more photos in "Occupy L.A." The Occupy Wall Street movement came to L.A. today, as several hundred protesters marched on L.A. City Hall. The crowd gathered at around 10 a.m. at Pershing Square, then marched up Broadway to the north lawn of L.A. City Hall. Crowd estimates varied, but it appe ... More >>

LAPD Bans TV News Vans From Sixth Street Following Westlake Unrest

Dennis RomeroA shrine on Sixth Street Thursday.​Los Angeles police on Friday announced that television news vans would not be allowed to park on West Sixth Street near South Union Avenue -- an area where clashes between protesters and police erupted following the shooting there of a man who al ... More >>

A Second Night Of Unrest Near Downtown As LAPD Chief Beck Promises Thorough Investigation Of Shooting Of Manuel Jamines

Twitpic​A second night of unrest erupted Tuesday in a small section of the Westlake district as residents angry over a fatal officer-involved shooting over the weekend took to the streets, lit fires, and tossed debris at officers from turn-of-the-century walk-up apartments in the immigrant nei ... More >>

LAPD's Chief Charlie Beck Holds Community Meeting To Defuse Anger Caused By Fatal Shooting of Manuel Jamines

​LAPD Chief Charlie Beck appeared at a community meeting at John Liechty Middle School in Westlake tonight, speaking and listening to a crowd that was often emotional in their condemnations of the LAPD. Beck addressed a few hundred residents who gathered and are angry after a fatal officer-inv ... More >>

Signs of the Times at UCLA

Students, faculty stage walkouts to protest budget cuts

The Audacity of Hype: Tax Teabaggers Doth Protest Too Much

Today is the day when conservatives are protesting the tax cuts the White House has given 95 percent of Americans. Borrowing imagery and rhetoric from the Boston Tea Party, anti-tax KFI Photo Gallerydemonstrators, mourning the restoration of taxes for  the ultra-rich threw out tea bags at par ... More >>

Advertising for Trouble: Supergraphics Landlord Protested at Home

Curbed L.A. has a report about Sunday's protest by anti-billboard activists at the Brentwood home of Frank Rahban. He is the owner of several buildings in L.A. that have become giant easels on which vinyl supergraphics ads have been draped. The Rahban-owned office building at 10801 National Boulevar ... More >>

Queer Town: L.A. Prop. 8 Protest Targets Obama, Warren

This Saturday night President-elect Barack Obama will continue to get an earful he probably never expected.Join the Impact, an Internet-based grassroots group that organizes national protests against Proposition 8, will host candlelight vigils in Los Angeles and other cities to denounce the passage ... More >>

The Last, Passionate Rant of a Long Night in West Hollywood

The protesters were different this time around. They were young and gay and straight and angry and ready to walk for miles, up and down and across West Hollywood and Hollywood. It had been something they had been doing since the "No on 8" rally on San Vicente Boulevard broke up at eight-thirty in th ... More >>

Election 08: What Happens To A Dream Deferred? Prop 8 Protest in WeHo

While much of the country and the world woke up on November 5 relieved or even joyful at the previous day's election results, the day dawned bittersweet for many others here in Los Angeles and across the state. "It's one of the most exciting days because of, clearly, Barack, and one of the most disa ... More >>

Snap!

Teed Off

The Perfect Storm

Remember me to Herald Square

Give Protests a Chance

The peace movement that couldn’t stop a war

Face of a Protester

LAPD wants to ban ski masks from demonstrators’ wardrobes

Fun in the Sun

Domestic Targets

With war on, opposition to Fed’s pursuit of Iraqis and others wanes

The Busted Megaphone

The long, sometimes silent journey of the L.A. peace movement

The Breakfast Club

Davos, American Style

The state of global protest

Shadow Summit

The show of support along the U.S.-Mexico border

Fear and Furs

The pomp and protests of W.’s stolen inauguration

Keeping the Peace

LAPD really knows how to sock it to ’em

Shoot the Messenger

ACLU lawsuit says LAPD targeted reporters

Rants and Reflections

A street-side view of the Democratic Convention

Mood Indigo

The LAPD’s big test

People’s Podium

A protester’s guide to the Democratic convention

No Public Displays

Council to protesters: Demonstrate, if you must, at home

The First Amendment, LAPD Style

Cops push politics to the sidelines at DNC

Less Bank — More World

First Seattle, then A 16. Now it’s time to ask not where — but what?

D.C. Diary

Downs and ups of a protest

Hate Kills

1,000 people assembled in West Hollywood Monday night for a candlelight vigil to remember Matthew Shepard

Local anti-war groups struggle to mobilize opposition