Protests and Demonstrations

May Day Protesters Give Middle Finger to LAPD (PHOTO)

Scores of people, police and, of course, Occupy L.A. hit downtown yesterday for the annual May Day marches and rallies. The streets were clogged with an estimated 10,000-plus people who were there to speak their minds on immigration reform, and -- wait! -- did that sign just say what we think it sai ... More >>

Carl's Jr. Boycotted in 1989, Fast Food Protests Nothing New

Picketers and protesters outside a Hollywood fast food restaurant, shouting slogans and attempting to dissuade customers from going inside. A scene from Chick-fil-A in the last week? No, it happened at a Carl's Jr. a short distance to the east...in 1989. The protest, on August 30 of that year, wa ... More >>

Group Plans to Protest Melisse's Foie Gras Dinner Tonight

Tonight, Melisse will take part in the "Northern California vs. Southern California Foie Battle," a six course, $200 per person foie gras dinner that supports the Coalition for Humane and Ethical Farming Standards and its efforts to repeal the upcoming statewide ban on the delicacy. But this will b ... More >>

Kim Kardashian, Adorable Armenian Children Call for Recognition of Armenian Genocide

The myriad Armenians of Los Angeles County took to the streets today -- and to the Internet, brave new frontier for social justice! -- to call for global recognition of the "forgotten holocaust" of 1915. Thousands of protesters marched down Sunset and Hollywood Boulevards this morning/afternoon, li ... More >>

Andrew Breitbart's 5 Angriest Moments

In the two days since he collapsed dead near his home in Westwood -- likely from a heart attack -- conservative blogger and personality (and publisher and author and everything else) Andrew Breitbart, 43, has been praised for his Internet ingenuity and deep understanding of the media/the audience. ... More >>

Occupy, the Art Show: Ted Soqui, Our Photographer Who Did Time Cover With Shepard Fairey, Gets an Exhibit

Ted Soqui​See our previous post, "Occupy L.A. Photos by Ted Soqui, Photog Behind Shepard Fairey's TIME Art, to Show at Gallery Where Cover Protester Sarah Mason Works" Six weeks after LAPD riot cops cut short the revolution and forcibly cleared Occupy L.A. from its home on the City Hall lawn, ... More >>

Occupy L.A. Protests Home Foreclosure Auction Downtown, Gets Inside Sheraton Hotel

starwoodhotels.comThe downtown L.A. Sheraton.​Members of Occupy L.A. were out in force today to protest a foreclosure auction at a downtown hotel. When four or five of them got inside the downtown Sheraton hotel and shouted outside the doors of the meeting room where auction.com was selling p ... More >>

Occupy L.A. Photos by Ted Soqui, Photog Behind Shepard Fairey's TIME Art, to Show at Gallery Where Cover Protester Sarah Mason Works

The Robert Berman Gallery in Santa Monica saw the show of the century fall into its lap this winter. Sarah Mason, who works at the gallery, was catapulted into accidental fame when a photo of her at an Occupy L.A. protest -- snapped by LA Weekly photographer Ted Soqui -- was reworked by graphic art ... More >>

Jeff Baoliang Zhang: Chinese Consulate Shooting Suspect Turns Self in After Allegedly Firing 9 Rounds And Missing

Google MapsStuff happens on Shatto.​Updated at the bottom with Zhang pleading not guilty -- and with some possible background on him, including that he might have feared for his life in China after outing the Chinese secret police in a plot to kill Falun Gong prisoners. Maybe. First posted at ... More >>

Sarah Mason, TIME's Protester of the Year: More Photos, Details Behind Occupy L.A. Cover

UPISarah Mason, TIME covergirl sans beanie and bandana, far left.​Updated on second page with even more up-close shots of Mason -- these ones taken by Ted Soqui, the LA Weekly photographer behind the TIME cover. Originally posted December 15 at 4:40 p.m. Ah, the elusive Sarah Mason -- she of ... More >>

Occupy L.A.: An Arrestee's Story

Ted Soqui​Editor's note: Matt Kresling was arrested last Wednesday along with 292 others at the Occupy L.A. encampment. He submitted this first-person account to the Weekly share his reasons for involvement - as well as explain what happened after the arrestees were separated from the watchful ... More >>

VIDEO: LAPD Riot Squad Tackles Occupy L.A. Photographer

Update, with full story: "Tyson Heder, Photojournalist Mauled by LAPD, Still in Jail After Occupy L.A. Raid; Others Allege Baton Brutality." Though most protesters, observers and journalists at the LAPD raid of the Occupy L.A. camp last night gave the 1,200 responding riot police a gold star for go ... More >>

Occupy L.A. Remains Another Night; Shrinks From Thousands to Hundreds

Ted SoquiOccupiers infesting street on Sunday 27​Occupy L.A. stays untouched Monday night and protesters stay put 30 hours passed the eviction deadline. But unlike Sunday night, which had more than 2,000 occupiers present, the late Monday/early Tuesday population in front of city hall shrunk ... More >>

Occupy Ports: L.A. Occupiers to Halt Sea Commerce for 'Day Without Goldman Sachs'

Though they've arguably got bigger things to worry about right now -- like where in the world they're going to live, come LAPD eviction -- Occupy L.A. organizers are chattering about another big day of action on December 12: Occupy Ports. (And they'll have to recuperate by January 2, when they plan ... More >>

Occupy UCLA Crops up on Campus With 25 Tents: School Warns it Probably Won't be Tolerated

Occupy UCLA Facebook​Updated at the bottom with arrests. Originally posted at 1:39 p.m. yesterday Occupy L.A.'s 400-plus tent encampment, which some have speculated is the largest Occupy village in the nation now that the movements in Oakland and Manhattan have been ejected, has some competi ... More >>

The Zen of LAPD Chief Charlie Beck

Police top gun ignores pot smoking, finds his inner haiku at Occupy L.A.

Occupy Affiliated ReFund California to March on Cal State Trustees, Wells Fargo in Long Beach Today

ReFund California​Updated at the bottom with blood, pepper spray and a clash between protesters and police. First posted at 7 a.m. The Occupy-affiliated protesters who scared the UC Board of Regents into cancelling their big meeting this week will be at the Cal State Board of Trustees meeting ... More >>

Porn Studio Pink Visual Joins The Occupy Movement With a Spoof Campaign

Pink Visual​You knew it was only a matter of time when the 99 percent was joined by the 69ers. We already had the Occupy porn titles at-the-ready: Occupy This. Occupy That Ass. And of course, the sure-to-be viral Deposit Transfer Day. But seriously (well, not really), L.A. porn production ho ... More >>

Occupy L.A. Clashes With LAPD at Midnight OWS March: Are We Next in Line for Eviction?

ABC7LAPD officers face off with protesters.​Updated at the bottom: LAPD Chief Charlie Beck is negotiating with protesters, hoping Occupy L.A. will voluntarily dismantle "without confrontation." Last night was a long one for uprooted protesters at Zuccotti Park in New York: Hundreds of cops re ... More >>

Pavement Occupies L.A.: The Many Voices of the Movement (VIDEO)

Sam Slovick in front of his tent at City Hall​Sam Slovick is sleeping down at City Hall to report firsthand on Occupy L.A. For continued coverage, visit SamSlovick.com. There are many voices to be heard in the movement. The nightly general assembly meets on the south steps at 7:30pm where wid ... More >>

Shepard Fairey, L.A. Street Artist, Designs Party Invite for Occupy Wall Street

theoccupationparty.comA West Coast legend does his part.​Yup. This just happened. Right after receiving the victorious news from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg that Occupy Wall Street doesn't have to move out of Zuccotti Park after all, protest organizers learned they'd been blessed with a S ... More >>

Tom Morello Speaks On #Occupy: "Check the historical record -- you don't win unless you've got an excellent soundtrack."

Ed Carrasco​See also: Occupy L.A.: Street Musicians Reign at City Hall Music has historically played a strong role in social movements, including those led by Los Angeles artists N.W.A. and Rage Against the Machine. The latter's guitarist -- and longtime activist -- Tom Morello did a little r ... More >>

Los Angeles Shows Support for Egypt with Rally at Federal Building

Liana Aghajanian​ See more photos in "Los Angeles Rally Shows Support for Egyptian Protesters." By: Liana Aghajanian As protests calling for the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak violently escalated on the streets of Egypt in what is now the fifth day of anti-government unrest, at lea ... More >>

UC Nurses Protest Staffing Shortages At Hospitals

​Blocked from striking by a temporary restraining order, thousands of registered nurses at University of California medical centers are nonetheless holding rallies Thursday, including one at UCLA, to protest staffing shortages and patient safety issues. Beth Kean, chief negotiator for the Cali ... More >>

Massive May Day Rally Expected In Downtown L.A.

​Los Angeles officials are expecting a massive crowd for Saturday's "May Day" workers and immigration rally. Organizers have been encouraging a show of hands in response to Arizona's new law that allows police to ask people on the street for proof of their immigrations status. Quoting police, ... More >>

West Hollywood 'Art Attack' Ringleaders Revealed

Who were those masked men and women?Sky Yim"Art attack" protesters assemble near the Pacific Design Center on Monday night.​That's been the question of the week in West Hollywood, where some 20 people, wearing masks of longtime City Council members John Heilman and Abbe Land, and holding placards ... More >>

Nazi Protest Turns Bloody In Downtown L.A.

BrandOneCulture via Twitpic​A white-supremacist was injured when he was surrounded and beaten by some in a crowd of counter-protesters before a Nazi demonstration downtown Saturday. Los Angeles police rescued the man and pulled him from the violence. No one was arrested, but shortly after poli ... More >>

'Courageous Karl' Rove Cuts Speech Short After Code Pink Protester Charges At Him With Handcuffs

​Karl Rove, believed by some to be the architect of President George W. Bush's political policies, cut short a speaking engagement in Beverly Hills Monday night after hecklers disrupted him. Bush's former deputy chief of staff walked away from the talk and book signing for his bestseller Cour ... More >>

City Legal Payouts Enough To Hire 1,200-Plus Cops

Here's a doozy: The city of Los Angeles paid out as much money in legal fees and lawsuit settlements as it would have spent to hire of 1,271 much-needed Los Angeles police officers.​The calculation comes from the nonprofit group California Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse, which states that Los Ange ... More >>

Comic-Con's Twilight Protests: Is There a Gender War Brewing?

Shannon CottrellTwilight protestors in line for Comic-Con's Masquerade​Saturday night, photographer Shannon Cottrell and I walked up and down the line to get inside Comic-Con's Masquerade, noticing a curious wave of screams. We wondered what was happening, followed the sound, and caught a youn ... More >>

Queer Town: Equality California Urges Investigation into Gay Sailor's Death

Equality California, one of the most politically connected gay rights organizations in California, has issued a statement urging a "thorough investigation" of the possible murder of August Provost, a 29-year-old gay African-American sailor who was shot and killed at Camp Pendleton in Southern Califo ... More >>

Queer Town: Obama Still Avoids Prop. 8 at Beverly Hills Fundraiser

At a star-studded fundraiser at the Beverly Hilton last night, President Barack Obama still avoided talking about the California Supreme Court's ruling on Proposition 8 and full marriage equality. According to Variety's Managing Editor Ted Johnson, Obama made a brief remark about gay rights when he ... More >>

The Trial of the Catonsville Nine

Today in Photographs: February 8, 1966

Peaceniks Picket Air Force One.  Demonstrators protesting the Vietnam War rally a few hundred yards from President Lyndon Johnson's plane as Johnson conferred with advisors aboard the jet. Photo: LA Times/UCLA Collection

Election '08: Not Quite Recreating '68

I made my way to Civic Center Park, near the state capitol building in Denver, around midday on Tuesday, hoping to find signs of dissident life to add a bit of hot blood to what had been so far a rather anemic Democratic National Convention. It was the morning after a confrontation between police an ... More >>

Election '08: All Dressed Up With No Riot To Go To

So, I was walking down the 16th Street Mall in Denver after (think Fourth Street Mall in Santa Monica, only a little bigger and a little less cheesy), taking in all the civic life, or such as it is in the USA, which consisted of lots of people dining out and taking in street performers and enjoying ... More >>

Animal radicals banned from UCLA profs' homes

By Max Taves A judge handed UCLA a big victory over its animal-rights tormentors in Los Angeles Superior Court yesterday. The judge’s order won’t be made public until sometime today, but here are the two most immediate effects: 1) The personal information of UCLA researchers and administrator ... More >>

Journey From the Center of the World

Writing on the Walls

Judy Baca

Deluged

The larger lessons of the DWP’s bad day at City Hall

Streets of Loathing

George W. Bush and the London protests

Welcome to the Concrete Jungle

John Powers in the land of no culture, surreal Cancún

Peace Casualties

A dispute over dwindling numbers at peace marches

Following the Flags in San Francisco

Letters

A Wintry Discontent

New York's global warning

Bad Timing

Globalization meetings, protests called off in Washington

War Stories

Why Tracers rings hollow

Back to School

Hamilton High teacher returns to the classroom

Collateral Damage

Vietnamese leader whipsawed by Orange County backlash