Cops attempting to break up the weekly Sunday drum circle on the sand in Venice were greeted by 700 people who did not want to leave, some of whom threw bottles at police, an LAPD official told the Weekly.

The beach closes at sunset. Like clockwork, police arrived last night to clear out the drum circle, but there was resistance, as there had also been last week, said LAPD Lt. Marco Munoz.

In fact, the website Venice 311 says it was the third week in a row in which cops trying to get drum circle participants to leave were met with rebellion:
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Officers arriving on the beach bear Ocean Front Walk and Breeze Avenue after the day's 7:02 p.m. sunset told the people on the beach, as many as 700, that “it was time to close down,” but some in the crowd threw bottles, Munoz said. 

A bottle broke the window of a police vehicle, and one officer was hit in the leg, he said, but no injuries were reported.



Officers were in a standoff with the beach-goers for nearly an hour and a half, the lieutenant said. Backup from the LAPD's elite Metropolitan Division was requested but was eventually canceled.

Only two people were arrested, both for suspicion of interfering with police, Munoz said. Those two were “booked and released,” he said.


“Because of the warmer weather,” Munoz said, “we had more people, and some resisted us wanting to shut it down.”

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