Den Nisi on July 13, 2012, at 01:55PM – #1

it is more like 200 people involved and there were many witnesses including news reporters covering the event that are testifying that the police drove on to the location riot style with horns blaring and started shooting at the crowd. perhaps you should actually watch the footage instead of guessing. thanks.

Duncan OccupiesToo on July 13, 2012, at 02:35PM – #2

This guy's association with ArtWalk is over. His biases are very clear, as I was there last night, and his description doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to what actually happened. Its true Occupy LA was there, but there was about 20 of them, and all they were doing was writing on the sidewalk with chalk. The miniriot that ensued involved more than 1000 people (not with Occupy LA)who were instantly outraged by the LAPD's behavior. It was a spontaneous response to witnessing the police commit crimes and violence on innocent people. So ironic that this douchebag Westwater "co-founded" Artwalk seems to hate art so much that he makes him self look silly defending police brutality. He probably hates chalk art because he can't find a way to commodify and sell it.

Lauren Steiner on July 13, 2012, at 02:36PM – #3

To Brady: It's a shame that you are not more concerned with the fact that it was mostly your attendees who got arrested for doing chalk art and throwing rocks and bottles at the police. There were only 20 Occupiers there. And they were merely handing out chalk and flyers showing how Occupiers have been arrested recently for using perfectly legal sidewalk chalk on the sidewalk. If the police did not come out in disproportionate force, as usual, and block the street - yes, it was them who did that not the Occupiers - then none of this would have happened. I sense you are not an artist or even a real art lover. Otherwise you would be more concerned about police state repression of free expression.

Kim Cooper on July 13, 2012, at 02:36PM – #4

Brady Westwater is not an Art Walk co-founder. Why are you giving him that erroneous platform?

Speaking as someone who actually did manage the Art Walk for a time, I fully support the peaceful action of Chalk Walk, meant to draw the attention of the wider community to the ongoing, underreported arrests for chalking sidewalks outside 626 Wilshire. (This is the location of the offices of the Central City Association, the business lobbying group that some members of the movement believe are seeking to criminalize homelessness and poverty in Downtown Los Angeles.)

In live chat on the LA Times website this morning, editor Shelby Grad confirmed that a reporter is now assigned to investigate the situation at 626 Wilshire, so the Chalk Walk action can be considered to have achieved its goal. Harming the Art Walk and creating chaos was not a goal of this event, and I think its dangerous to attempt to boil down into a single message the motivations of a large group of disparate people that included an unknown number of protesters, the general public, and patrons of nearby bars, unexpectedly confronted with police in riot gear.

What happened last night was awful. The LAPD's overreaction to a small group of protesters seeking to express their court-approved rights of free speech in a harmless and creative way quickly grew into a frightening melee, with rubber bullets apparently fired at point blank range into the crowd.

I think the question that needs to be asked here is why are the police expending so many resources on attempting to contain the ongoing, now spreading, protests against the Central City Association? I have been on the scene of 626 Wilshire as an observer on several evenings, and been shocked by the number of police cars and officers stationed around the perimeter of a peaceful sleep-in. What is the actual threat here, and does it merit the response?

hazberg () on July 13, 2012, at 02:45PM – #5

I applaud the LAPD on their actions. These OccupyLA vagrants were being roudy and violent in my neighborhood, even blocking streets, keeping residents from driving to their driveway. It was very clear what happened: these vagrants purposely illicited police when they started drawing with chalk on active, public roadways. They then claim "police brutality" when they disobey police orders to GET OFF THE STREET and let traffic flow.

I applaud Art Walk for dissassociating themselves with the dangerous criminals that belong to OccupyLA, like the ones commenting here. And they are planning another riot on August 9th, so hopefully LAPD is ready to protect me and my neighbors from these criminals.

on July 13, 2012, at 02:52PM – #6

So the stoner/ idiots at Occupy LA decided to ruin LA Artwalk by leaving their protest at Pershing Square. Since nobody was paying them any attention they decided to invade Art-walk and get the attention they wanted over some stupid sidewalk chalk issue. Of course by then everyone was drunk at Art walk and started throwing bottles at the cops and writing on the streets KILL COPS (shown live on TV)...another black eye for The artwalk

Frank Hill on July 13, 2012, at 03:03PM – #7

To Occupy LA You jumped the proverbial shark last night and bit the hand that fed you (literally). What occurred last night at Art Walk was a travesty. Why hurt the same folks who have stood by and supported you?? I contributed to your cause and even sent you guys pizzas up at City Hall last year when it was raining and you were sending out pleas that you were hungry. I took my kids up to see you on the weekends and stood next to you and felt the cause. But as time has gone on your message has become murkier and grown weaker. Then last night.
What in the world is going on? You can whitewash it all you want but I was there. I saw you.
I saw the faces of discontent. I saw how you scared people. I saw how you threw rocks and bottles and taunted the police. I saw you disorderly. I saw you drinking and smoking pot in the streets. I saw you disorganized. I saw you not representing the 98% which fully includes me that you so dearly cling to. I saw you shamed. I saw you guilty of becoming everything you say you are not. We all saw it. For you now to wake up the next morning and point to anyone other than yourselves shows a complete lack of being truthful with everyone who was there and saw what you did but most importantly yourselves. Don't the politicians already lie enough to themselves and the people they pretend to serve? You have become them. What you did last night does not represent me or my family.
Whatever 98% you are a part of clearly no longer represents me or many of the people who stood in horror last night to witness who you have become and what you did. You can continue to blame others for your actions but in the end it comes back to you.

Chris Camargo on July 13, 2012, at 03:53PM – #8

As a Downtown LA resident, and first-hand observer of last night's mayhem, I'm disgusted with the actions of the "protestors." People flashing gang signs on live TV, writing hate speech on the ground, posing for pictures in front of a line of armed riot police. PLEASE, get your Facebook cover photo elsewhere.

And please don't tell me it was the police who started it. I was out there for the majority and I didn't get a rubber bullet in the face. I wonder how I managed that...

Deal4 () on July 13, 2012, at 03:54PM – #9

Wait, I was there too. The Occupy people started this and they wanted this display to happen. It was planned. They moved from Pershing Square to get maximum attention by coming onto Spring. They were asked to move because they were blocking the sidewalk and people had to go around them even stepping into the street. (Safety) I didn’t see posts or throwing of glass bottles when the food vendors and DJ’s were asked to move when all the new rules were put in place. How is it different? These guys were belligerent and nasty. Also, the LAPD did not do anything until these guys started throwing crap at them. I don’t see Artwalk as a political soapbox. I see it as a place where all types of downtown people can come together and have a good time regardless of political beliefs, in PEACE. They took that and crapped all over it. I see people saying it would have been fine if the LAPD stayed out of it. Well it would have been fine if Occupy didn’t try showboat their (lack of agenda). We asked for the police to be there to keep order remember! After that accident where the infant died we demanded LAPD to be there. Spring is not the 1%. It’s small business and people that hope they have enough money after the bills to pay for a weekend drink. Spring is people that take the train due to gas being expensive. If you want to make a statement, go to Southpark and do this at Staples Center or Nokia. BTW all I’m hearing in my building is how the Occupy people suck and no one wants them here. Good way to get people to support your cause. Real smart. The locals and local business have to pay the price. You see this crap on TV and who would want to come and spend money on our restaurants and stores. Thank you to the guys who clean Spring street after Artwalk and I apologize for the Occupy people not bothering to come help.

Christopher Eaton on July 13, 2012, at 04:28PM – #10

I don't buy the bit about how this was a sanctioned event at the ArtWalk. Who would ever have sanctioned something that was obstructing the safe passage of 40,000 drunk people down the sidewalk? If Occupy LA, aka idiot anarchists, had any claim to hosting a legitimate protest, it would have been done in conjunction with the organizers of ArtWalk and in a safer and probably somewhat less visible site. I can't believe that I ever supported these fools. If they perhaps had a focus, a message, or a raison d'etre other than to have a homeless daytime encampment in Pershing Square and to glower and menace passersby (I walk through the square every day and have to contend with them), then perhaps I'd be more tolerant. When you coopt a great party with lots of people who've been kind to your group for a year and a half and then give it a black eye, not so much. As a property owner at the particular intersection at which the mini-riot occurred, I do not believe that the police overreacted after they were provoked. And I do not condone the rowdy, ridiculous behavior of the members of the crowd who decided in their inebriation to provoke and taunt the people who were there to protect them.

hazberg () on July 13, 2012, at 04:58PM – #11

It's so great to see the comments here - I'm also a downtown property owner and want these people gone. Notice how all the "pro-rioter" people have suddenly ran away in hiding? They are unable to defend themselves because they have nothing to defend. They preformed criminal acts! I also noticed a bunch of OccupyLA protesters using permanent market to vandalize the SB Lofts building on 6th/Spring. Hopefully they were caught on video.

derblut on July 13, 2012, at 05:17PM – #12

Do you chalk bullshit in your own hood, assholes.

Cdy Jms on July 13, 2012, at 06:02PM – #13

Edited for accuracy -

"The assholes known in DTLA as "Fascists Who Supress the People's Right to Free Expression with Brutal Violence" (aka the LAPD) decided to totally shut down the single busiest intersection and the single most dangerously overcrowded sidewalk at the height of Art Walk..."

...then violently arrest people for exercising their right to free speech and clear everyone from the area, be they artwalkers, occupiers, or completely innocent bystanders, with overwhelming violent force - shooting dozens of rubber bullets, teargas, and shoving anyone unfortunate to get within range of their batons.

A B on July 13, 2012, at 09:04PM – #14

The Occupiers are selfish little brats. How dare they hijack the artwalk and use it to get publicity. Occupiers, it's over. You're message is convoluted and no one likes you. You took money from the mom and pop businesses last night, and cost the the taxpayers more money. You are losers! Get a job! Grow up!You are filthy little rejects.

Downtowner on July 14, 2012, at 06:41AM – #15

Keep it civil, everyone. If you're attacking people instead of arguments, or being overly profane, expect your comment to get deleted.