Officers with the Los Angeles Police Department were attacked with projectiles and smoke bombs on Wednesday after they attempted to clear out a park, which is home to dozens of homeless people.
Law enforcement issued two “unlawful assembly” orders and multiple “dispersal” commands after a group of demonstrators hurled “rocks, bottles and smoke bombs” at officers attempting to remove homeless people from Echo Park and install fencing, the LAPD wrote in a tweet. Footage taken at the event showed police in riot gear repeatedly telling protesters to “back up” as those in the crowd yelled expletives at the uniformed authorities.
YALL ITS GOING DOWN IN ECHO PARK pic.twitter.com/T1zUDUoBkE
— People’s City Council – Los Angeles (@PplsCityCouncil) March 25, 2021
Other video showed LAPD personnel pointing nonlethal launchers at the crowd, and the department said reports that it used tear gas were “completely inaccurate.” Demonstrators reportedly chanted, “Whose park? Our park!” throughout the evening.
HUNDREDS PROTEST AS LOS ANGELES PREPARES TO CLEAR HOMELESS FROM PARK
EPL community defense got the cop cars to retreat pic.twitter.com/vE5wwqAmtp
— ❕ save san marcos foothills❕ (@hautewing) March 25, 2021
The department arrested one unidentified individual for failing to comply with directives, and no officers were hurt. Law enforcement said the event “was largely peaceful” despite the “verbal confrontations from protesters” and projectiles.
City officials placed signs in the area that the park would be closed temporarily for “repairs.” The notices added that personal property, including “tents, chairs, tables, backpacks, bags, and personal items,” must be removed from the area, which houses roughly 100 homeless people, by 10:30 p.m. or it would be seized.
Activists gathered, starting at daylight, in support of those residing in over 170 tents and other makeshift structures.
“They want these people out of here, out of the park. Yeah, they’re going to get involved just to go to a hotel,” Carlos Marroquin, a protester at the event, told a local CBS outlet on Wednesday. “But what happens after that? Those vouchers are not permanent. They’re temporary.”
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Los Angeles City Councilman Mitch O’Farrell said law enforcement was there to facilitate a “safe” effort to erect fencing in the area.
“Department personnel are deployed in that area so that those efforts can begin in a safe and unimpeded manner,” he wrote in a tweet. “Our homeless service providers will return tomorrow morning to continue their work with the park’s unhoused residents to offer shelter and services to anyone who wants and needs the assistance.”
