Second night of violent clashes erupt between LAPD and at least 100 protesters trying to STOP officers clearing Echo Park of homeless who have overrun the popular beauty spot
Clashes broke out Thursday night between officers from the Los Angeles Police Department and at least 100 protesters who were trying to stop police from clearing out Echo Park's homeless encampment.
A newly installed fence surrounded the popular Los Angeles park Thursday after authorities moved in to evict residents of the large homeless encampment despite protests by the people who live there and their supporters.
Only a few tents and about a dozen people remained by evening along the grassy banks of Echo Park Lake, where tents had proliferated for months during the coronavirus pandemic, sparking concerns about trash, drugs and violence.
Residents argued that the complaints were overblown and the encampment offered a community setting for people without means who have nowhere else to live.
Police gave people until 10.30pm Thursday to leave so that the city could perform what officials said were necessary repairs to the site.
But just after 11pm, the LAPD tweeted that an unlawful assembly had been declared in the area of Lemoyne and Park Avenue 'due to a large crowd who is utilizing high-intensity lights in an attempt to blind officers and prevent them from performing their duties and/or defend themselves if needed'.
Clashes broke out Thursday night between officers from the Los Angeles Police Department and at least 100 protesters who were trying to stop police from clearing out Echo Park's homeless encampment
Officers started arresting protesters after they declaring an unlawful assembly and warning those who remained that they would be detained for misdemeanors
Police gave people until 10.30pm Thursday to leave so that the city could perform what officials said were necessary repairs to the site
But just after 11pm, the LAPD tweeted that an unlawful assembly had been declared in the area of Lemoyne and Park Avenue 'due to a large crowd who is utilizing high-intensity lights in an attempt to blind officers and prevent them from performing their duties and/or defend themselves if needed'
A demonstrator holds a sign during a protest in the Echo Park section of Los Angeles on Thursday night
A demonstrator sets up a tent in front of police in the Echo Park section of Los Angeles on Thursday
Demonstrators lock arms trying to prevent police from advancing in the Echo Park section of Los Angeles on Thursday
Demonstrators huddle in front of police in the Echo Park section of Los Angeles Thursday night
A protester holds an 'ACAB' sign in front of police officers during an eviction of the homeless encampments at Echo Park Lake Thursday night
Video making its round on social media showed the protesters being kettled by police officers.
Some demonstrators were seen yelling in the faces of police as officers surrounded them, refusing to let them leave.
Police tweeted that a 'dispersal order has been given at Lemoyne & Park. A designated protest zone has been established on Glendale Blvd north of Park for the Echo Park incident.'
A short time later, police said that 'every person remaining present at the place of any riot, rout, or unlawful assembly, after the same has been lawfully warned to disperse, except public officers and persons assisting them in attempting to disperse the same, is guilty of a misdemeanor'.
An LA Times reporter tweeted that his colleague was among those arrested Thursday night.
The clashes followed a confrontation late Wednesday night, when authorities showed up to install the fencing.
Several hundred people, including advocates and homeless residents, faced off against a line of police wearing riot helmets. Protesters carried signs that said 'dignity, not displacement' and 'we need long term solutions'.
The encampment had overtaken areas surrounding the lake, an oasis-like locale where locals and tourists normally stroll and picnic on the lake's banks, which include a towering fountain and a view of the downtown skyline.
Protesters and police officers clash during an eviction of homeless encampments at Echo Park Lake, amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease in Los Angeles
Protesters are detained by police officers during an eviction of the homeless encampments at Echo Park Lake
Police tweeted that a 'dispersal order has been given at Lemoyne & Park. A designated protest zone has been established on Glendale Blvd north of Park for the Echo Park incident
Protesters were seated on the ground after being arrested
Police march toward demonstrators in Echo Park as they move in to make arrests
Police ordered protesters to leave the area before 11pm, and declared an 'unlawful assembly' shortly after, arresting those who remained in the park
A demonstrator sets up a sleeping bag in front of police and in the middle of a street Thursday night
Earlier on Thursday, several protesters demonstrated along Sunset Boulevard in response to the removal of a homeless encampment in Echo Park
A large crowd of protesters gathered on Lemoyne St, down the street from Echo Park Lake earlier on Thursday
The lake has been featured in many movies, including the Oscar-winning Chinatown in 1974.
The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority said its outreach workers had moved 44 people into housing on Monday and Tuesday, mostly into hotel rooms under the state-funded Project Roomkey program aimed at providing shelter for those most at risk during the coronavirus pandemic.
Mitch O'Farrell, a city councilman whose district includes the park, said earlier on Thursday that the homeless people who left the park have been offered temporary housing, and at least 166 people had already been sheltered.
'We have had a very successful housing operation that began in January,' O'Farrell told reporters earlier Thursday. He said the city has contracted with the nonprofit Urban Alchemy to help homeless residents clean up their campsites and move.
Antonia Ramirez, who said she has been homeless for 20 years, vowed to stay at her camp site at Echo Park Lake and risk being arrested. Ramirez, who said she has lived at parks in Los Angeles and in neighboring Orange County, said she moved in days earlier.
'I'm not leaving. I will be arrested, and I will spend my time in jail,' said Ramirez, 60.
Her fellow tent-dwelling residents argued the growing encampment had provided a secure place for homeless people during the public health crisis.
Valerie Zeller said she doesn't want to accept assistance from the city because of shelter restrictions that include curfews.
'I care a lot about this park,' she told ABC 7. 'I pick up trash every day for two hours at least.'
Zeller said she plans to move onto a nearby sidewalk.
Kelvin Martinez, an organizer with the advocacy group Street Watch LA, accused city officials of 'bad faith communication'.
He said requests for services during the past year were largely ignored until the sudden announcement that the park would be closed.
'The city's strategy is to displace these people into dark corners, into hiding, under overpasses. As long as they're not visible in a public place like a park,' Martinez said.
No timeline was provided for the closure, which O'Farrell's office said was necessary to make 'extensive repairs' to lighting and plumbing at the park and for general 'public safety improvements'.
Thursday night's demonstration follows one held on Wednesday when police officers removed demonstrators in Echo Park
Police were confronted by protesters on Wednesday night as they moved in to disperse a homeless encampment
Los Angeles city contractors install a temporary fence around Echo Park Lake's perimeter in Los Angeles early Thursday
Los Angeles Police officers (right) and demonstrators face-off on the Echo Park Lake's perimeter in Los Angeles late Wednesday
The encampment has been the site of drug overdoses, assaults and shootings, with four deaths in the park over the past year, according to a statement from O'Farrell's office.
The location of the encampment in the fast-gentrifying Echo Park neighborhood gave it a high profile, but it was not unique for the metro Los Angeles area.
Tents can be found throughout the city and region despite an array of state and local programs aimed at sheltering people and transitioning them to permanent housing.
A January 2020 count by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority reported that there were more than 66,400 homeless people living in Los Angeles County - by far the largest single concentration in the state.
That included more than 41,000 people within Los Angeles city limits. Both figures were up more than 12 per cent from the previous year. The annual count was canceled for 2021 because of the pandemic.
Among the major legal actions on the issue is a federal court lawsuit filed by a group of business owners, residents and community leaders called the LA Alliance for Human Rights.
The lawsuit accuses the city and county of failing to comprehensively address the desperation that homeless people face - including hunger, crime, squalor and the coronavirus pandemic.
US District Judge David Carter, who is overseeing the case, called parties to a hearing in a Skid Row parking lot last month and said that if politicians can't provide solutions, he wants to explore what powers the court has to order and oversee remedies.
Invoking the 1950s civil rights case Brown vs. Board of Education, Carter said there is strong precedence of the federal courts acting 'after a long period of inaction by local government officials'.
No comments