After a long protest by the “king” across the country on Saturday, including 15 independent demonstrations in Los Angeles alone, the city mayor hopes that the day will be remembered as peaceful, despite struggling to disband the crowd.
“Sometimes there are people who aren’t even part of the main protests hanging out, and that’s where you can have problems,” La Mayor Karen Bass told KTLA’s Karien Winters shortly after the 8pm curfew. “I think it’s happening now, but at the end of the day, I think it was a successful and peaceful day.”
The mayor said she spent about an hour on a helicopter around each location. “Everyone was peaceful… Downtown, which was a massive protest in Downtown, was still overwhelmingly peaceful. I’m going to get a little more difficult at the end when the crowd gets so big.”
The mayor is likely referring to the need for officers to deploy flash bangs and tear gas when LAPD reports that some protesters are “increasingly unruly” and people are throwing rocks, bricks, bottles and other objects.
Sky5 was in the downtown area around 8:30pm and we could see a crowd of protesters still waving flags in the corner of the street. The group appeared peaceful and did not block traffic. However, it was unclear how long law enforcement would allow them to stay in the area.
A small crowd of protesters will be seen in downtown Los Angeles, about 30 minutes after the curfew on June 14, 2025. (KTLA)
“I mean, we give them time to spread out. If it’s clear that they’re about to leave, then there’s a level of patience. But if not, it’s an illegal gathering,” Bass said.
The mayor was concerned about the possibility of violence if law enforcement could not bring demonstrators home in a timely manner, but hoped that it would not.
“I’ve never heard of invasions or massive graffiti like I’ve seen in the last few days, so I hope we can disperse the crowd,” Bass said. “Now, it’s only 40 minutes of the curfew, so I expect it to take a little while, but those who want to leave peacefully will be allowed to leave, and those who don’t want to leave peacefully will be arrested.”
Source link
