L.A. Times Describes Bottle- and Rock-Throwing Crowd as “Mostly Peaceful Demonstrators”
In its profile of Chief Bratton, the L.A. Times describes the 2007 May Day melee in MacArthur Park in the following way:
Last year, Bratton was reminded how far the department still has to go when scores of officers marched through MacArthur Park wildly swinging batons and firing foam bullets in an effort to clear a May Day crowd of mostly peaceful demonstrators urging immigration policy reforms. The LAPD’s planning for the event had been poor and no one was clearly in charge. Scores of protesters and journalists were hurt. In a scathing address to commanders, Bratton later called it “the most embarrassing experience I’ve had in 38 years of policing.”
In an article for National Review Online, Jack Dunphy described the “mostly peaceful demonstrators” somewhat differently:
I’ve spoken with people who were directly involved and I’ve pieced together what I’m confident is an accurate if incomplete description of the events.
There were two separate marches on Tuesday in Los Angeles, one in the morning in the civic-center area, the second in the afternoon at MacArthur Park, just west of downtown. The first was uneventful, as indeed was the second until the very end, when a relatively small group of demonstrators provoked police officers by blocking the street when the terms of their march permit expressly prohibited it. Several times marchers came out into the street but were turned back by ranks of police officers, some on foot, others on bicycles and motorcycles. These demonstrators, their faces hidden behind bandanas, became bolder with each successive foray into the street, taunting officers with the customary “F*** the police” chants and a litany of similar verbal provocations.
The cops on the line remained impassive to these insults, but when the crowd began pelting them with bottles (some filled with urine), cans, batteries, and almost anything else that can be picked up and thrown, police commanders declared the gathering an unlawful assembly and gave an order to disperse.
In a separate article, Dunphy made it clear that the orders to disperse were heard by most people, including the guy speaking at the beginning of this video. (Later in the video, at 2:19, you can someone who had been lawfully ordered to leave yelling “We gotta stand our ground!”) In that article, Dunphy added more details about the aggressive actions of the “mostly peaceful demonstrators”:
A relatively small number of protesters, some with their faces concealed by bandanas, pelted officers with frozen water bottles and soda cans, bottles filled with urine, rocks, sticks, and any number of other projectiles that could be heaved toward the police lines. There were even instances of protesters using slingshots to shoot heavy metal bolts at officers.
I’m not quite sure where the L.A. Times got the notion that “scores” of protestors and journalists were hurt. “Scores” implies at least 40; an AP article from May 30, 2007 says:
Twenty-seven marchers, seven police officers and nine members of the media were hurt.
36 is not “scores”; in addition, the AP article understates the number of officers injured, which Dunphy put at 15. Of course, to the media, injured officers don’t count; in reporting the number of casualties, the L.A. Times forgot to include injured officers in the total.
Dunphy wasn’t there, and neither was I. But I trust Dunphy’s report more than the portrayal offered by the L.A. Times of police officers “wildly” swinging batons and firing foam pellets at “mostly peaceful demonstrators.”
Perhaps someone will need to demonstrate at the L.A. Times building — in a similarly “peaceful” fashion, of course — before the reporters there manage to understand what the officers felt like.
Not to worry, the LA Times will join thirty or more “newspapers” on the auction block. They will naturally blame Bush, the stock market, and fascist elements (that means YOU, Petterico) and remain unconscious to the fact that they are lying scumbags who have lost the confidence of their so-called readership. We are in the middle of an era when our institutions are being exposed as criminal, incompetent, and politically motivated. That’s life in a “democracy.”
Comment by howard432 — 12/7/2008 @ 6:30 am
What Howard said, +1,000,000,000
Comment by J. Raymond Wright — 12/7/2008 @ 6:46 am
Is anyone still unconvinced that the MSM, print and broadcast, is anything other than biased toward the Left? It’s in their blood. Journalist start out left leaning: idealistic, feelings, emotions, help others, and THEN they go for liberal arts degrees at leftist universities. Patterico, what’s your background? I suspect you started somewhat differently with different motovations…
Comment by Dandapani — 12/7/2008 @ 6:52 am
“but when the crowd began pelting them with bottles (some filled with urine)…”
I never cease to be amazed at what liberals expect the police to put up with.
Comment by pst314 — 12/7/2008 @ 7:03 am
We are, as a nation and a people, far to tolerant of “protesters”. It is tempting to blame it in the Radical Left’s infiltration of the media, but my reading seems to indicate that it goes back a good deal farther. The degree to which this tolerance covers absolute idiocy is amazing: it is a firmly set part of the myth that the “protesters” at Kent State were peacefully minding their own business, that the Authorities had no call to send in the National Guard, and that throwing stones at men armed with rifles was not grounds to get shot at.
The cold facts are that the night before the National Guard was sent in, the “Protesters” had set fire to the ROTC building and interfered with firefighters on the scene, thus making it absolutely necessary to shut down the “protest” immediately, before some idiot set another large fire and roasted a couple of hundred people. As for the rifle fire; rocks are potentially lethal too, and if you throw rocks at men who do not have rocks – but do have guns – if you have the sense that God gave a turnip, you expect to get shot.
Comment by C. S. P. Schofield — 12/7/2008 @ 7:37 am
Mostly peaceful is, at best, disingenuous of the LA Slimes, but at the same time, predictable.
Comment by JD — 12/7/2008 @ 7:42 am
Manson was likely a mostly peaceful person, as the majority of his time on this planet was not spent killing people.
Comment by JD — 12/7/2008 @ 8:25 am
The Times has thrown its lot in with the radical left. I don’t know why anyone else would read the paper. I read the sports section online during football season and sometimes read an article by following a link. I used to subscribe to and read five newspapers. That was 15 years ago. They no longer are deserving of support.
Comment by Mike K — 12/7/2008 @ 9:11 am
JD, extending your point:
Until the last 90 minutes of the their lives, the 9/11 hijackers were mostly peaceful people.
Comment by Perfect Sense — 12/7/2008 @ 10:02 am
__________________________________
Perhaps someone will need to demonstrate at the L.A. Times building — in a similarly “peaceful” fashion,
I do admit that I get some satisfaction in seeing the way the LA Times, no thanks to its current owner — but also mainly due to longterm changes in our cyberspace economy — is falling apart and likely will end up a very hollow (or even more hollow) shell of its former self.
There is a saying that a conservative is a liberal who’s been mugged. In the case of some (or quite a few) on the left, such as the writer of the article on Bratton, they need to be mugged over and over again before they’ll even look up and say “ouch!” and “oops!”
__________________________________
Comment by Mark — 12/7/2008 @ 10:59 am
36 is not “scores”
Compared to the shrinking circulation numbers of the LAT, 36 may be “scores”.
Comment by Neo — 12/7/2008 @ 12:12 pm
The troublemakers planned ahead of time to provoke violence. Why else bring bottles of urine? Which leads to the question: what’s it really all about, then? And the answer: ego-addicts need their fix.
Which is also why regular people are so tolerant of such behavior, even to a fault: their experience is that ignoring a tantrum is the best way to deal with a spoiled child, so that’s what they do.
Comment by ras — 12/7/2008 @ 1:33 pm
Surely *someone* from the left side of the aisle will come to defend those poor, maligned, enlightened souls who had perfectly good reasons to be carrying bottles of urine and rocks around?
Hellooo?
*crickets*
Comment by M. Scott Eiland — 12/7/2008 @ 1:36 pm
Comment by M. Scott Eiland — 12/7/2008 @ 1:36 pm
Like most spoiled brats, they need their bottoms paddled.
So, when you mention *crickets*, you’re partly to the answer:
Cricket bats, applied vigorously to back-sides.
Comment by Another Drew — 12/7/2008 @ 1:41 pm
When I was in college a friend of my brother was surrounded by around 12 neo-nazi thugs, two or three of which proceeded to pounce him until he wound up in the hospital for the “crime” of being Korean. The LA Times even reported on the attack. And funny thing, I don’t recall the article about the attack describing the neo-nazis as “mostly peaceful”, even though the description would have been no more ridiculous if it had been used in that case either.
Comment by Sean P — 12/7/2008 @ 2:24 pm
My “LAT, pathetically desperate” story of the day: Went to the grocery store and the sad sack LAT shill standing with his untouched stack of LA Slimes is nowhere to be found. However, a nice fellow near the checkout asks me to sign up for a drawing for a gift certificate for groceries. I do, happily, providing my name and phone number. I ask him where the canned yams are; he doesn’t know. “Actually,” he says, “I don’t work here. This promotion is a partnership between the LA Times and the store, and you will now get a great deal on a Sunday only…”
“LA Times?” I cry, as I reach for my entry. He looks like he’s going to cry as he reaches in and retrieves my entry. “Thank you, ma’am…” He
s heard it all before.
The Stealth LA Times man…the loneliest man in show business.
Comment by Patricia — 12/7/2008 @ 3:14 pm
Check this WSJ story. http://tinyurl.com/647dfa
Looks like they might be hitting the bankruptcy courts as early as this week.
First paragraph:
“Tribune Co. is preparing for a possible filing for bankruptcy-court protection as soon as this week, according to people familiar with the matter, in another sign of trouble for the newspaper industry.”
Comment by Huey — 12/7/2008 @ 4:34 pm
The Miami Herald and the Rocky Mountain News are already up for sale, and you say now that the Tribune company, owner of the (@%&$!#&) Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and the Baltimore Sun (which hasn’t been relevant since H.L. Mencken worked there)–the innovative media company which protected the news with four layers of editors–is going to go bankrupt?
Heh.
Comment by Official Internet Data Office — 12/7/2008 @ 4:51 pm
“Tribune Co. is preparing for a possible filing for bankruptcy-court protection as soon as this week, according to people familiar with the matter, in another sign of trouble for the newspaper industry.”
Yeah, but using LAT logic, isn’t the Tribune company “mostly profitable”?
Comment by Sean P — 12/7/2008 @ 5:03 pm
The LAT’s claim of 36 injured is pretty close to being scores as a score contain twenty of something. Remember the beginning of the Gettysburg Address, “Four score and seven years ago…”
Comment by Pat Patterspn — 12/7/2008 @ 5:04 pm
Comment by Pat Patterspn — 12/7/2008 @ 5:04 pm
Oh, so from 36, to 40, is just a rounding error?
You wouldn’t work for the government, would you?
Comment by Another Drew — 12/7/2008 @ 5:13 pm
OMG!!!1!!!11!! Is this the end of the Tribune Comany, and their patented Four Layers of Editors?
Tribune Company Business Units and Websites
National Cable| WGN AMERICA
http://www.WGNAmerica.com
Radio>| WGN-AM CHICAGO
http://www.WGNradio.com
Television Stations
WPIX-TV (CW) NEW YORK
http://www.WPIX.com
KTLA-TV (CW) LOS ANGELES
http://www.KTLA.com
WGN-TV (CW) CHICAGO
http://www.WGNtv.com
CLTV CHICAGOLAND TELEVISION 24-HOUR NEWS
http://www.CLTV.com
WPHL-TV (MY) PHILADELPHIA
http://www.myPHL17.com
KDAF-TV (CW) DALLAS
http://www.the33tv.com
WDCW-TV (CW) WASHINGTON DC
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KIAH-TV (CW) HOUSTON
http://www.39online.com
KCPQ-TV (FOX) SEATTLE
http://www.Q13FOX.com
KMYQ-TV (MY) SEATTLE
http://www.myQ2.com
WSFL-TV (CW) SOUTH FLORIDA
sfl.SouthFlorida.com
KWGN-TV (CW) DENVER
http://www.KWGN.com
KTXL-TV (FOX) SACRAMENTO
http://www.FOX40.com
KPLR-TV (CW) ST. LOUIS
http://www.CW11tv.com
KRCW-TV (CW) PORTLAND
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WXIN-TV (FOX) INDIANAPOLIS
http://www.FOX59.com
WTTV-TV (CW) INDIANAPOLIS
http://www.Indianas4.com
KSWB-TV (FOX) SAN DIEGO
http://www.Fox5SanDiego.com
WTIC-TV (FOX) HARTFORD
http://www.FOX61.com
WTXX-TV (CW) HARTFORD
http://www.WTXX.com
WXMI-TV (FOX) GRAND RAPIDS
http://www.WXMI.com
WPMT-TV (FOX) HARRISBURG
http://www.FOX43.com
WGNO-TV (ABC) NEW ORLEANS
http://www.ABC26.com
WNOL-TV (CW) NEW ORLEANS
http://www.nola38.com
Broadcasting Entertainment>| TRIBUNE ENTERTAINMENT
http://www.TRIBTV.com
TRIBUNE STUDIOS
http://www.TribuneStudios.com
Daily Newspapers
LOS ANGELES TIMES
http://www.LATimes.com
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
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THE SUN
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SUN SENTINEL
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ORLANDO SENTINEL
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THE HARTFORD COURANT
http://www.Courant.com
THE MORNING CALL
http://www.MCall.com
DAILY PRESS
http://www.DailyPress.com
RedEye
RedEye.chicagotribune.com
Spanish-Language Newspapers
HOY
http://www.HoyInternet.com
EL SENTINEL – ORLANDO
http://www.elsentinel.com
EL SENTINEL – SOUTH FLORIDA
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/elsentinel/
Classified Advertising >| CLASSIFIED VENTURES
http://www.ClassifiedVentures.com
CAREERBUILDER
http://www.CareerBuilder.com
APARTMENTS.COM
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CARS.COM
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NEW HOME NETWORK
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Magazines
CHICAGO MAGAZINE
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Sports and Entertainment METROMIX
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CHICAGO CUBS
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TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES</b
http://www.TMS.tribune.com
TMS ENTERTAINMENT PRODUCTS
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TMS SYNDICATED PRODUCTS
http://www.tmsfeatures.com
ZAP 2 IT
http://www.Zap2it.com
TRIBUNE DIRECT
http://www.TribuneDirect.com
Comment by Official Internet Data Office — 12/7/2008 @ 5:43 pm
LOL, “mostly profitable.”
The BK is good news–unless they press for bailout!
Comment by Patricia — 12/7/2008 @ 5:54 pm