Protesters clash with police during Breonna Taylor rally in Hollywood; 11 arrested
LOS ANGELES - Demonstrators clashed with police in Hollywood while commemorating the one-year anniversary of the death of Breonna Taylor, who was fatally shot by police in her Louisville, Kentucky home and whose death has triggered angry protests nationwide.
Police Chief Michel Moore said three officers were injured, none seriously, and 11 people were arrested, nine businesses were vandalized and smoke grenades as well as other projectiles were thrown at police.
Video from the scene Saturday showed protesters climbing onto a Los Angeles police car and helmeted officers taking up positions near Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street to contain about two dozen demonstrators.
Another video posted to social media shows several protesters pounding the hood of an LAPD vehicle as it stopped with its siren blaring. The police car then slowly starts to drive off with the protesters still pounding the hood, then abruptly accelerates as the people tumble onto the roadway.
Other videos also show broken storefront windows at several businesses and other vandalism in the area. Some who were at the Saturday demonstrations said on social media that they were deliberately hit by police squad cars and with batons. "LAPD just ran over two protesters at the Hollywood Breonna Taylor march," one activist stated beneath a video of the incident.
Hundreds of activists took to the streets in Los Angeles for a march on Saturday night, as part of a nationwide day of action in memory of Taylor. Memorials for Taylor were held in Hollywood at 11:30 a.m. and near the Hollywood Forever Cemetery at 7:30 p.m. A vigil earlier in the day was held near the Sherman Oaks Galleria.
The demonstrations came one year to the date when Taylor, 26, an emergency medical technician in Louisville, was gunned down by police during a botched narcotics raid after officers forced their way into her apartment in the early morning hours of March 13, 2020.
Taylor was not the target of the raid and the suspect police were searching for was not at Taylor's home. None of the officers who fired their service weapons -- an estimated 32 rounds -- face criminal charges for Taylor's killing. At least three
officers with connections to the raid have been terminated from the Louisville
police force.
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