A citywide tactical alert was ordered Tuesday after a Los Angeles Police Department officer was injured while attempting to control a group of protesters near Pershing Square.
Officers were at the scene of the protest with a group of about 250 people’ who were walking from Broadway and First Street, near Los Angeles City Hall, to Pershing Square just after 8:15 p.m., according to LAPD Chief Michel Moore.
The group of protesters moved into the intersection once they reached Pershing Square, leading officers to order a dispersal, Moore said just after 9:05 p.m. Moore said the group began throwing rocks and bottles at the LAPD officers, and one officer was injured.
An ambulance was called to the scene, but authorities could not confirm the officer’s condition.
After pausing at Pershing Square, demonstrators resumed their march through downtown. Video taken at the scene showed periodic skirmishes between law enforcement and participants throughout the hours-long protest.
One Department of Homeland Security vehicle had its back window smashed.
LAPD Capt. Issac Ruiz, the incident commander at the protests, said no arrests were made.
The injured officer “was attacked by a group of agitators and struck in the head but he’s doing OK,” Ruiz told reporters.
Abortion rights advocates first converged at LA’s federal courthouse after the US Supreme Court confirmed the authenticity of a leaked draft opinion, indicating the right to a legal abortion will soon be gone.
“This is deeply personal to me, having made that decision in my life out of the necessity for my mental physical well being,” said a Sarah Ponder, who once had an abortion and supports that option for others. “I know that every single person in the USA deserves to make that exact same choice.”
Susan Arnall, of the Right To Life League, said the potential ruling is what her group has sought for decades. She’s hopeful the leaked draft means the Supreme Court will send the decision back to the states for what she calls a more balanced approach.
“And that’s the balance we should be striking,” Arnall said. “Helping mother and helping babies at the same time, no reason why we have to hurt a mother to save a baby.”
Protests erupted nationwide after Politico obtained a draft of a Supreme Court opinion indicating abortion rights in the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision will be overturned this summer.
