LOS ANGELES (GNB)– About a dozen people were arrested as hundreds protested the removal of a large homeless encampment in Echo Park Thursday night.
The remaining homeless people living along Echo Park Lake were to leave by 10:30 p.m. as police continued to clash with protesters for a second night Thursday over the clearing of the long-running encampment there.
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.
Police declared an unlawful assembly after officers said the large crowd used high-intensity lights in an attempt to blind officers.
Around 8:11 p.m, LAPD said that anyone still at Echo Park is under arrest and no longer free to leave the area. The LAPD tweeted they set up a designated protest zone on Glendale Blvd. Anyone arrested outside that zone could face misdemeanor charges.
LA Times reporter James Queally tweeted that LAPD delcared everyone in the area was “under arrest and no longer free to leave.”
LAPD said a “designated protest area” was set up on Glendale Boulevard north of Park Avenue.
At about 8:45 p.m., the L.A. Times shared video from another reporter appearing to show Queally being taken into custody as he was covering the protests.
At 9:24 p.m., another Times reporter tweeted that Queally had been released.
Queally’s colleague, Joel Rubin, tweeted around 9:24 p.m. that Queally was released from police custody.
Two reporters for Knock LA were also detained while covering the protest, the website reports.
“This evening, two Knock LA reporters, Jonathan Peltz and Kate Gallagher, were arrested by the LAPD while covering a peaceful protest vigil in Echo Park,” a statement from the website said. “We are calling for their immediate release and further demand that any charges against them are dropped. Law enforcement cannot be allowed to jail journalists for doing their job.”
Details of why the reporters were detained were not immediately available.
At about 4.03 AM Friday, LA police released a statement on detentions of media personnel as below.
“I urge calm and cooperation tonight at Echo Park as we continue our work to move the final few people experiencing homelessness from the park into transitional housing before the parkspace closes temporarily for repairs”, Los Angeles City Councilman Mitch O’Farrell said in a Twitter post.
“We made significant progress today toward our goal of housing everyone at the park and moved an additional 32 unhoused individuals into transitional housing,” said Los Angeles City Councilman Mitch O’Farrell said in a statement issued at 10:34 p.m. Thursday. “Almost 200 of the park’s unhoused population has accepted and been placed in shelter options through Project Roomkey, Project Homekey, A Bridge Home and winter shelter.
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