Protestors Stage 'Die-In' at Police Headquarters

Hundreds of people paraded in downtown Los Angeles today, with dozens staging a die-in at police headquarters in the latest in a series of demonstrations against officer-involved deaths of unarmed black men in Los Angeles, New York and Ferguson.

Protesters gathered at noon today at Pershing Square and at 1 p.m. at the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue, where an allegedly knife-wielding man was shot dead by police last week.

Dozens of protesters made their way to Los Angeles Police Department headquarters in the 100 block of Spring Street, where they laid down in the street.

No arrests were reported and there were no special deployments for the protests, an LAPD spokeswoman said. But the headquarters building was surrounded by metal barricades until about an hour after the protesters dispersed.

One person was taken into custody Friday night as marching protesters disrupted traffic on Sunset Boulevard after gathering at Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue, according to a report from the scene.

And today the California Highway Patrol reported that officers were on hand to keep protesters from possibly blocking Hollywood (101) Freeway ramps.

Today’s protests were organized by the groups Answer LA, Stop Mass Incarceration Network and Black Lives Matter.

• City News Service
• Photo Credit: Twitter users KTLA, loveU ‏@loveu, and Estefany Perez ‏@estefaneenie