Thousands Fill LA Streets Sunday In 12th Day Of Protests

LOS ANGELES, CA — Thousands of people again took to the streets around the Southland to protest racism and police brutality Sunday, as at least a dozen protests are scheduled to call for justice and condemn racism and police misconduct.

The day's events are tied to the deaths of George Floyd, who died in police custody in Minneapolis, Breonna Taylor, who was killed during a police raid of her apartment in Louisville, and other deaths of people of color at the hands of police in recent years.

In the early afternoon, a caravan of vehicles that joined the Hispanic and black communities drove through Compton on the way to downtown L.A. and the headquarters of the Los Angeles Police Department.

In another part of Compton, a handful of demonstrators dubbed the Compton Cowboys rode horses to show their support.

In Beverly Hills, what that city's police department described as a peaceful bicycle protest moved through the city, headed westbound on Santa Monica Boulevard.

About 100 people gathered at City Hall downtown, while in East Los Angeles, demonstrators gathered peacefully at Mariachi Plaza.

Hollywood -- the site of a large gathering Saturday and many other days during the ongoing protests -- had another one scheduled for later Sunday at 4 p.m.

Other events were scheduled in Venice, Carson, Pasadena, Long Beach, Glendale and the Pacific Palisades.

Meanwhile the bulk of National Guard troops deployed more than one week ago are set to leave the streets of Los Angeles Sunday evening, Mayor Eric Garcetti confirmed, with a small number left behind to guard key assets.

The full schedule of protests in Los Angeles County includes:

• 11 a.m., a march that starts at El Medio Bluffs in the Pacific Palisades to Palisades Village.
• noon, at the Gateway Town Center, 1621 Towne Center Drive, in Compton.
• noon, First Baptist Church of Venice, in Venice.
• noon, at Greenleaf Boulevard and Central Avenue, in Carson.
• noon, at the Mariachi Plaza, 1831 E. 1st St., in Boyle Heights.
• noon, East Los Angeles Library, 4837 E. 3rd St., in Los Angeles.
• noon, La Pintoresca Park, 45 E. Washington Blvd. in Pasadena.
• 3 p.m., at 570 S. Atlantic Blvd., in East Los Angeles.
• 3 p.m., 325 W. Doran St., in Glendale.
• 3 p.m., march at Compton Police Station, 301 S. Willowbrook Ave.
• 4 p.m., Capitol Records Building, 1750 Vine St., in Hollywood.
• 4:30 p.m., candlelight vigil at 613 E. Broadway in Glendale.
• 6:30 p.m., candlelight vigil on Compton Boulevard, between Acacia and Willowbrook avenues.

Organizers at many of the events asked protesters to wear face coverings and observe social distancing to guard against further spread of the coronavirus.

Saturday protests remain peaceful

On Saturday, thousands of people again took to the streets to call for justice and condemn police tactics for the death of George Floyd, who died at the hands of Minneapolis police, and Breonna Taylor, killed in a police raid of her Louisville apartment.

Large, peaceful marches were held Saturday morning near the USC campus and in San Pedro, and continued through the day in several parts of town.

In the Fairfax District, hundreds of people left Pan Pacific Park around 2 p.m. and began marching west on Beverly Boulevard. Separately, crowds numbering more than 1,000 people showed up for the City Hall protest and another march in Hollywood.

The former march, which began at Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street around noon, swelled into a few thousand people and made its way into West Hollywood and Beverly Hills in the late afternoon, then went back through West Hollywood, where it continued into the evening.

The day's events began at 8 a.m. with the protest at Los Angeles City Hall, where Cal State LA professor of Pan-African Studies Melina Abdullah told the cheering crowd it is not enough to call for police reform. "Policing evolved from slave catching," Abdullah said. "You cannot reform policies that evolved from slave catching. You have to abolish it."

No arrests were reported at any of the events as of 8:30 p.m.

City News Service contributed to this report.