As curfew approached, protesters faced flash-bangs, pepper balls, rubber bullets
LOS ANGELES - With less than two hours until the 8 p.m. curfew set in, law enforcement pushed hundreds of protesters through downtown toward Los Angeles City Hall, releasing rubber bullets, flash-bangs, pepper balls and tear gas into the crowd.
The LAPD issued an order to disperse around 4 p.m. after a day of largely peaceful protests. Shortly afterward, Los Angeles Police Department officers and Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department deputies began moving in on the crowd, shooting less-lethal rounds.
Some protesters chanted, "Peaceful protest." Others lobbed objects back at police officers, including glass bottles.
The pavement in front of City Hall was littered with blue rubber bullets. The Los Angeles Times watched as several protesters were hit by the less-lethal munitions. One teenage girl who took a rubber bullet to the stomach ran to the curb in pain, then officers began firing over her head from a different angle. Her friends gathered around her, one clutching a sign that read, "You picked the right time but the wrong generation."
LAPD Deputy Chief Emada Tingirides said on KTLA-TV Channel 5 that officers had been "extremely patient throughout the day, allowing the First Amendment, allowing folks to express how they feel," but issued a dispersal order when some protesters began lobbing rocks, bottles and other objects at police officers from a bridge.
"They had a high ground," she said. "Our officers were attacked - we had to change course and begin crowd-control tactics."
She added: "It poses a danger to the officers on the ground and a danger to the community, especially those that are protesting peacefully."
After the LAPD began moving in on the crowd, many protesters were confused about where to go, trying to navigate blocked intersections and vehicles making their way through the crowd.
At the intersection of 1st Street and Broadway, some protesters scaled a chain-link fence to a dirt lot abutting Grand Park to get away from officers.
At Grand Park, one man in a white coat administered stitches to a protester who had been shot in the nose with a rubber bullet. The man helping him with the stitches said that another protester had had his finger broken.
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