MINOR SCUFFLE: An Anaheim Police officer and an Orange County Sheriff’s Deputy, both mounted on horseback, use long sticks to prod anti-police brutality protesters off the streets and onto the sidewalks as they come closer to the intersection of Harbor Boulevard and Ball Road.
Unfortunately I do not have the time to write a full report, but I did attend the anti-police brutality demonstration that took place at Anaheim Police Department headquarters earlier this afternoon. The action started around noon and I spent much of my time walking around shooting photos and hanging out with people I knew, including Gustavo Arrellano, editor of the OC Weekly. I estimate that at its peak, about 300 people were in attendance.
Before I went to the demonstration, I asked a friend of mine drop me off by Glover Stadium, near La Palma Park, where I had been tipped off that law enforcement agencies from across Orange County had set up a staging area in nearby parking lot. There were buses, armored cars, horse trailers, tents, command posts, and a huge semi-trailer truck that apparently carried riot gear and weapons for Orange County Sheriff’s Deputies.
The demonstration at Anaheim Police Department headquarters continued until sometime after 2 p.m., when about 200 protesters decided to take to the streets and march south on Harbor Boulevard. I tagged along and watched as officers mounted on horseback followed them and sometimes used long sticks to prod them, telling them to get off the streets. There were some minor scuffles because people didn’t like being poked by the cops.
When they approached the intersection of Harbor Boulevard and Ball Road, the police deployed quite a few officers on horseback and on foot to prevent the protesters from going over the 5 Fwy overpass and heading onward toward Disneyland. They were routed east on Ball Road and then got stuck on a side street just before Lemon Street, where they were then surrounded and contained by police, many in riot gear.
After several minutes, many protesters began to realize the cops weren’t going to let them march to Disneyland, so people began slowly trickling away. Some returned to Harbor Boulevard where they headed back into the downtown area. Others decided to take a short cut through local neighborhoods. Despite heated rhetoric, I witnessed no acts of vandalism or rock and bottle throwing. Nobody was arrested.
As a result of everybody leaving (the cops included), I decided it was time for me to hop aboard an OCTA bus and go back home to West Anaheim where I live. I have no firsthand knowledge as to what might have taken place later. But I have since learned that two people have been arrested, apparently outside Anaheim Police Department headquarters. However, I don’t know the circumstances by which they were taken into custody.
[Below are some of the many photographs I took today. The first seven down were taken near the parking lot located on the north side of Glover Stadium. The rest were shot at various times during the day, most in chronological order. Permission is granted for anybody to reproduce images used in this article providing they give me credit and aren’t planning to make lots of money off of them.]
Thanks for the photos! My gosh, what were the cops preparing for? A bit of “overkill,” pardon the pun.
Believe it or not, they deployed several S.W.A.T. teams. I guess they thought the protesters were terrorists.
What’s up D’Marie!? It’s the Occupier we love to hate and hate to love.
So whats up with that O.C. Sheriff wagon/ time share/ command center in the photo? How much does that thing cost? $180,000.00? Thank God they finally found an excuse to use it, for the tax payers sake. or they probably just send the bill to Homeland Security.
Homeland Security sends the bill to J.P. Morgan Chase, and they send the bill To The Bank for International Settlements.
B.I.S. Business as usual?
Duane, that is why the protesters deserve so much credit today. Had they thrown a few more rocks, they would have been labeled as terrorist. Bravo Protesters!
It looks like overkill to me.
When I have questioned law enforcement contacts I’ve dealt with in the past as to the reasons why they send out so many damned cops to babysit peaceful, non-violent protesters, they usually justify it by saying they would rather be prepared for the worst than be caught off guard.
In regards to yesterday’s demonstration, I get the impression the cops were afraid a handful of young people dressed in black were going to wreak havoc upon Disneyland had they been allowed to cross over the 5 Fwy. That’s why they deployed S.W.A.T. teams: to keep Mickey Mouse safe.
No riot.
A successful deployment of Anaheim and local law enforcement agencies recourses in keeping the peaceful protestors safe.
For the above commenters who were hoping for death and carnage in the streets of Anaheim. Go to Syria, they have what you are looking for.
Who do you think is hoping for death and carnage? I’m hoping for the opposite.
I was at the rally. It was loud and rude — but non-violent and non-destructive. The problem from a legal viewpoint was the occasional and transitory blocking of sidewalks.
This massive militarized overreaction is intended to cow people into submission. It’s not going to work. It may kill Anaheim’s tourist industry, though. No one wins — except, I guess, the alternative of Orlando (or non-Disney travel.)
Greg, we have a difference of opinion.
When law enforcement makes a mistake with too small of an effort to counter the bad element hiding within a group of protestors, they invite riots, injuries and property damage.
So did the deployment succeed in protecting the people from injuries and prevent property damage and keep the outside trouble makers at bay?
No, you just have a real, extreme, paranoia about how dangerous protestors can be, especially to each other. We didn’t need any protection from each other. And the property owners needed maybe, at most, 10% of that “protection.”
The protesters were largely (and for all I know entirely) committed to being non-violent and non-destructive. So in that respect, I don’t think that the employment “succeeded” in quelling violence any more than it succeeded in warding off dragons.
Property damage would have been unlikely anyway; the windows across the street were boarded up and the number of police in front of the station was more than enough to quell protests. I do understand that they had to plan for the worst case, but they went far beyond that. I would think that the cost of their reaction yesterday was staggering; the equivalent of thousands of broken windows.
If you remember, when Occupy came to Santa Ana, Cook thought all the police presence (also on horseback) was to protect Occupy from the scary homeless and gangs.
I wonder if anybody else thinks like that?
While Nero fiddled as Rome burned. City management in Anaheim took action.
Action that literally cost taxpayers (that’s you and me pal) MILLIONS. MILLIONS of wasted dollars in overtime, equipment, transport, weapons! MILLIONS! Next time you complain about government waste remember this sordid debacle.
I’ve been assuming that it’s high, but millions is very high. If you have a cite to anything indicating that it’s that high, I’d love to have it in my kit bag.
Of course, this may well be happening weekly (or more.) And then you have the lawsuits for false arrest. Before long, it would be cheaper to install bulletproof glass in every business in the flatlands.
Here is a way for Anaheim to solve your stated problems of mean police and taxpayer costs.
Dissolve the police department, (save lots of money) and pass a city ordinance requiring all head of households to own and open case a firearm. Just like in the old days when there were citizen volunteer fire brigades, the city of Anaheim can try out citizen police brigades.
Since the city would not pay them or be liable for their actions while on and off duty, the citizen police would write and collect the fine for any ticket, no courts, no appeals, no lawyers.
My god the tax saving just keeps climbing.
Now if you think that is just crazy talk, here is some more crazy talk, put it on the ballot and let the voters decide.
Have you run your proposal by Disney?
I just love this new mentality to demand justice for criminals. You shoot at cops and you get shot. You take a swing at a cop and you get laid out, period. If somebody shot at your kid you going to march or shoot back? Grow up and get a job so you can buy a clue. Or better yet, get shot at during a routine traffic stoo and see how many chances you give punks with weapons.
Which of those did Manuel Diaz do? Which of those did the neighbors on Anna Street do?
You’re not bothered by a nation that allows summary executions?
If you shoot a cop, you get hunted down by the might of the entire regional and state police force, and justice gets dealt…as it should.
But if a group of police officers beat an unarmed man to death, or shoot an unarmed citizen, more often than not nothing is done because the officer makes the unscrutinized claim that they *felt* endangered. It is the lack of accountability in the face of wanton injustice that engenders protests such as these.
But, for the sake of argument, let us say that the victim of a police shooting *is* a criminal, yet was not threatening an officers life…say…he was fleeing the scene and was shot in the back. Does the fact that the victim was a criminal change the fact that the officer himself committed a crime?
I highly suggest you think critically about these issues, particularly the standards you have for the society in which you belong. Democracy as a system is dependent on educated opinions and critical thinking. You don’t have to…as you so ironically put it…”*buy* a clue.”
We in Albuquerque, NM are faced with much the same thing. Twenty police killings since 2010. We are asking for community oversight of investigations into the accusation of police brutality and killings. Not one cop has been brought to justice. The City Council has refused to prosecute. City Council is proposing the establishment of an electorial process to select future Albuquerque Police Department Chiefs. Department of Justice has been here twice to investigate “listen to testimony from victims of police brutality & killings” but has yet to act on anything. Of course recently when Dept. of Justice was asked to investigate the big banks for criminal activity following the recent monetary catostrophe, it refused to. Keep on keeping on.
Where is the war,the police look like there fighting in Afghanistan