Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
Warren
"I found myself at the rear edge of the crowd , and when I minutes is poor and fragmented, but I recall being down in
remained standing , a policeman , five to eight feet from me, the street , and roughly moved about . At one point I pro-
threatened to poke me with his stick. I told him not to hit tested such treatment and was hit again in reply . Then I
me ; whereupon he attempted to jab my abdomen with his was taken to my feet, and escorted to the divider curb by
stick. I put out my hands and arms to ward off the blow . a policeman who twisted my arm behind my back , and
Within seconds I was assaulted and clubbed over the head maintained painful pressure while I sat ." - Letter of John
by two more policemen . My recollection of the next few M. Vicario to the ACLU, dated July 20, 1967 .
._ I
'
\ I
I
..,._\1
'
Day of Protest,
Night of 'Violence
,A
Report
ofthe
American Civil Liberties Union
of Southern California
9Hll6:R P:8699
July, 1967
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment
of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or
abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or of
the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to
petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
- First Amendment
Published by Sawyer Press, P.O. Box 46-653, Los Angeles, California 90046
Labor donated
CONTENTS
Introduction
1 The Afternoon 1
2 The Planning 2
3 The Rally 6
4 The Toyota Truck Incident 8
5 Thoroughly Frightened, Obviously Pleased 10
6 Where the Action Is 12
7 The Sit-ins 15
8 The Wedge 16
9 The Dispersal 19
10 "A Beautiful Plan and Well Executed" 23
11 The Underpass 24
12 The Border Incident 28
13 By What Authority 29
14 The Volkswagen Incident 32
15 Ordinary Middle-Class People 33
Appendix A 43
Appendix B 44
Appendix C 45
The Volunteers 46
The Photographers 46
INTRODUCTION
On the third night of Summer, 1967, the Los bullhorns were not adequate, and were too sparsely
Angeles Police Department dispersed a peaceful dem- scattered.
onstration of 15,000 people before the Century Plaza The parade stopped in front of the hotel for four
Hotel. reasons. First and foremost was the attraction of the
In the hotel, the President of the United States, hotel itself, an attraction intensified through the denial
Lyndon Baines Johnson, was attending a dinner. The by Century City's management of the use of an avail-
demonstrators had marched there to protest a policy able parking lot for a post-march rally and dispersal
their President endorsed. point.
By sheer numbers alone, they sought to dramatize The parade stopped too because police had nar-
their opposition to the war in Vietnam. They threat- rowed the line of march drastically at a critical point
ened no violence, either to the President or the 1,300 just north of the hotel.
police officers present that night. Thirdly, the parade stopped because as many as
They came to exercise a right guaranteed to them 500 sympathetic spectators spilled off the sidewalk to
by the First Amendment to the Constitution of the clog the northbound lanes of Avenue of the Stars as
United States. They were denied that right by an arbi- tlie parade arrived in front of the hotel.
trary dispersal order and the violence which followed. Of less importance in stopping the march was a
Dedicated to the defense of the Bill of Rights, the series of sit-ins, the first of which was centered in such
American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California a location as to partially block a lane of traffic. Two
has gathered more than 500 statements from demon- subsequent sit-ins had little tangible effect in that the
strators who marched to the Century Plaza Hotel that parade was already halted and the situation beyond
night. the control of the monitors.
After reading these statements, many of which Once the parade had stopped, the police did
corroborate others, certain conclusions become self- nothing to get it restarted. Dispersal orders -none of
evident. In reaching these conclusions, the ACLU has which was clearly heard by everyone in the area in
relied only upon the statements submitted by the front of the hotel-were not helpful. Individual offi-
marchers which could be corroborated. cers refused to cooperate with monitors, sometimes
even barring them from movement behind police lines
The police planning was inadequate. It was which had formed in such a way as to block dispersal.
directed solely to the protection of the President. It The order to disperse was arbitrary, and served no
did not give corresponding thought to the safety of the lawful purpose. By stopping in front of the hotel, the
demonstrators and the protection of their constitutional marchers did not violate the terms of the parade permit,
rights. The presence of the President may explain, hut which made no mention whatsoever of the illegality
does not excuse, the violence which followed; a presi- of a halt to the march.
dential visit does not suspend the Constitution.
If the dispersal order were based upon the court
The formal policy of the Los Angeles Police De-
injunction handed down earlier in the day, at no time
partment was seemingly based upon a hostility to the
did the police announce this. Though the injunction
peace demonstration. Whether that hostility was the
expressly forbade a halt in the march, the police offi-
result of imperfect intelligence which rumored of
cers in charge were not relying upon the order-of
various plots to embarrass the President, or a general
which the vast majority of marchers did not know.
antipathy to those who do not share the prevalent
political attitudes of the department is immaterial. Chief of Police Reddin has stated that he gave the
The result of this policy was to deny the marchers dispersal order approximately 45 minutes after the
the consideration given to comparable marches staged march halted in front of the hotel because he saw a
by other groups. Spectators were not kept on the curbs; "bulge" in the crowd nine stories below him on Avenue
the parade was not permitted to have sound trucks; the of the Stars. It seemed to him, he said later, an assault
parade route was not cleared by police. on the hotel itself was in the offing. This rationale was
Moreover, the organization and leadership of the contradicted later by a police spokesman, Sgt. Dan
march itself was inadequate. Monitors were either Cooke, who conceded there had been no such "bulge."
poorly instructed, or not instructed at all. Once the At no time prior to the dispersal order did the
parade was stripped of sound trucks by police order, marchers engage in acts hostile to the police on duty,
there was no central control of the march. Hand-held the hotel, or the President. Rocks and/or dirt clods
were thrown by a limited number of marchers once juveniles arrested. They were released after a lecture
they w~re forced to disperse into the open fields east from a police sergeant.
of the hotel where these retaliatory weapons were Despite some newspaper stories suggesting that
available. the police would seek conspiracy indictments against
Even short of the mass violence which ensued, an unspecified number of leaders of the march, no such
the police dispersal was a poorly measured response indictments have been handed down more than five
to the congestion in front of the hotel. If police offi- weeks later. No weapons were found among those
cers had intended to break up the sit-ins, they could arrested, or any of the animals and insects which
have done so on an individual basis, arresting the 25 police intelligence suggested might be unleashed in the
people who were allegedly violating the law. Instead, hotel in an attempt to disrupt the President's dinner.
they used excessive force to disperse the entire parade. Smoke and/or stink bombs were also significantly
Once the dispersal began, the police plan proved missing.
inadequate. Though Chief Reddin told reporters on Finally, it can be concluded that the police action
June 26 that the open field figured heavily in the pre- on the night of June 23 in dispersing the l?,000 march-
march planning should a dispersal prove necessary, the ers has had an incalculable effect on the police depart-
officer who was responsible for drawing up that plan ment's community relations program. Many influential
did not inspect the field. The presence of steep embank- citizens have been alienated by the brutality of those
ments, of knee-high sprinklers, of small trees supported policemen with whom they came into contact that
by guide wires went unnoticed. As a result, many were night. It is not likely that the department will find
injured by these obstacles in the crush which followed. warm support from these people in the future.
The police did not use sufficient restraint during Concerned with both this loss of prestige by the
the dispersal. Hundreds were clubbed by overhead police department as well as the rampant invasion of
swings of batons; many more were violently pushed, the civil liberties, the American Civil Liberties Union
poked and prodded with unnecessary force. Officers of Southern California has sponsored a broad program
made few concessions to the aged, the very young, it hopes will provide a measure of redress for those
pregnant women, or people on crutches or in wheel- who marched that day.
chairs. They received the same rough, sometimes The ACLU has provided attorneys for 30 persons
violent treatment as did the other marchers. arrested on June 23. In addition, attorneys are pre-
Many of the injured were not aided by police; paring a civil action in federal court under the Civil
some were given perfunctory first aid and dismissed; Rights Act alleging the deprivation of civil liberties
a bare handful were transported to hospitals'. Most of by law enforcement officers. Some of the most seriously
the injured were forced to find their own aid. injured will also be assisted by ACLU attorneys in
Unresisting demonstrators were beaten-some in filing claims for damages with the City of Los An-
front of. literally thousands of witnesses-without even geles and, if necessary, in the courts.
the pretext of an attempt to make an arrest. At least 19 Finally, the ACLU hopes to open a dialogue with
others were arrested, but because they showed the civic officials, the chief of police, the Board of Police
physical signs of serious injuries, were released without Commissioners, and the mayor, in hope of preventing
charge. recurrences of the June 23 dispersal. On June 27, the
Long after the march had been dispersed, as late as ACLU sent telegrams to those officials requesting a
10:30 at night, small groups of police officers were meeting to discuss allegations of police lawlessness.
harassing the scattered demonstrators. They illegally Five weeks later, neither the mayor nor the chief of
confiscated signs and placards and beat individual police had responded. The Board of Police Commis-
demonstrators with night sticks. sioners chairman, Elbert T. Hudson, on June 30-less
Had it not been for the peacefulness of the march- than one week after the demonstration-responded
ers -even when they had been subjected to violence- by saying it had "reviewed all of the circumstances
the toll in the number of people seriously injured and of the occasion" and had concluded that "the police
arrested would have been much higher. Only four po- had taken proper action." The b.oard's review was ap-
lice officers were reported injured in the day's events. parently conducted without interviewing a single per-
Of these four, one was hit by a rock. Another suffered son who had lodged a complaint against the conduct
a broken blood vessel in his club hand, a third reported- of police that night.
ly suffered a broken toe during the Toyota truck inci- This lack of meaningful response, the ACLU feels,
dent 90 minutes before the dispersal in front of the can only widen the gap between the police and the com-
hotel. The injuries of the fourth were minimal. munity; the responsible officials have portrayed them-
The illegality of many of the arrests made on June selves as being unconcerned with the legitimate griev-
23 at Century City is pointed up by the fact that the ances of the citizens.
police chose not to file charges against 11 of the 13 This report publicly airs those grievances.
Day of Protest,
Night of Violence
CHAPTER ONE
THE AFTERNOON
12:00 - 5:30
A seven-year-old boy wandered through the crowd, June 23 at Cheviot Hills Park was different.
in one hand a bunch of flowers wilting in the heat. Up to 5:00 p.m., the gathering resembled a love-in,
Occasionally, he stopped, and politely offered a flower the young people dominating the park-if not in num..
to a passer-by, smiling as he wished them "peace and hers, then certainly in mode of dress. By 5:30, the
love." crowd had grown. It was older now, more sedate;
Scattered about thepark-the largest in west Los working men and women, some with their families,
Angeles-were oddly assorted groups. Elderly women had come from their jobs to attend the rally and then
sat primly on newspapers, the sleeves of their dresses the march.
rolled to the shoulder as they sun-bathed. Mothers Still the mood was festive. There was a picnic
watched children run from group to group curiously aspect about it all, the hot-dog vendors, the young man
inspecting the unusual dress of some, munching potato flying a kite, the steady thump of tin can drums giving
chips offered by others, and listening to the improvised the gathering the air of an outing.
music played by a few. Dr. Theodore L. Munsat, a neurologist and assist-
Strangers greeted each other, commented on the ant professor of medicine at UCLA, arrived at the park
warm weather, and launched into intense discussions about6:00.
about the one thing which had brought them together ... The mood was one of extreme friendliness....
that afternoon-the war in Vietnam and U.S. partici- The crowd that attended the meeting in the park as
pation there. well as the parade could be described as a cross-
section of businessmen, l,tousewives,children, hip-
Through the afternoon the people gathered for
pies, and students of all levels.
what was to be the largest demonstration in Los An-
geles history against the involvement of the United Many were there with children in baby carriages,
States in Vietnam. Five thousand, ten thousand, twenty many had older children, there were people on
thousand were expected to march from the park to the crutches, as well as people in wheelchairs. All of
Century Plaza Hotel, a distance of one mile, then back these [came] with the expectation of a peaceful
again to the park. The crowd estimates varied from march.1
radio station to radio station as the marchers ass(imbled "After a few hours of flowers, singing and cook-
and the figures were revised. ies," wrote one eighteen-year-old girl, "my mother,
This was the first time that the sponsoring organi- who had never been to a peace demonstration, said
zation, the Peace Action Council, could claim that it the people were beautiful, peaceful and innocent."
had reached out into the community, and had en- As the crowd thickened, those who had come in
couraged the support of large numbers of middle-class groups unfurled banners proclaiming "Pomona Valley
citizens. Previous events had been attended by a few for Peace," "Orange County Committee to End the
thousands, and most of these were the faithful folk who War in Vietnam," Health Sciences for Peace in Viet~
reflexively attended protest events out of a commitment nam." The late-comers gathered with friends under-
long since made. neath the banners as the shadows lengthened.
THE PLANNING
Fewer than 100 of the thousands who gathered at Leadership of this random assortment lay with the
Cheviot Hills Park on the afternoon and evening of elected officers of the council: Irving Sarnoff, its
Friday, June 23 had any notion of the weeks of plan- chairman; and Isidore Ziferstein, its vice-chairman,
ning which had gone into staging the event. who was later succeeded by Donald Kalish. (The occu-
The great majority of the gathering was there to pations and background of these three suggest the
protest the war, willing to commit itself publicly by make-up of the groups which formed the council:
merely lending its presence. Most were attending Sarnoff, a railroad mechanic, had a long history of
their first march for peace in Vietnam, many were involvement in labor struggles; Ziferstein, a practicing
probably making their first public protest of any gov- psychiatrist, was active in a number of groups seeking
ernment policy in their lives. various social reforms; Kalish, chairman of UCLA's
They were there because they opposed their coun- philosophy department, was involved in his first non-
try's involvement in Vietnam. They were there because academic organization.)
the President of the United States, Lyndon Baines The organization had staged a silent vigil on July 4,
Johnson, would be attending a $500-a-plate dinner at 1966, with 5,000 people (the group's estimate) ringing
the Century Plaza Hotel as they marched in front of the Los Angeles Coliseum while the American Legion
the building. Few imagined he would see the crowd hosted its annual fireworks display. Since that time, its
-some had hopes of that-fewer still thought that efforts had been smaller, the member organizations
the President would take any public notice of them. concerned with their own independent activities.
But all of them knew that with the President in From the Young Democrats, members of the Peace
Los Angeles, the march would be well-covered by Action Council (PAC) learned of the pending fund-
newsmen. The President would learn privately of what raiser and the visit of President Johnson, scheduled
the nation saw publicly. first for June 3.
Moreover, the President was in Los Angeles having About the first of May, the idea of a march to
temporarily adjourned the summit conference with coincide with the President's visit was raised. Sixty
Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin. The conference, ru- people attended the first meeting at which a formal
mored all week, had adjourned until Sunday in an motion to e,tplore the plan for a march was adopted.
atmosphere of cordiality-dubbed the "Spirit of Holly-
The Student Mobilization Committee (SMC) and
bush" in the President's announcement at the end of
the Peace Action Council then began a series of meet-
the day's meetings. Somehow this gave hope to those
ings, sometimes jointly, sometimes separately. At the
who might otherwise have stayed away. Perhaps their
student meetings, the issue of civil disobedience was
physical presence might somehow lend weight and
discussed in relation to the march, and after a lengthy
tip the scale in favor of peace.
debate the group voted to "disassociate" itself from
The bi-lateral summit conference was a boost to
civil disobedience.
the march. The.organizers, of course, had not planned
on a summit conference; indeed, they had not planned That decision was crucial. While the Student
very much beyond the parade itself. Even as the Mobilization Committee as such would not sponsor
marchers gathered in the park, there were serious or engage in civil disobedience during the march,
questions left unresolved. individual members were free to do so-so long as
they acted as individuals and not as members of the
The Peace Action Council was organized in the SMC.
late Spring of 1966 as a loose confederation of 50 groups The resolution was a compromise between political
seeking an end to the war in Vietnam. Each of the mem- ideologies. Members of the SMC opposed to civil dis-
ber organizations had one vote on the council whether obedience as a group tactic were arrayed against activ-
that organization was large and single-minded (Wo- ists of a variety of social and political persuasions who
men's Strike for Peace}, or small and politically moti- advocated a direct confrontation with authority. The
vated (Progressive Labor Party). activists argued that only a head-to-head confrontation
THE RALLY
6:00 - 7:30
The crowd had grown considerably by six o'clock At the same time, there were others busy handing
when the pre-march rally began. The program included out leaflets in the park. They circulated through the
singer Barbara Dane, and three speakers: Benjamin crowd rapidly, distributing a buff-colored, 3" x 8-1/2"
Spock, M.D., more and more a central figure in the slip which read:
peace movement; H. Rap Brown, newly elected head "NO WORLD WAR III
of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee If you think walking isn't enough -
(SNCC); and a last-minute addition, Muhammed Ali. If you think talking isn't enough -
Dr. Spock, who has come to be something of a If you want to DO SOMETHING
father figure for the movement, was persuasive if not Go to the head of the march and be ready."
fiery. H. Rap Brown, as militant as the better known Just what it was they were to do was not explained.
Stokely Carmichael who preceded him as SNCC's Few in the crowd gave the slips more than passing at-
leader, gave the wrong speech, criticizing those who tention.
supported Israel in the recently ended Israeli-Arab The handful which did had a good idea of the mean-
War. His audience, and a good portion of it was Jew- ing of the buff-colored slips. It was a call for volunteers
ish, responded with scattered boo's when Brown turned for the second of two demonstrations.
to President Johnson. If anything, the sneers indicated
the mood of the demonstrators; they came there with Earlier in the day, approximately 75 people had
a feeling of fellowship, not hate. formed a picket line on the western curb of Avenue of
The hit of the rally was Muhammed Ali, the re- the Stars, directly in front of the hotel. This was the
cently defrocked heavyweight boxing champion, con- first of two satellite demonstrations, and carried out by
victed draft evader. Ali is a man of simple words and a number of young people.
deep conviction. Having flown into Los Angeles un- Unsatisfied with simply passing in review before
expectedly, he appeared at the rally-he did not go on the hotel - "it would be therapeutic, but ineffectual,"
the march-spoke briefly, signed autographs, and one organizer said-a small group had hoped to main-
cautioned that if there were to be trouble that night, tain a picket line in front of the hotel from late in the
let them start it, afternoon until after the parade had ended.
At 6:30, in the middle of the speeches, white
helmeted police accompanied a civilian through the The purpose of the picket line was two-fold: its
park. He handed out leaflets to demonstrators who, very presence would dramatize their opposition to the
puzzled, began reading the temporary restraining order President's policies if he saw the line, and would bring
which Judge Rhodes had signed earlier in the day. home to the arriving and departing dinner guests the
The deputies and their charge worked through the urgency of ending the war in Vietnam.
crowd, reaching the foot of the speakers' platform. The picketers were largely high school and college
There they handed a copy to Irving Sarnoff who, as students, many of them affiliated with Students for a
puzzled as those who had read it before him, turned Democratic Society. Their line orbited around two
monitors, monitors and pickets being careful not to
the paper over to an attorney.
block the sidewalk. Even though they were on public
The attorney flipped through the many pages of
property, they were in violation of the injunction
the full text of the court order, reading quickly, shaking
handed down earlier that day by Judge Rhodes. (None
his head. Finally, Don Kates, Jr., described the limits
had seen the injunction, or knew its contents, in any
placed on the march by the court order, but assured
event.)
Sarnoff that the parade could continue.
A small number of people, reading the order, They had been there no longer than fifteen minutes,
thought the parade had been cancelled, and left before long enough to attract a crowd of picture-hungry news
Sarnoff could announce the march would proceed as photographers, when, at 5:00 p.m., according to one
scheduled. picketer, "the police arrived in force and ordered us
CHAPTER FOUR
To the monitor captains, and head monitors, the ... Some police officers - four or five - came
threat of the Toyota sound truck was iwo-fold. Its through the crowd. The sergeant asked what was
presence in the line of march might give watching going on and I said that the people who were organ-
police an excuse to stop the parade before it ever got izing the parade were trying to stop the truck and
started. Secondly, and equally important, the more they would take care of it. He said, "Alright, we'll
powerful speaker in the bed of the Toyota truck would take care of it." The policeman then motioned the
overpower the scattering of ten hand-held bullhorns truck to the side. The driver. indicated understand-
carried by the Student Mobilization Committee's moni- ing and slowly began to turn the truck to the side.2
tors.
The Toyota truck waited in the northernmost Never travelling more than four or five miles an
exit of the parking lot at Cheviot Hills Park, approx- hour, the truck came to a halt on Motor Avenue in
imately 100 yards north of the gate where the parade the middle of the line of march, approximately five
was forming. To prevent the truck's entrance onto the feet from the eastern curb. Marchers continued to flow
street and into the line of march, the Peace Action in uneven ebbs around the truck. Monitors attempted
Council stationed monitors in front of the exit, their to link arms in a circle around the truck, hoping to
arms linked. Two PAC leaders also attempted to per- keep a line of demarcation between the truck and its
suade the driver from entering the line of march. They occupants, and the march.
were no more successful than was the human wall
to be. The situation remained static in this condition for
approximately one minute. Then suddenly, one of
The police told the crowd, over their sound truck, the police sprang forward toward the driver's com-
that because the parade permit included nothing re- partment striking one person with his club on his
garding the presence of vehicles in the parade, no [the officer's] way. He then took his club in both
vehicles would be allowed to participate. They hands and began beating on the windshield of the
made this announcement once shortly before the truck.3
march began, and again shortly thereafter. A moni-
tor of the march, in response to these announce- A girl's voice amplified was shouting, "Protect the
ments, announced to the crowd over a bullhorn that, truck with your bodies. Make a shield of bodies
because a recent parade _underthe auspices of a con-
around the truck."
servative militaristic organization had, with the same
type of per(!lit, been able to include vehicles in Leaders of the march, however, advised against
their march, the truck was to stay.1 this and asked the marchers to sit down.4
THOROUGH LY FRIGHTENED,
OBVIOUSLY PLEASED
7: 30 - 8: 15
The normal tenseness surrounding a visit of the the 1,300 Los Angeles police officers assigned to Cen-
President to any city was aggravated in the weeks prior tury City, according to many of the marchers, was one
to June 23 by the flood of rumors which came to the of apprehension.
attention of police. Throughout the Los Angeles Police
Nineteen-year-old William M. Evans was carry-
Department, there was unending speculation about the
ing a baseball bat snapped off at the handle to which
visit of the President, the march, and the unprece-
he had attached a Technocracy sticker, another read-
dented concentration of police planned for Century
ing "Fight War," and a copy of the portion of the
City that night. 1
injunction passed out in the park earlier.
The Los Angeles Police Department was leaving As Evans lined up on the east side of Motor Ave-
nothing to chance. In final form, its plans bulked to an
nue, with those who had hC\pedto be near the head of
inch thick manual entitled "Century City '67." Osten-
the parade, a police sergeant called him over.
sibly, the manual covered every conceivable interrup-
tion of the President's visit, and made special provision Immediately another officer rushed behind me and
for a host of rumored assaults on the hotel by marchers. prodded me in the direction of the sergeant by the
At the command level, it was apparently decided use of a night stick in the kidneys and in between
that the police would not in any way facilitate the pro- the shoulder blades.
gress of the parade. According to PAC's Don Healy, As I approached the sergeant, he began to gr~mble,
the department frustrated a post-march rally by ad- "What the hell you think you're doing?" or some-
vising Century City of its disapproval. The usual motor- thing to that effect; and began grabbing at my sign.
cycle escort at the head of parades was absent. Police Evans was hustled into a police car with three
did nothing to aid monitors, and sometimes prevented officers, driven south to the end of the line of march
them from keeping order, refusing the monitors per- on Motor, and then ordered out of the car. In front
mission to move behind police lines. Although a sound of hundreds of marchers he was frisked, ordered back
truck functioning as a command post for the march into the car, and told he was being charged with pos-
could have greatly aided the control of the parade- session of a deadly weapon, his baseball bat - picket
such sound trucks are common in parades of the expec- sign.
ted size of June 23rd's-the PAC was denied use of Seven of Evans' friends stood nearby, attempting
one. (At the same time, NBC-TV's mobile broadcast to talk to the young man.
unit was permitted to precede the parade, recording it
We stayed in contact with the police by going out
on video tape.) Spectators were not restrained on the
to the car and asking questions or having them give
sidewalks as the ,parade approached; marchers and
Bill information about bail (which he said he would
spectators mingled freely. refuse) and a lawyer. For some reason the car still
The official coolness of the Police Department hadn't pulled away. Finally, the police sergeant ap-
was inevitably reflected by individual officers, many proached us with a deal. Evans would be released
of whom undoubtedly felt that the march was not only if he and his friend agreed not to rejoin the demon-
"Communist" inspired, but an aid and comfort to the stration and returned to Riverside (his home]....
enemy. The rumors of violence, of attempts to storm Bill, of course, refused. The sergeant came back to
the hotel, of assassination schemes, of fanciful plans us again and complained that Bill should stop argu-
to embarrass the President only served to intensify the ing over the "interpretation" of whether a baseball
hostility and wariness. bat comprises a deadly weapon, and instead get him-
By the night of the march, the prevailine: mood of self released by cooperating with the police....
Waiting at the hotel, lining the easternmost side- friendly, looking forward to the long parade. Some
walk of Avenue of the Stars, was a mixed bag of listened to transistor radios-the Dodgers and Angels
spectators. Some were merely curious, celebrity- were both playing that night-and periodic news re-
chasers anxious to catch a glimpse of the President ports told of the growing crowd and the speeches at
of the United States. Others were sympathetic to the the park. The police on duty were not as well informed;
goal of the marchers but unwilling, for a number of they knew only that a large crowd was expected, the
reasons, to make the mile-long march from the park. President of the United States would be in the hotel to
A smaller number, variously estimated between 20 their backs, and there had been more than a little talk
and 40, were counter-demonstrators, there to proclaim of the demonstrators' plans to rush the hotel, somehow
an equally militant stand in favor of current Adminis- to force a face-to-face confrontation with the Presi-
tration policy. dent. They anticipated that some demonstrators in-
tended to embarrass the President. If those demon-
By 8:00 p.m., there were an estimated 1,000 people
strators were successful, the embarrassment would be
waiting for the parade. Both the northbound and
Los Angeles', and the police department's.
southbound lanes of the divided street were clear,
only an occasional motorcycle or a lone policeman The police were "up tight," tense, to say the least.
using the three lanes northbound. Several of the kids tried to get some of the police
Until moments before the parade arrived -a standing across from them in the other line to smile
photographer shooting pictures in front of the hotel at them and this was a 45-minuteto an hour job. We
estimates no more than seven minutes-a squad of had a lot of time waiting for the parade to arrive.
police was picketed in the curb lane. Judith A. Atkin- You finally could get them to smile back at you, but
it didn't do much good later on.... 2
son, an attorney, who had come to watch the parade,
noted: Approximately five minutes before the first moni-
tors of the parade reached the area in front of the
We were frequently told that we must not step into hotel, the squad of officers withdrew from in front of
street and those who stayed on the curb were not
the pickets, joining the line of police standing five
bothered by the police. Thus we were given the illu-
feet apart on the western curb of the northbound lane.
sion that it was permissible to remain at the hote~
in a stationary position. The outriders of the parade appeared over the
hump in the road that is the Olympic Boulevard over-
Significantly, other spectators who were swept pass. Behind them was a line of 15,000 people stretch-
up in the dispersal that was to come drew the same ing back the entire route of the parade. Like sheepdogs,
conclusion. the monitors scurried from side to side, trying to dress
Long before the parade had arrived, police officers the front of the march. The head of the line stretched
walking back and forth in front of us said that we from curb to curb, filling the three northbound lanes.
could stand on the sidewalk, so long as we did not Along the parade route, police had been posted
step off into the street. They would criticize peo- to keep the march in the curb lane and sidewalk. With
ple who sat or put feet on the gutter. They said leave monitors to maintain the eight abreast ranks, the police
space on the sidewalkfor others to walk. As the first stationed approximately 50 yards apart along the route
group of marchers arrived ... the policedid not seem had little difficulty.
to be enforcing this rule about staying on the side- The enthusiasm of the marchers, the excitement
walk anymore. The police, in fact, seemed to be ...
inherent in any large crowd led the flanks of the march,
not directingthe crowdin any way.1
those not held back by the linked arms of the moni(ors
The handful of officers facing the crowded side- walking backward, to race ahead of the nominal lead-
walk had had little trouble keeping the street clear. ers. The effect was to bend the head of the parade in a
Like the marchets in the park, the spectators were tautly drawn arc.
THE SIT-INS
8: 15 - 8:35
Five minutes after the head of the parade came to The crush was too great. As the rear echelons of
a halt in front of the hotel, a small group of demon- the line of march telescoped into the head of the
strators was seated at the eastern edge of the north- . parade, many of the marchers in front of the hotel
bound lanes near the Olympic Boulevard access roads .. found it impossible to move. Ahead of them was an
Despite the urgings of various leaders, that small unyielding police line which let only a few desperate
group never expanded to the mass demonstration which monitors through. On the west was the fountain, manned
had been discussed. At its peak in numbers, the group by another line of police. To the east both a steep em-
totalled no more than 25 people, and some of them were bankment and a railing blocked movement. Those who
sitting not from conviction, but from fatigue. tried to retrace the route of the march gave up fight-
Though the northbound lanes in front of the hotel ing the crowd pressing forward.
were filling rapidly with marchers and spectators, Although he ordered the crowd to disperse, Cap-
there was still room for the parade to continue. Even tain Sporrer gave no instructions on how. the demon-
when a line of police blocked the northern "exit" at strators might comply with his order. This only added
the corner of Avenue of the Stars and Constellation, a to the confusion of the stalled marchers, most of whom
small gap on the sidewalk was left. Through it trickled had no idea why the parade had stopped.
a steady flow of people which turned the corner, then But for the periodic chants, neighbors chatted
left the area in front of the hotel. pleasantly. Back on the Olympic Boulevard overpass,
The first sit-in broke up within five minutes, the scattered groups began to sing - first "America, the
participants scattering as the crowd pressed in upon the Beautiful," then "God Bless America," and finally
them. "The Star Spangled Banner." There was nothing else
Within ten minutes of the march's arrival, the to do.
northbound lanes were solidly congested. Monitors The monitors were as confused as the marchers,
worked up and down the line attempting to eliminate and broadcast a continuous flow of contradictory
the bottleneck, but the task was too large, the com- orders on the scattering of bullhorns.
peting bullhorns and crowd noise too loud, the ever- Some monitors, anxious to keep the parade mov-
pressing congestion too great. ing, instructed the stalled marchers to walk in circles.
At 8:25, Capt. Louis Sporrer took the microphone Momentarily in the darkening twilight, small whirl-
in the police sound truck parked at the edge of the pools of people circled in the middle of the crowd,
hotel across the street from the stalled march. Although then swirled off into immobility again.
Chief of Police Reddin has asserted that the loudspeaker Other monitors urged the marchers to either move
on the vehicle has a range of 14 city blocks, many in or sit down. Here and there clusters chose to sit down,
the crowd did not hear Sporrer's announcement that some because they were tired, others because of the
the assembly, having stopped, was illegal, and there- periodic cry, "Down in front," from those in the rear
fore must disperse. Fewer still heard the full text of who wanted to see the massed police in front of the
the announcement which was distorted due to over- hotel.
loading. (The distortion is precisely that which occurs Meanwhile, platoons of police drilling in the
when the volume level of a small transistor radio is hotel driveway added to the building's attraction.
increased beyond the speaker's capacity.) With no seeming purpose, the close order drill con-
Some who heard the announcement did make an tinued; it became something of a stage show for the
effort to disperse. A handful joined those who had massed marchers' entertainment.
picked their way through the crowded sidewalk to The first sit-in disintegrated, and the organizers
trickle around the corner through the narrow gap po- sought to reform their group. Their plans had been
lice left. di!;rupted severely when police had stripped the parade
But most were frustrated. of the soundtrucks, and now they were forced to use
CHAPTER EIGHT
THE WEDGE
8:35 - 8: 55
The marchers filled the diagonal area left to them as garbled as the first two, beginning clearly enough,
between the center island on the west, and the steel but sputtering into noise.
railing at the edge of the sidewalk on the east. More One began, "In the name of the people of the
tightly packed by the funneling maneuver, those at State of California, I declare this to be an unlawful
the head of the march were_still good humored. assembly ... " then was drowned out by the chant of
Farther back, the marchers were more restless. the marchers replying; "We are the people. We are
Many were tired of standing in the same place, un- the people."
aware of why the parade had stopped. Monitors were
At 8:50, a column of motorcycles, two abreast,
of little help; they knew nothing more than the march-
nosed into the "toe hold" of the packed crowd at the
ers themselves.
south edge of the fountain, driving between the doubled
Throughout, the crowd was peaceful. line of police standing on the island divider and the
Between 8:35 and 8:50, two more dispersal orders crowd in the street. The marchers were forced back
were broadcast over the police soundtruck. They were from the edge of the island by the slow moving motor-
Plat e 2
The parade began promptlv at 7:30 , though the order of Plat e 3
march wa s settled onlv minute s before . Monitors managed
to sort out some of the confusion bv the time the head of
the parade reached Pico Boulevard .
No more than ten minute s before the parade arrived , the
squad of officers holding spectators on the curb withdrew .
When the parade came over the Olvmpic Boulevard over -
p ass, the spectator s poured off the curb and clogged the
.
. ,{
.,
, .If :,
.
The stalled march , as seen from the Century Plaza Hotel . Plat e 5
Plat e 6
The demonstrators penned in the Olympic Boulevard Plate 8
underpass . Note people walking back up access road in
rear of photo. The camera is pointed south.
"There was no place for people to go. I was angered by the
method the police had used to herd the marchers, and to
The next six plates were all taken in the Olympic Boulevard protest the police actions, I was willing to risk arrest by
underpass . sitting down on Olympic Boulevard facing the line of police
Plate 9 marching west ...
I sat down in the street, a cigar in my mouth . I was joined Plat e JO
by a man I do not know . I introduced myself , saying , 'My
name is Randy,' and something like 'welcome,' I'm not
sure. He sat down right next to my left shoulder .
THE DISPERSAL
8:55 - 9:30
The solidly packed crowd on Avenue of the Stars policeman with a club on the head and back and be-
gave at its weakest point. Under the pressure of the gan to bleed profusely.5
police line, demonstrators spilled over the embank- Those who tripped, who lagged behind, or who
ment, first in ones and twos, then in a great rush. stopped to help the injur~d were set upon.
Behind them came the police, their night sticks no
longer at the port arms or parade position, but high A girl tripped on the island of the off-ramp. She
in the air. was sitting stunned, and a policeman hit her over
the back or head. He raised the club over his head
At the right of me was a very old woman and she and came down as hard as he could. 6
could not move fast enough to avoid the police
movement. A policeman moved forward and smacked I saw a boy try to protect a little girl and he was
her across her face with a billy club. She immediate- hit by an officer in an overhead swing with his
ly fell tothe ground and lay still.... 1 billy club. So I turned to help this boy up and an
officer hit me in the foot. 7
There was an awful charge of policemen plunging
into the crowd to our right, swinging clubs vicious- There was a Negro boy near me. He received a
ly on the heads of men, women and children. 2 night stick full force in the stomach and fell to the
pavement, in front of a bunch of police who moved
The line of police shoved quite hard and fast. One right over him, stepping on him. His body was jerk-
poked me in the kidney, leaving a bruise, with the
ing and moving as if he were having an epileptic
butt of his club. I objected; he poked again. I turned
fit. An older man squatted down beside him to help,
to continue up the hill and then received a club on
but another policeman came up, kicked him in the
the right side of my head. I lost consciousness, [and]
side and told him to leave. I wanted to help him, but
awoke with approximately three police holding me a tall young man, wearing a UCLA Bruin jacket
and then received another blow on the back of my
picked up [my daughter] and pulled me away. As
head. 3 we ran, however, a policeman belted him across
Suddenly, without warning or apparent provoca- the back of the neck with his club, knocking him to
tion, one six-foot policeman immediately followed the ground. a
by another next to him struck the man .... For some reason, each time someone fell police took
All 20 or so marchers around him heard the sounds it as some kind of an attack or a sit-down strike, I
of crack! crack! crack! of the two clubs against the don't know. Our falling seemed to enrage them ....
man's bones and body, and of shouts, moans and I turned to say that we were moving as fast as we
shrieks.... We saw the great arcs of the red-brown could, and at that point I was struck in the eye by
clubs as the officers swung them over their heads a baton. I was dripping blood and my date Leslie
and then down full force ... upon the defenseless Sparber looked at me, started screaming.... 9
man's neck, left shoulder, and upper back. The blows,
The police seemed to use little or no discretion.
at least five, bent him double to the ground, chest to
.. We saw the police using their night sticks very freely
his knees. 4
-swinging them wildly," wrote one demonstrator.1"1
The crowded street emptied down the access roads In the press of the crowd, four-year-old Laurie
to 01ympic, and into the large vacant lot fronting on Connolly's leg brace got caught in the belt of a man
Avenue of the Stars. Overhead. the military helicopter in front of her. As the man turned to help the child's
hovered, the noise of its engines drowning the shouts of mother free the girl, the police charged.
demonstrators and the commands of police officers. . .. One of the on-coming cops cracked him over the
head with his billy. He dropped immediately and ap-
My sister was struck on the forehead above the
peared to have been knocked cold.
right eye. She fell to the ground on her back as she
tried to turn and run. I attempted to help her to her As I tried to get Laurie away, I found a cop tower-
feet, but was unable. As I was trying, I was hit by a ing over me. He was approximately six feet tall and
In the darkness, the helmeted police might not The policeman who had Koenig in custody dis-
have realized that the people stumbling in the dark appeared. The youth was not arrested.
were old, or lame, but even children were hit by the Elena Rochlin was not well. Treated by a doctor
swinging batons. " ... My own two daughters, ages the day before the dem.onstration for an allergic shock
15 and 16, were separated from me and beaten up at reaction to penicillin, during the dispersal she grew
completely different times and areas." "I saw a child tired.
approximately 8 or 9 years old struck by an officer I stayed on my feet as long as possible, but after
as she was breaking ranks frantically looking and call- being pushed back in the wedge attack to the park-
ing for her mother." "I heard children who had been ing lot, I had to sit down as my knees were not
struck and knocked down screaming for their par- stable. While sitting-I was wearing a very loose-
ents." 15 fitting top-I looked quite pregnant.
9:00 - 9: 15
The well-coordinated police thrust into the crowd calling for help.... Then we heard the loud, unper-
split it into three groups. The head of the march, those turbed music of a folk-rock group. It seemed that
in front of the hotel were divided in half. The northern- there was a direction we could go in where there
most portion of the crowd was herded north to Con- were no beatings being given out. We walked over
stellation Boulevard, then east with a line of more than a small hill or rise in the dirt field and saw a huge
crowd of people congregated about a truck on
60 police prodding and pushing the group along.
Olympic which carried the musical group. Many,
The middle section of the crowd, those standing like us, were obviously moving into what seemed
between the center of the fountain and the access to be a safe, well-lighted area, a refuge, where the
roads leading from Olympic Boulevard up to Avenue sounds were more pleasant than those cries coming
of the Stars, was pushed down the access roads or over out of the darkness behind us. 3
the precipitous embankment into the field which lay Forced down the embankment, the crowd was
east of the hotel. ordered to plow through the planting on the side of
As we were forced over the bridge embankment the hill, or jammed up against the automobile guard
leading down to Olympic Boulevard, the police rails along the access roads, then herded onto the side-
continued beating on everyone they could reach. walk.
The marchers tried to run away from the police The line of officers motioned us onto Olympic
blows but the police ran after them. Some of the Boulevard, and west toward the underpass area.
marchers fell over the water pipes of the sprinkling One officer said, "Don't worry about stopping traf-
system on the embankment or wires which held fic, cross the street. We just want you out of the
trees in place. People fell over fallen people. (One area." We proceeded south across the street and I
officer did place himself by one of the wires and could see several cars stalled as demonstrators
tried to caution the people accordingly.) ... poured onto Olympic.4
An elderly woman, aged about 65, was trying to Backed against a grassy embankment on the south
escape the crowd and beating but fell over some side of Olympic, Earl Segal of Garden Grove hustled
wire. As we tried to help her, police told us to keep
his two sons about ten feet up the slope. He "stood
moving and that they would take care of her....
They forced us away by hitting us with their clubs. there with a full unobstructed view of Olympic Boule-
... My wife looked back and saw the woman being vard. To the west were large numbers of people block-
hit on her head by the police with their clubs as the ing traffic, singing and dancing. To the north, groups
woman struggled to get up. 2 of people. on the opposite side of Olympic stretched
under the underpass as far as I could see." 5
Waiting on Olympic Boulevard, traveling slowly
The incongruous band played on, the crowd
west, was the flat~bed truck with a rock and roll group
around it growing as the demonstrators inched west
playing on the back end. The truck, sponsored by
on the boulevard.
Angry Arts, had been one of the vehicles denied entry
in the parade an hour and one-half earlier. Since then We got down on Olympic together with a large
it had cruised the streets in the area. Those in and on crowd that had formed around the truck. People
the truck had no idea of the chaos above them as they were still coming down the bank. I said to the girl
I was with, "Come on, let's dance. It's not every-
drove slowly into the underpass.
body that can say they've danced on Olympic
Boulevard."
We had been stumbling about over a dirt field in
darkness, walking by fallen people groaning and She said, "No, I'll get arrested."
Still they came, picking their Way through the Thousands of people were streaming down this
darkness of the open field to the lighted throughfare incline, crushing plants, stumbling, falling and
and the sanctuary it seemed to offer. running. More thousands were pouring up the in-
cline on the opposite side of the paved area. It was
As we were being pushed down the embankment, a fantastic sight, more like an army of ants or mi-
the police officer directly in back of me shoved grating lemmings than humans. Under the pres-
me into a woman in front of me. I turned to him sure from behind, we had no choice other than to
and said, "I'm not resisting."... start down the incline. [On Olympic] people all
around seemed angry and stunned and total con-
He said, "I know," and shoved me again with such
fusion prevailed.8
force that I knocked the woman in front of me
down. Individual police officers were only a little less
I managed to regain my balance and turned to him confused than the demonstrators. As the crowd milled
and said, "Please, there is a woman lying on the on Olympic, surrounding east-west vehicular traffic,
ground." This time he did not answer but instead seeking a way out of the underpass area, the police
shoved me on top of her. A man next to me turned push paused.
to say something and the officer raised his night It took ranking officers a few minutes to reorgan-
stick above his head and cracked him on the sfde ize their lines, then an officer with a loudspeaker said,
of the face. 7 "Come on boys, let's get 'em." 9
CHAPTER ELEVEN
THE UNDERPASS
9: 15 - 9:30
The area under the A venue of the Stars overpass The crowd eddied under the overpass as pressure
filled quickly as demonstrators slipped down the em- built up behind it, more and more people shoving their
bankment or crowded into the access roads. For many way down the access roads and into the crowded street.
the well-lighted street seemed like a refuge, a place But those who walked along the sidewalk or in
where they could rest, or find friends, or look for mis- the street to the west encountered a new barrier.
sing children. There was even that incongruous rock
At about 9:15 p.m., a number of squad cars and
band on a flat-bed truck, playing with as much enthusi-
motorcycle police appeared. The motorcycle police-
asm as skill. The dancers had been swallowed up as men drove through and around us, back to the Ave-
the crowd grew in the catch-basin that was the Olympic nue of the Stars overpass. At no point.did I hear one
Boulevard underpass, but here and there resolute young- police officer address himself to any ofus.
sters handed a passer-by a flower with the benediction,
"Love and peace." At this time, one squad car was parked approximate-
ly 30 feet away from a large throng of people on
Most of those in the crowd were confused. They Olympic Boulevard. Without saying' a word, the
had no idea why they had been so violently forced off police officer in this squad car suddenly turned on
the road which ran over their heads. They had no idea his siren and accelerated rapidly directly into a large
of how to get out of the underpass, and many had lost crowd of people. Many of the people had to throw
their sense of direction. themselves, bodily, sideways to avoid being hit. I
The cops kept pushing and yelling, "Keep going," The hill was nearly impossible to climb, not merely
and "Faster." Two of the officers were swinging for all the old people, women in heels, and chil-
their clubs (not as hard as theY.could, but kind of dren, but for everyone. The only saving factor was
a half-swing which was definitely more than a that the LAPD had just as much trouble climbing up
poke. Twice I was hit with sticks, on my right and as we did, unable to hold on and swing clubs simul-
left elbows: Then I slipped on the ivy and the cop taneously.
next to me slipped at the same time .... The cop Everyone kept falling down after taking a couple
who fell got up. I was still down and told him, "I of steps. It was like a treadmill. One woman was
can't climb anymore." He answered, "Lady, you terror-stricken as she kept sliding back into a po-
got down here. You're getting up." 2 2 liceman's legs. She was middle-aged and looking
Some, like Richard Hojohn, clung to a fence for her child. Many children had been separated
while scrambling up the slope. Still it was slow going. and were crying. Always the approaching police
"We could not move very fast and I helped pick up at sawmill threatened.
least two women who had slipped and were scream- We improvised a human chain to lift the babies up
ing for fear of being trampled by the crowd. 2 3 the hill before they could be trampled. People who
sat down rather than continue were beaten. 26
The crowd seemed to be moving as fast as possi-
ble. There were numerous small children and elder- At the top of the embankment on Avenue of the
ly people; the incline is approximately 45 degrees Stars south of the hotel, scores of police watched the
and covered with moss and bushes. One man asked floundering on the planted slope.
the police not to push so hard because he was going
as fast as he could and they were crushing his child. After we finally struggled to get to the top, there
The cop said to pick up the kid or do anything he were police all over a young man who was in front
wanted but keep moving. of me, just walking along the road. A very large
CHAPTER TWELVE
West along Constellation, then south on Century masse, arrived at the scene, approaching from the
Park East, the police line pushed a thinning crowd of east. One Beverly Hills policeman stood in the
former marchers. At the intersections, the marchers middle of the demonstrators in the street and started
were progressively divided into smaller and smaller waving cars westward-bound on Olympic. By ask-
ing demonstrators to step aside, he was first able to
groups, each with its attendant cluster of police offi-
open one lane of traffic, heretofore blocked at least
cers. At Olympic, the demonstrators were turned east-
one block away. Then, he was able to open a second
ward, towards the Beverly Hills city limit.
lane, now opening the entire westward-bound [side
"Once on Olympic Boulevard, they pushed us of the street]. The LAPD maintained a line pre-
one block at least over the Beverly Hills boundary venting marchers from re-entering the Los Angeles
line, and they stated that they had the right to push city limits. 5
us while we were in Beverly Hills," one of the march-
By 10:15, the demonstrators standing opposite the
ers wrote later. 1
line of police in the eastbound lanes of Olympic began
The invading officers from Los Angeles then
to slip away- "the consensus being that the action was
turned around and retreated to the city limits, this
over," one film cameraman wrote. Then the Los An-
time with the marchers following them.
geles police attacked again.
There was a minimum of fifteen minutes ... dur-
We had been standing on the street and sidewalk,
ing which the marchers stood their ground [in
mostly just talking to each other. With no warning,
Beverly Hills] and the police stood theirs [in Los
the police charged us. They came at a run, swing-
Angeles], separated by about thirty meters. 2
ing the billy clubs, and charging with their motor-
The demonstrators milled around, about 200 of cycles. People ran up a small residential street,
them, shouted epithets at the officers, the words where they were chased up against cars, houses, and
"Fascist," and "Sieg Heil" being the most preva- telephone poles. Many were knocked down by the
lent. There was a period of about half an hour of police, who continued to beat them while they
decreasingly noisy peace. 3 were down. 6
A Beverly Hills patrol car appeared, going west Suddenly they charged, running at full speed and
on Olympic through the marchers, up to the Los swinging their clubs madly. They forced people
Angeles police. It stopped there. Then it turned against walls, into shrubbery, and to the ground
around and came back east on Olympic. The car where .they attacked them. They surrounded peo-
was parked and the officer got out of the car. The ple, giving them nowhere to go, and making it im-
marchers directed traffic moving east. ... " possible to disperse. One policeman threw himself
(he took a flying leap and his feet left the ground)
Following the fifteen minute period of stand-off, on three young people, two of them girls, who had
no more (I'm sure much less) than a dozen Beverly previously fallen and were lying face down. As he
Hills police appearing at separate intervals, not en landed on them, he began clubbing them. 7
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
BY WHAT AUTHORITY
9:45 - 10:45
The police swept south along Century Park East, We finally made our way south to Pico Boulevard
then west along Pico in the direction of the park. Rolled and began walking eastward to the street on which
up in front of the helmeted line, the frightened and our car was parked. Halfway between Motor Ave-
tired marchers, nursing backs sore from sharp jabs of nue and Avenue of the Stars we encountered a
group of people being shoved, jabbed and herded
police batons, hurried along. The waves of marchers
westward by a phalanx of police. We asked the po~
swept up stragglers, the groups in front of the blue lice [for] permission to go to our car and received
lines growing. Those who limped, the old, and the very only silence and billy club jabs, prods and blows.
young lagged behind.
My wife was struck in the neck, I was repeatedly
The cops started hitting everyone, telling them to struck in the back and the children were struck on
hurry up. We could not go any faster. Then I got the shoulders and arms. After our request for per-
pushed with a night stick, and as I turned around to mission to go to our car, we offered no resistance
say I couldn't go faster, I saw a cop hit a girl except to complain of the physical abuse. 2
younger than me (I'm 12) right in the face while
he told the girl's mother, "Why don't lyou] teach Thirteen-year-old Carol Thorsen added, "One
your kids respect for the police, lady?" 1 policeman was about to strike me in the back with
his fist but my mother stopped him. I saw my mother
Those who walked eastward on Pico, many of being shoved and hit by police with the billy sticks.
whom had been harried by police along a two-mile At one point my mother called them 'brutes' and one
trek completely around the Century City development, policeman poked the stick in her throat. The police-
were forced to turn back. man told her, 'Shut up, lady.'"
Herded across Pico, then south on Motor, hundreds Meanwhile, a few feet from where I stood, I saw
were forced into the park where the march had begun a monitor engaging in a physical struggle with a
two and one-half hours earlier. young girl in an attempt to force her to disassemble
her own sign. She was intent on forcing the issue
What little organization had existed as the parade
with the police, and the monitor was doing his ut-
set out had collapsed with the first wedge into the most to prevent this, I'm sure out of concern for the
crowd. They clustered now in small groups at the girl's safety.
park, talking quietly, the whispered conversations
delaying the inevitable departure from the somehow I finished tearing the posters from the wooden
sticks and proceeded to roll them up into a cylin-
safe sanctuary of the baseball diamond.
der. We then headed back toward the police. One
... People were on sound trucks. They sang one of them held out his billy club and said, "Put the
song. Then a boy said, "The park closes at 10:00 so sign down, there!"
in view of what has happened you had better leave
He pointed to a pile of signs lying in the gutter. I
as quickly as possible." We walked up Motor Ave-
replied, "The monitor told me that if the signs
nue to Pico. On the corner were three policemen
were rolled up-"
who were stopping people. One stepped out in front
of me and my cousin and said, "Take your signs ... "Throw it down there or go back to the park!"
down or go back where you came from." We turned he stated again, holding his club at the ready.
around, removed the signs from thin sticks and
"Look, I'm a citizen, and this is still the United
rolled them up and started to leave again. The same
States and I believe I have the right to know by
policeman stepped in front of me and said, "Either
what authority-"
you put the signs down or go back where you come
from." I asked why, were we breaking some law or ... This time the voice carried more than a hint
what had we done? All he replied was "I have my of anger, "I've got my orders. That's my author-
orders and you are to do as I say." ity!"
I refused to leave the sign there so he would not let At this point, I attempted to read his badge number
us pass. We then proceeded to walk back all the way but it was much too dark, and I didn't want to risk
around the park to get to Pico and go home. " further confrontation. I looked at my wife and the
others. They appeared anxious and fretful. I looked
Apparently still concerned that a crowd three-
at the groups of policemen again. They looked
quarters of a mile from the Century City Plaza Hotel stern and implacable. I slowly dropped the rolled-
was a threat, police permitted the stunned demonstra- up posters and the stick in the gutter and walked by
tors to leave only in a thin trickle to find their cars. them .... 6
The police stated that you could not leave the park if
There were orders, seemingly issued as part of
you had more than five people in your car. (This was
done over a loud speaker or a bullhorn.) That was the painstaking manual of instructions on the dis-
enforced, with police checking cars as they went persal of the crowd. These orders came from the
out. 5 sergeant, and the sergeant took his from the lieuten-
ant.
The monitor walked by shouting into the now
darkened park, "You can all leave now, but in groups At around 10:00 at the corner of Pico and Motor
of five.or less only." as the demonstrators were dispersing to go home,
a large number of policemen stationed in that area
We hadn't gone more than a few steps toward Pico were forcing people to drop their signs in the gut-
when we were confronted with another monitor ter; otherwise they would not let them enter Pico
who stood a few feet in front of a group of police- from Motor Avenue. This was so even though many
men. He was telling several paraders to disassemble demonstrators wanted to head westward away from
their picket signs and roll them up. He stated that the Century Plaza Hotel and were holding their
this would have to be done before the police would signs under their arms and not in a demonstrating
allow them to pass.... position.
As the scattered marchers thinned, seeking the He made no effort to fight or escape but was in
safety of their cars or the temporary shelter of the park, obvious pain and yelling. When he gave a loud
the police sweeps became more sporadic. The crowd cry, at least four or five of the police lifted their
of officers in the parking lot entrance of the studio at clubs and began beating him all over with the clubs
the T-intersection of Motor and Pico grew larger, and continued to hit him when he fell to the
ground. 3
the police talking among themselves, waiting for the
order to assemble and leave the area.
A number of policemen were pushing the people
Clusters of police were stationed at the corners away. One policeman kept pushing this girl for no
of the intersection, prepared to break up any groups apparent reason. A young man driving by slowed
they felt were too large, or moving in what the officers down and yelled, "What are you doing to that
felt was the wrong direction. girl?" About eight policemen stormed to his auto-
mobile, pulled him out, and constantly beat him.
Upon leaving the park, a group of police far out-
One particular policeman was pulling his hair, the
numbering civilians present, began rushing me and
other was batting him across the mouth with his
several others without warning or provocation. The
police started swinging and beating and when one club.
girl began screaming they beat her with more force. My sister and I were in our car going [east in the
The incident ended with the group running in fear lane nearest the double white line, waiting for the
while the police laughed about it all. light, right alongside the Volkswagen which was in
the curb lane]. As we saw the police attack this man,
A man in a Volkswagen on Pico, witnessing this out-
rageous act, yelled from his window a demand for we were crying, "Stop! Stop, you are killing him."
One policeman said, "Get them."
the officers' badge numbers. He received a quick
reply of "Fuck you," from the police, and then Some policeman ran to our car. As I was trying to
five or six cops ran to the car, pu1led him out and pull up my window, the policeman tired several
began beating him ummercifully with clubs, while times to hit me with his club. He finally succeeded
one conscientious officer efficiet1tly parked the and hit me on the mouth with his club .... We were
auto so as not to block traffic while they were beat- not even a part of the Peace March. 4
ing him.1
I was dragged to the sidewalk where they contin-
... Stanley Inkelis, a grad student at UC Berkeley, ued to beat me, hit me with their fists, and kneed
and I drove east on Pico Boulevard with two other me in the groin. They put both of my hands behind
friends. The traffic was still a little heavy at this my back in an arm lock and two or three of them
time and we stopped about 200 feet from the stop- (after the others had gone on to other victims)
light at Motor Avenue and Pico. On the south side- began walking me east on Pico. One of the police-
walk we noticed about ten people half running and men said to the other, "Who is going to book him?"
half walking west on Pico. Then, all of a sudden,
several of the officers .broke towards a Volkswagen The other officer responded, "I don't know. Maybe
which was in the traffic line. we ought just to leave him."
They swung open the doors, hauled out a young I did not want to be left alone in my condition. (I
man, threw him to the ground, threw in a couple of was bleeding profusely and could barely stand.)
swings, dragged him over to the sidewalk into a I wanted them to justify this malicious, unprovoked
group of police and proceeded to beat him .... Traf- attack to their superiors, so I then said, "Please ar-
fic began to move and we could see the boy being rest me."
dragged to a paddy wagon parked on Motor. His At that point I was beaten again on the head and
shirt was ripped almo.st totally off him, he was they must have dropped me. I'm not sure of this
crying and we could hear him saying, "I didn't do since I passed out. The next thing I can recall was
anything." 2 that two young men, who had been driving by and
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
ORDINARY
MIDDLE-CLASS PEOPLE
The cost of the demonstration to the city can be Attorney Judith Atkinson said, "Now I know how
measured in dollars and cents, in hours of overtime, the Negro people and most minority groups must feel
in maintenance time. But the cost to the Los Angeles day after day." 2
Police Department, even as its new chief is seeking to Similarly, Mrs. Marjorie Cray, a secretary to a
improve community relations, is incalculable. state legislator, wrote, "I never thought it could hap-
A substantial portion of the community which pen to me-a white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant female,
before June 23 had regarded the city's police depart- age 24, dressed in a conservative manner. My bruises
ment as competent and dedicated learned that these and cut leg will heal, but my deep and abiding respect
men were capable of indiscriminate violence, of re- for law enforcement officers ... has been drastically
lentless intolerance, of a careless indifference to the changed ... Now I know what it must be like to be a
civil liberties which they were sworn to uphold. Negro in Watts. The L.A. Police Department taught
"The brutality was so unnerving," a 40-year-old me that." 3
real estate agent wrote, "that my attitude toward the More aware of the day-to-day routine of law en-
police has taken a complete turn from admiration to forcement, a former deputy sheriff conceded he "had
fear." 1 seen bad beatings before given by officers when [I}
end
INJUNCTION
On June 23, 1967, an order was issued by the Superior Court of Los Angeles County. The order was directed against the Peace
Action Council of Southern California, Students for a Democratic Society, New Politics, the Student Mobilization Committee to
End the War in Vietnam, numbers of other organizations, their officers, agents, monitors, pickets, etc., AND all other persons
acting by, through, in conjunction, in concert, or in cooperation with the defendants, INCLUDING PARADERS AND DEMON-
STRATORS.
All such organizations and persons are "RESTRAINED AND ENJOINED AND COMMANDED to desist and refrain from
doing, threatening or attempting to do or causing to be done, either directly or indirectly, by ANY means, method or device, any
of the following acts:
"I. Conducting or taking part in any parade within the limits of Century City without first obtaining a permit from the Los
Angeles Police Commission.
"2. During the course of any. parade to be conducted at or through Century City, for which a permit has been obtained from
the Los Angeles Police Commission:
(a) Intentionally stopping the course of any such parade within the limits of Century City;
(b) Departing from or leaving the route or boundary of any such parade within the limits of Century City;
(c) Entering upon any private property within Century City without the owner's consent.
"3. Congregating in such numbers or acting individually in such a manner as to block any entrance to or exit from (a) Century
City, (b) any building in Century City (including the Century Plaza Hotel), (c) any area within Century City (including
Century Square Shopping Center or any building therein), or (d) any parking lot or driveway adjacent to any building or
area within Century City.
"4. Taking any sign, noisemaking device, smell-making device, smoke-making device, or any device or instrument intended
to frighten, harass, annoy or obstruct any person, into the area inside the exterior sidewalks and streets surrounding (a) any
building in Century City (including the Century Plaza Hotel), (b) any area within Century City (including Century Square
Shopping Center or any building therein), or (c) any parking lot or driveway adjacent to any building or area within Cen-
tury City.
"5. Parking and using any soundtruck or other vehicle equipped to amplify sounds of any kind or type at any place within the
limits of Century City.
"6. Picketing, standing, sitting, loitering, gathering, assembling, marching, parading, walking, stopping, or stationing,
placing or maintaining any pickets or other persons at, in, or in front of entrances to or exits from the Century Plaza
Hotel; provided, however, that not more than two persons or pickets may be permitted to be on the sidewalk at or near
each of the entrances to the Century Plaza Hotel premises (including the two driveways from Avenue of the Stars) so long
as said pickets or any of them do not impede or interfere with the progress of any person or vehicle attempting to enter or
leave said hotel;
"7. Inciting any other person or persons to commit acts of violence or acts which constitute violation of this order;
"8. Entering the premises of Century Plaza Hotel or any shop, store, restaurant or bar located therein from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m.
on June 23, 1967; provided, however, that the provisions of this paragraph 8 shall not apply to persons who are registered
guests of the hotel or who have reservations for rooms at said hotel for or on June 23, 1967;
"9. Taking any actions with the intent to interfere with or make more difficult the normal conduct of business at the Century
Plaza Hotel or the Century Square Shopping Center (or any shop or concession which forms a part of said hotel or center),
including, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, any of the following: (a) Congregating in such numbers
or acting individually in such a manner as to impede the free passage of any person thereto, therefrom, or therein; (b)
Singing or making any loud noises; (c) Handcuffing, chaining, tying, or otherwise fastening themselves to one another
or to any other person or object; (d) Taking any animal on the premises; (e) Loosing any animal on the premises; (f)
Affixing any sign, pennant, banner, written material or other object to any portion of the premises thereof;or (g) Frighten-
ing, annoying, harassing, or physically impeding any person present therein.
DATED: June 23, 1967.
s/Orlando H. Rhodes
Judge of the Superior Court"
By July 14, the Peace Action Council and the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California had taken 437 written
statements dealing with the events of June 23 before the Century Plaza Hotel. (An additional 100 statements have been received
since that time, but have not been relied upon in the preparation of this report.)
Of the 437 total statements, 402 described themselves by age and occupation. This is a summary of those descriptions:
Men outnumbered women, 246 to 156. Those submitting statements ranged from age from below 15 to over 60.
ACLU
Judith Atkinson
Bob Brecker
June Cole
John Forsman THE PHOTOGRAPHERS
Stephen J. Herzberg
Elaine Hyman Front Cover Photo: Charles Brittin
Freda Lowitz Back Cover Photo: Ted Organ
John Mandel
Thomas Mitchell Plate 1 - William Warren
Barbara Munn Plate 2 - Marshall Armistead
MarcOkrand Plate 3 - Tom Vorhees
Philip J. Regal Plate4 - William Warren
Michael T. Ross Plate 5 - ACLU files
Guy Saperstein Plate 6 - Charles Brittin
Darlene Schanfald Plate 7 - William Warren
Dave Shapiro Plate 8 - Ted Organ
Randall Shelly Plate 9 - Charles Brittin
Martin Snyder Plate JO- Charles Brittin
Frances M. Shropshire Plate 11 - Charles Brittin
Denise Vandenberg Plate 12 - Charles Brittin
Linda Walter Plate 13 - Charles Brittin
Neal Wiener Plate 14 - Charles Brittin
Robert A. Young Plate 15 - Charles Brittin