The cops would rush for 20 yards, firing and batoning anyone who didn't move fast enough. They would then hold their gained ground as some protesters would creep back up to the line, only to be sent running amidst another volley of rubber bullets and baton work. It is late night on the corner of Olympic and Figueroa. I walk among the story that never really made the news, looking for souvenirs of my first police confrontation. Schock gets some rubber bullets, I go looking for lost wallets.
People drop weird shit during a police action.
Sitting on the concrete barrier that lines the corner, I'm exhausted and wired, a little saddened by how it all went down. If this was the Battle of Los Angeles that Rage spoke about, it was a massacre. By last count, arrests are above 50, the fear of God has been instilled in most protesters, and the LAPD had set the tone for what they would stand for that week. If anything significant was to come of the DNC protests, it should've happened tonight. After this first flash point, the protesters know who owns the streets of LA, and it was the people with the big-ass guns and menacing helicopter.