The
recent
“No
Kings”
protest
brought
out
millions
nationwide.
There’s
been
a
lot
of
focus
on
what
the
protest
means,
both
as
a
standalone
event
and
as
a
potential
starting
point
for
further
organizing
and
concrete
demands.
The
protest
was
lauded
for
how
overwhelmingly
peaceful
it
was
—
which
isn’t
what
you’d
expect
from
a
bunch
of
“Hamas
terrorists,
illegal
terrorists,
and
violent
criminals.”
But
there
were
pockets
of
violence
at
these
protests;
it
sprang
from
the
police.
At
a
No
Kings
protest
in
California,
the
LAPD
was
accused
of
hit-and-running
a
protester
along
with
shooting
at
reporters
with
less
lethal
ammunition
for
standing
there
menacingly.
In
a
world
where
the
Constitution
actually
mattered,
you
wouldn’t
have
to
worry
about
the
police
shooting
journalists
doing
their
job
documenting
a
protest
because
the
officers
would
have
a
robust
respect
for
the
press
and
exercise
of
the
First
Amendment.
However,
we
are
in
this
one.
Just
days
before
the
protest
happened,
the
LAPD
was
fighting
to
get
the
injunction
preventing
them
from
using
journalists
as
target
practice
removed.
Knock
LA
has
coverage:
In
a
unanimous
vote
on
Friday
morning,
LA
City
Council
put
a
halt
to
City
Attorney
Hydee
Feldstein
Soto’s
attempt
to
lift
an
injunction
on
LAPD’s
use
of
force
against
journalists.
The
City
Attorney’s
office
withdrew
their
misguided
motion
the
same
day.
…
Adam
Rose,
press
rights
chair
at
the
Los
Angeles
Press
Club,
told
LAist
in
a
written
statement,
“Karen
Bass
is
quick
to
run
to
the
media
for
attention
to
criticize
Trump
for
violating
court
orders
(rightfully
so!),
but
when
the
media
is
assaulted
by
her
own
LAPD,
she
never
says
a
word…Instead
of
holding
the
department
accountable,
the
city
is
spending
even
more
money
to
hire
an
outside
law
firm
so
they
can
effectively
beg
a
judge
for
permission
to
keep
assaulting
journalists
for
just
doing
their
job.
The
mayor
of
Los
Angeles
needs
to
take
charge
here,
and
Bass
has
been
completely
absent.”
The
takeaway
here
is
that
conversations
about
violence
and
lawlessness
at
protests
are
incomplete
without
a
thorough
analysis
of
all
of
the
parties
involved.
Where
is
the
room
in
public
discourse
to
discuss
protests
being
violent
or
not
peaceful
because
of
unlawful
uses
of
force
from
the
police?
To
the
people
who
have
the
reflex
to
respond
“Well,
they
were
just
doing
their
job,”
you
should
also
factor
in
injunctions
and
legal
restraints
that
determine
if
the
officers
were
doing
their
jobs
well
or
not.
An
aside:
the
injunction
obviously
wasn’t
enough
to
prevent
some
LAPD
members
from
shooting
journalists
according
to
eye
witness
accounts,
but
how
many
more
people
would
have
been
shot
if
Soto
successfully
got
the
injunction
to
shoot
journalists
lifted?
As
protests
continue,
we
will
see
talking
heads
and
politicians
demand
that
the
people
with
cardboard
signs
and
dinosaur
costumes
do
whatever
it
takes
to
de-escalate
and
make
sure
that
protests
remain
peaceful.
Just
keep
that
same
energy
for
the
people
at
the
protest
in
uniform
who
are
armed
with
guns
and
are
disappointed
that
injunctions
prevent
them
from
opening
fire
as
much
as
they’d
like.
LAPD
Wants
Judge
To
Lift
An
Order
Restricting
Use
Of
Force
Against
The
Press
[LAist]
Chris
Williams
became
a
social
media
manager
and
assistant
editor
for
Above
the
Law
in
June
2021.
Prior
to
joining
the
staff,
he
moonlighted
as
a
minor
Memelord™
in
the
Facebook
group Law
School
Memes
for
Edgy
T14s
.
He
endured
Missouri
long
enough
to
graduate
from
Washington
University
in
St.
Louis
School
of
Law.
He
is
a
former
boatbuilder
who
is
learning
to
swim, is
interested
in
critical
race
theory,
philosophy,
and
humor,
and
has
a
love
for
cycling
that
occasionally
annoys
his
peers.
You
can
reach
him
by
email
at [email protected]
and
by
tweet
at @WritesForRent.