George Floyd Murder Protest - Curfew Ends - Day 9

6.4.20| 7:40 PM PDT | Los Angeles, CA | City Hall

An infectious atmosphere of empowerment and insistent resolve accompanied Los Angeles protesters as they entered their ninth day of marching and parading, seeking justice for the 5.25.2020 Minneapolis murder of George Floyd, who will be laid to rest next week in Pearland, Texas. In this past week protesters have coalesced around pursuing matters of local peace and justice inequities as well, especially as videos of LAPD's abusive treatment of university students went viral on social media.

It looks like the United Nations on the streets of Hollywood and L.A. these days - all ethnicities, a diverse crowd, all peeking out from Covid-19 confinement, and all uniting for one cause: freedom. No police dogs, no fire hoses, no tear gas nor potentially fatal weapons. No steel-toed boots or murderous glares or abuses of power. No one condones looting or arson, and nobody condones police officers not holding their unjust/abusive members accountable.

After marching to City Hall, across from LAPD Headquarters, a crowd of protesters - estimated to be more than 1,000 - continued to call attention to the need to end local police brutality. People were surprised and a bit skeptical to discover that their raucous demands suddenly seemed to be bearing fruit. First Mayor Eric Garcetti abruptly ended the curfew. Then LAPD Chief Michel Moore came out of the headquarters and apologized to the protesters; standing in front of them, he 'took a knee' to acknowledge his remorse and his unity with them. And he pledged to revise training goals and methods used in teaching police officers how best to interact with the public. He later repeated the knee gesture a second time before leaving the rally.

L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti acknowledged that video evidence confirms recent reports of police officers abusing power in their contact with the George Floyd /Black Lives Matter protesters, using police batons, rubber bullets, and drive-by pepper spray bombs. $250 million dollars of "redirected priorities" will be used in the L.A. budget to immediately invest in Social Service program improvements, with social reforms developed in order to need fewer police interventions; $150 million will come out of the LAPD budget to help attain that goal, and an additional $100 million will be drawn from the budgets of other departments.

From City Hall, the protesters returned to Hollywood - back to Sunset & Vine - chanting emphatically all the way. And betting on the departure date for their new buddies, the National Guard, with bets also laid on if/when Covid-19 could creep back into a larger area of their concern.

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