These are Things I Heard and Saw

A civilian report from the ICE protests in Los Angeles.

These are the Things I Heard and Saw

These are the things I heard and saw in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday June 11, 2025. Protesters gathered at Pershing Square at 5pm. I’m not good at crowd sizes, but judging by other marches, it wasn’t a big group to begin with, maybe three-hundred. The crowds skewed young and POC, but not exclusively, by any means. The gathering didn’t appear to have a strong organizational head. It had more of a grassroots feel. There were several speakers, some of whom told their personal stories about their families coming to the US – giving their reasons for marching and certainly their grievances against ICE and police tactics. The mood was upbeat, peaceful, and friendly. At that time, I remember thinking, “Oh, this has a kind of Kumbaya vibe” as sage wafted through the air.

We started marching toward City Hall. Again, the mood was peaceful and determined. It felt like more people were joining and by the time we got to City Hall, the crowd seemed bigger. The LAPD along the route was a constant presence, but they looked largely relaxed and I remember thinking, “OK. They’re doing their job and maybe we have come to some understanding here.” Jesus, I was so naïve. Having grown up through the sixties and seventies, I have a reflexive flower-child thing in me that assumes that even though we’re on different sides of this, we’re all humans after all, and we’re all just trying to get through this without hurting each other.

In front of City Hall, the LAPD seemed to be watching, but weren’t in any kind of “alert stance”. At this point, a big group of people started line-dancing. I remember thinking that maybe this was it and we’d go home. A few demonstrators yelled epithets at the police and out into the air. As my friend, Michelle, said, “It’s no worse than a crowd after a Laker game.” Another friend told me that the only act of aggression that they saw was an empty water bottle thrown in the direction of the LAPD, which fell easily fifty-feet shy of its target.

Then the LAPD started to clear the street. I was still thinking, “Makes sense. People need to drive through.” We gathered on the sidewalk and some kept walking up the grassy hill across from City Hall.

And then – HOLY HELL – The first thing was flash grenades going off from the LAPD. This had the intended consequence of panicking everyone. It sounded like gunshots or tear gas and we started to scatter. People started chanting, “Peaceful. Protest.” Over and over – I think to let the police know that we were peaceful and to remind the crowd to keep it cool. There was a brief lull as we regrouped on the grass. But only briefly before flanks of police came down both streets parallel to the park. Then you could see LAPD running in formation from a completely other side – definitely closing in from all sides, forcing us into downtown. There was general panic. People on megaphones were stressing to demonstrators to “Walk, don’t run.” So my friend and I started walking, but there were no directions from the demonstrators OR the police as to WHERE to go. Then the horses came in. Remember, that very little provocation has come from any of the demonstrators. More flash grenades and now rubber bullets. People running. Another huge flank of police out of nowhere, running in that scary way that feel reminiscent of a full military takeover. Batons came out. Officers were swinging them. We all ran for the subway stop – which was blocked. One older man was running away and an officer chased him and beat him in front of all of us. Another man was hit as he was running away (notice that they were RUNNING AWAY!). I hung around to witness the beatings and when an officer told me to move, I said, “Where to?” He said, in an extremely threatening voice, “MOVE. I don’t want to have to hit you.” I moved. Michelle and I walked down streets, trying to find an open subway stop and eventually got far enough away to call a Lyft.

A friend of mine was arrested. We saw a journalist who had been hit by a rubber bullet. A young man caught up with Michelle and me as we were walking away, asking if he could join us. I assumed that he might need us to provide a little protection simply by dint of our skin color. I’d experienced this at the BLM marches and was only happy to help. After talking for a few seconds, I realized that HE was offering to protect US!!!

So what I saw and heard was only HUGE AND DISPROPORTIONATE AGGRESSION AND ESCALATION from the police. Orders to us were unclear and I’m not entirely sure if a police officer can threaten to hit me when I’m simply standing there. Maybe. Not sure what would have happened if I refused to move. Can he actually hit me?

I have tried to stick strictly to what I saw and heard. But I can tell you here that I was terrified. I am a citizen of this country and I was being threatened directly by the LAPD. This kind of violence looks and feels like it’s from another time; another country. It is not. I don’t give a shit about your politics – ask yourself if this is the country you want. Because it’s the one you’ve got right now and from everything I witnessed, it will get worse if we don’t stop it.

Before things went insane, I ran into my son. I didn’t know he was planning to be at the march! He left (wisely) before the horses came in.