Hundreds of protesters rallied near the Hall of Justice in downtown L.A. on Wednesday evening as nationwide demonstrations continue over the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man in Wisconsin.
L.A. County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Juanita Navarro said roughly 300 people were gathered in front of the building about 5 p.m. Navarro said that the protests were peaceful and that no arrests had been made.
The protesters join others across the country decrying the shooting of Blake, 29, in the small city of Kenosha, Wis., as well as the deaths of two people who were killed this week during protests there. Cellphone video shows Blake being shot as he leaned into his car with his children inside. Blake is hospitalized in serious condition and is paralyzed.
Police officials have said they were responding to a call about a domestic dispute and did not immediately say whether Blake had a weapon or why police fired. Kenosha County Dist. Atty. Michael Graveley is investigating the shooting with the Wisconsin Justice Department’s Division of Criminal Investigation.
Hundreds demonstrated nightly this week in Kenosha, defying city curfews and clashing with police. Police on Wednesday arrested a juvenile in the fatal shooting of two people during the protests. Several Kenosha County supervisors asked Wisconsin’s Democratic governor Wednesday to send in 1,250 additional National Guard members to the city to reinforce the 250 already patrolling.
On Monday, hundreds of protesters also marched by the Los Angeles Police Department headquarters downtown to denounce Blake’s shooting. Protesters at one point moved a metal barricade that had been set up at the building’s perimeter, video from the scene showed. Police declared the protest an unlawful assembly about 11:20 p.m. There were also reports of police firing projectiles into the crowd.
Times staff writers Jaweed Kaleem and Luke Money contributed to this report.
