September 2011 - "Occupy" Activists Protest in Downtown L.A.

As Los Angeles' answer to the Occupy Wall Street protests, which began in New York City in August 2011, Occupy Los Angeles first took to the streets of L.A. on September 23, 2011, calling for the end of corporate greed, economic injustice, and the breaches of constitutional freedoms in light of the Patriot Act.

The collective began with gatherings at downtown L.A.'s Pershing Square as well as a protest outside a fundraiser for President Barack Obama at West Hollywood's House of Blues. The intentionally leader-less collective, absent of any formal structure or hierarchy and organized through meetings called general assemblies, decided to occupy public spaces, namely in the form of a mass encampment on the lawn of L.A. City Hall, starting on October 1.

The encampment, made up primarily of tents, also doubled as a makeshift village, which included a library, classes, a first aid center, and a food hall.

In an economic climate clouded by The Great Recession, the credit crisis, bank failures and residential real estate foreclosures, the Occupy movement found allies among the politically progressive, some celebrities, and even local elected officials, as the L.A. City Council supported the activists -- the first municipal body to do so.

The protestors' amicable relationship with the city ended in late November when Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa called for an eviction of the Occupy L.A. encampment, citing the welfare of children in the camp, damage to the City Hall lawn and public access to the grounds. The Los Angeles Police Department raided the encampment, resulting in 292 arrests, with a number of the protestors reporting incidents of police brutality.

The grounds of City Hall were closed for the next eight months for the renovation of the damaged lawn costing over $1 million, which included a garden of drought-tolerant native plants.

The Occupy L.A. activists did not return to City Hall in 2012, and instead focused on smaller encampments elsewhere in the city, as well as issues like homelessness and foreclosures, while continuing to hold general assembly meetings at Pershing Square.