Breonna Taylor demonstration turns violent in Hollywood

HOLLYWOOD (CNS) — Police Chief Michel Moore said Sunday that three officers were injured — none seriously — during clashes in Hollywood on Saturday night with demonstrators marking the first anniversary of the death of Breonna Taylor, who was fatally shot by police in her Louisville, Kentucky, home.

Moore said 11 people were arrested, nine businesses were vandalized and smoke grenades as well as other projectiles were thrown at police.

“NO justification/excuse for this violence. 3 officers injured (thankfully none serious). Smoke grenades & other projectiles thrown at our people trying to facilitate a Breonna Taylor Protest. 9 businesses vandalized. 11 arrests,” Moore tweeted.

Of the 11 arrests, five people arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer, Moore said. The chief ’s tweet included a video that appeared to show a microwave oven being thrown at officers.

Another video posted to social media shows two protesters pounding the hood of a Los Angeles Police Department vehicle as it stopped with its siren blaring near Sunset Boulevard and Ivar Avenue. The police car then slowly starts to drive off as the protesters climb onto the hood, then abruptly accelerates as one of the protesters tumbles onto the roadway.

Other videos also show broken storefront windows at several businesses and other vandalism in the area.

Some who were at the Saturday demonstrations said on social media that they were deliberately hit by police squad cars and with batons.

“LAPD just ran over two protesters at the Hollywood Breonna Taylor march,” one activist stated beneath a video of the incident.

The LAPD did not immediately respond to a request for comment on those allegations Sunday.

The department’s Hollywood Division later tweeted: “Unacceptable behavior. The group from last night came with the intentions to vandalize businesses and attack Officers. We will not tolerate this in Hollywood. 11 arrests made, 5 of those for Assault with a Deadly Weapon on a Police Officer.”

Hundreds of activists took to the streets in Los Angeles at numerous demonstrations Saturday night, as part of a nationwide day of action in memory of Taylor. Memorials were held in Hollywood at 11:30 a.m. and near the Hollywood Forever Cemetery at 7:30 p.m. A vigil earlier in the day was held near the Sherman Oaks Galleria.

The demonstrations came one year to the date when Taylor, 26, an emergency medical technician in Louisville, was gunned down by police during a botched narcotics raid after officers forced their way into her apartment in the early morning hours of March 13, 2020.

Taylor was not the target of the raid and the suspect police were searching for was not at Taylor’s home.

None of the officers who fired their service weapons — an estimated 32 rounds — faced criminal charges for Taylor’s killing. At least three officers with connections to the raid have been terminated from the Louisville police force.

One day before the anniversary, Kenneth Walker — who was Taylor’s boyfriend, and in the home when police raided it — filed a federal lawsuit against the Louisville Metro Police Department, alleging his constitutional rights were violated.

The officers have said they opened fire after Walker fired one shot at them, thinking they were intruders, according to multiple reports.

Her mother, Tamika Palmer, has filed complaints with the police department’s professional standards unit against six officers for their role in the investigation.