Man stabbed during demonstrations
Groups clash at rally focused on mandatory vaccinations mandates
One man was stabbed Saturday during dueling demonstrations in downtown Los Angeles over the contentious issue of mandatory vaccinations against the coronavirus, according to Los Angeles police.
At least 500 demonstrators protesting against mandatory vaccinations and counterprotesters had gathered at the south lawn of Los Angeles City Hall at 2 p.m., said LAPD Lt. Raul Jovel, spokesman for the department.
Around 2:30 p.m., a fight broke out among 20 to 30 protesters and counterprotesters in front of the LAPD headquarters, across the street from City Hall, leading to the stabbing, Jovel said. The victim, a man in his 20s, was stabbed at least once in the chest.
The man was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was in serious condition, LAPD Officer Mike Lopez said.
Witnesses told police the assailant was a man dressed in all black, police said.
The department said no arrests had been made by late afternoon but officers were in the process of taking a large number of reports from those involved in the melee or were witnesses, Jovel said. A number of people were battered in the fight, including one news reporter, he said.
Reporter Frank Stoltze of KPCC and LAist, who said he was assaulted, tweeted about the experience.
“Something happened to me today that’s never happened in 30 yrs of reporting. In LA. @LAist. I was shoved, kicked and my eyeglasses were ripped off of my face by a group of guys at a protest — outside City Hall during an antivax Recall @GavinNewsom Pro Trump rally,” he tweeted.
Police were still sorting out what led to the fight and the role the assailant and victim played in the opposing demonstrations.
Most of the crowds had cleared from the area by 5 p.m.
The organizers of the “choose freedom march” called out against “medical tyranny, mandatory vaccinations and vaccine passports.”
One hour earlier, an opposing group staged a counter-protest at the same location that organizers are calling “no safe space for fascists.”
The opposing rallies came as vaccine mandates continue to proliferate across California.
The Los Angeles City Council voted last week to have the city attorney draw up an ordinance requiring proof of at least partial vaccination to enter many public indoor spaces in the city, including restaurants, bars, gyms, concert venues, movie theaters and even retail establishments.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is gathering advice from experts over the next two weeks on a similar mandate.
On Friday, interim Superintendent Megan Reilly announced that all Los Angeles Unified School District employees will be required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Oct. 15. The district previously was mandating only weekly testing for all students and staffers, regardless of vaccination status. That testing requirement will remain in place.
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday announced a statewide requirement for all teachers and school employees in the state to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination or submit to weekly testing. The Long Beach Unified School District, the second-largest district in Los Angeles County, announced the same policy last week.
Los Angeles County is requiring its employees to get vaccinated, and many large private employers are doing the same.
And AEG, owner of many of the Southland’s major concert venues, said Thursday that fans will have to be vaccinated to attend shows at its facilities, including the Roxy, the El Rey Theatre, the Fonda Theatre, the Shrine Auditorium and the Coachella Music & Arts Festival in Indio.
Southern California News Group staff writer Jonah Valdez and The Associated Press contributed to this story.