I’ve spent the last ten hours at Solidarity park, for Occupy Los Angeles, in Downtown. Many people came prior to 12:01am, including every media station, trucks lined the streets. The park was filled with people to each end, and had a chance to meet with several people who I knew from outside the protest. At around 3:00 a.m. the initial crowd had settled, and many people took to the streets, after midnight.

There are more than two dozen people who made a circle in the middle of the park that are willing to be arrested to be peacefully civil disobedient, and to stand for justice against the economic tricks that are being played on the U.S. government. Their passion and dedication is admirable.

The park officially opens to the public at 5:00 a.m. and being in the park at this time is not participating in civil disobedience, and there is no reason for anyone to be arrested in the park at this time. However that does not mean that this will be upheld, since they have been said that the park is closed as of 12:01am this Monday. The police have previously refrained from enforcing park hours. Citizens have the right to peacefully assemble, it is the responsibility for the police to keep the assembly peaceful, they are peace officers.

At 4:45 a.m. police outfitted with face guards and batons surrounded the south end of the park on 1st street, suddenly. Many people bolted back from the streets. Their message to us was that they want to keep the streets clear for traffic.

At around 5:30 a.m. I left the park and walked around the perimeter. I started towards the north side and headed west two blocks. Both of these roads were closed, with people directing traffic. I walked then back south and found lines of police cars parked in the road. Some blocked off, and in other areas would take up an entire lane and leave one lane open. I headed back east, and found more police cars in the road in a single line. One man I walked by that I greeted, told me he thought it looked beautiful.

“Beauty in things exists merely in the mind which contemplates them.”
— David Hume’s Essays, Moral and Political

This post is written by Braydon Fuller and is available to be copied under the terms of an Attribution-NoDerivs license.

Occupy Los Angeles early tomorrow morning, 12:01am, is facing eviction based on warnings from mayor of Los Angeles Antonio Villaraigosa, and this next week will be a defining moment for the movement.

Media is one of the propaganda tools of the wealthy minority use to influence politics in a democratic state, not touching on the influence over congress. The Citizens United decision that removed the censorship of political broadcasting that are funded by corporation or unions, granting corporations the freedom of speech over politics, like people, is a core of this issue being protested.

Los Angeles is the leading city of media for not only the United States but for the world, there is a great number of artists and public figures here in this city. It’s great to see many of them showing solidarity with the movement, such as; Shepard Fairey, Tom Morello, Bill Maher, Jesse Jackson, Jeff Ross and many others.

Shepard Fairey at Occupy Los Angeles, photo by Mikey Wally available under the terms of an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs license. More photos.

Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine at Occupy Los Angeles, photo by Mikey Wally available under the terms of an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs license. More photos.

Bill Maher at Occupy Los Angeles interview with Clark Davis by OccupyLAMedia available under the terms of an Attribution license.

This post, though only a few words, and is mostly a collection of other works, is available under the terms of an Attribution license by Braydon Fuller unless otherwise noted.