LA Mayor Eric Garcetti signed off on the police response to days of unrest across LA following a Ferguson, Missouri, grand jury's decision not to indict a white officer in the shooting death of an unarmed black man.
The Los Angeles Police Department has arrested hundreds for protesting the decision not to prosecute officer Darren Wilson, who shot and killed Michael Brown in August. Protesters have been mostly peaceful, but Garcetti took issue with a tactic to block freeways and major intersections.
"We will not allow people to go into the middle of the streets, stop traffic. That comes with consequences," Garcetti said.
Still, he stressed the right of Americans to peacefully assemble and said space can be provided for "people who want to express their outrage or people who want to express their frustration."
But protesters who have been doing just that criticized the department's tactics, saying they weren't given warning that they'd be arrested Wednesday night -- about 175 were taken into custody, the LAPD said, then released before Thanksgiving dinner the next day -- contrary to what officers told the media.
"Only in Los Angeles can the police department illegally detain and arrest 130 people and then turn around act like they’re doing those same people a favor by proclaiming they’ll be released in time for Thanks(giving) dinner," activist Jasmyne Cannick wrote on her blog Thursday.
In his brief remarks on Ferguson, made at an unrelated event Saturday morning, Garcetti said officers gave warnings, and that "everything is followed to the letter of the law."
News
Top news of the day
The department has changed, Garcetti added, even in the eight years since police and demonstrators clashed during immigration protests in MacArthur Park.
"We're making sure everything is followed to the letter of the law," he said.
He also said tests of body cameras were going well. The LAPD will begin rolling out the new technology next year, in order to better review police-citizen interactions.
Critics of the Michael Brown shooting said a body camera may have given investigators a clearer idea of what happened.
