Although LAPD promised to arrest chalk vandals once again, a party atmosphere prevailed Thursday night at downtown Los Angeles' Art Walk.
Los Angeles Police Department Capt. Horace Frank, of the Central Division, said earlier in the day that his officers plan to enforce the law if they see it being broken.
"It's a violation of the law, it's vandalism, and we're going to make an arrest," he said, adding that he has received frequent emails from downtown property owners complaining about damage from chalk.
"My BlackBerry is burning up with pictures of businesses being vandalized," he said.
Odd that the LAPD hasn't shared any photographs of businesses that were vandalized with the water-soluable chalk.
Occupiers, of course, disagree that chalking is illegal and point out that other groups have gotten the city's permission to use chalk in the past. Not that the city's denial and threats could have done anything to stop their protest Thursday night. Supporters from the Bay Area, Cindy Sheehan and Code Pink were also on hand to lend their support.
At the July event, Occupy L.A. activists armed with chalk scrawled slogans and drawings on the sidewalks to to protest downtown gentrification, which has pushed out some of the area’s poorer residents. Hundreds of Los Angeles Police Department officers clashed with the protesters and fired "less-than-lethal" projectiles into the crowd. Four officers were hurt, and 15 people were arrested.
There were three members of Occupy Oakland detained, apparently because they drew the picture below with chalk:
Two of the Occupiers were released, and the other was held because of an outstanding warrant, according to Occupy sources on Twitter.
Other than that, it seems a good time was had by all, despite the heavy police presence in the area.
