The protests surrounding the 2000 Democratic National Convention occurred from August 14 to August 17, 2000 in the areas immediately next to and in the environs surrounding where the convention took place: the Staples Center and surrounding downtown of Los Angeles, California. Al Gore and Joe Lieberman at the 2000 Democratic National Convention. ... August 14 is the 226th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (227th in leap years), with 139 days remaining. ... August 17 is the 229th day of the year (230th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Staples Center is a multipurpose sports arena in Downtown Los Angeles, California at the Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment District. ... Nickname: City of Angels Location within Los Angeles County in the state of California Coordinates: State California County Los Angeles County Incorporated April 4, 1850 Government  - Type mayor-council  - Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D)  - City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo  - Governing body City Council Area  - City  498. ...

Fear over protests

In the weeks prior to the event, local media (with aid from the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and other authorities), created a scare concerning "violent elements" that were expected to attend the protests, with an eye on anarchists. Citing the property destruction that occurred at the 1999 WTO summit in Seattle, Washington, the LAPD and media created a "Black Scare", targeting anarchist individuals and groups, to the point of requesting the public to report "anyone wearing black", especially those carrying backpacks. This was also aided by printed threats made by anonymous members of the "Bring on the Ruckus Society", a group of anarchists from Eugene, Oregon. Several Eugene-based anarchist also appeared on Los Angeles news stations, including "Rottin'" of the Green Anarchy Collective saying "get ready for a battle" (which may or may not have been taken out of context). It has been suggested that Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners be merged into this article or section. ... It has been suggested that Origins of anarchism and History of anarchism be merged into this article or section. ... Protest activity surrounding the WTO Ministerial Conference of 1999, which was to be the launch of a new millennial round of trade negotiations, occurred on November 30, 1999, when the World Trade Organization (WTO) convened in Seattle, Washington, USA. The negotiations were quickly overshadowed by massive and controversial street protests... Nickname: The Emerald City Location of Seattle in King County and Washington Coordinates: Country United States State Washington County King County Incorporated December 2 1869  - Mayor Greg Nickels Area    - City  142. ... Bring the Ruckus is a revolutionary cadre organization that rejects the loose network model of the anarchists and the vanguard model of the Leninists. ... Nickname: The Emerald City Motto: The Worlds Greatest City of the Arts & Outdoors Coordinates: Country United States State Oregon County Lane Founded 1846 Incorporated 1862  - Mayor Kitty Piercy Area    - City  40. ...

The Lakers' victory riot

The 1999-2000 NBA season ended up being fortuitous for the Los Angeles Lakers, who were in their inaugural year playing out of the Staples Center. On the night of June 19, 2000, the Lakers beat the visiting Indiana Pacers, winning their first Championship in twelve years. While the game took place inside the arena, it was broadcast for free outside on a large video screen. Thousands had gathered to watch the game on the screen and be in the proximity of the arena. The National Basketball Association of the United States and Canada, commonly known as the NBA, is the premier professional basketball league in North America. ... Lakers logo 1966-1991 The Los Angeles Lakers are a professional basketball team, based in Los Angeles, California, who play in the National Basketball Association. ... June 19 is the 170th day of the year (171st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 195 days remaining. ... The Indiana Pacers are a professional basketball team that plays in the National Basketball Association (NBA). ... The 2000 NBA Finals was the championship round of the 1999-2000 National Basketball Association season. ...

As soon as the game ended, the crowd quickly turned violent as violent opportunists began attacking property, making bonfires, beating up a Lincoln limo and two LAPD cars, flipping a news van, and setting fire to a Ford Explorer, as well as looting local businesses. All the local media channels covered the riots live on television, where LAPD officers were seen containing the rioters, but taking some time before actively dispersing the crowd. The LAPD was roundly criticized for not taking a harder approach to the rioters. Part of what influenced the LAPD's hands-off approach was the recent Rampart Scandal that had rocked the department and generated much criticism in the news. Lincoln is an American luxury automobile brand, operated under the Ford Motor Company. ... The Ford Explorer is a mid-size sport utility vehicle sold mostly in North America and built by the Ford Motor Company since 1990. ... The Rampart Division of the Los Angeles Police Department serves the districts to the west and northwest of Downtown Los Angeles, including Echo Park, Pico-Union and Westlake. ...

Nationally embarrassed by its handling of the Lakers' Victory Riot, the city and the LAPD revised its plan for the 2000 Democratic Convention to take place less than two months later.

The incident was featured on Court TV's Most Shocking show for the Wild Riots edition. For the Canadian channel, see CourtTV Canada The Courtroom Television Network, more commonly known as Court TV, is an American cable television network owned by Time Warner that launched on July 1, 1991. ... Most Shocking is a reality television show produced by Nash Entertainment. ...

Birth of Indymedia

The 2000 DNC brought about the birth of the Los Angeles media center for Indymedia.org [1]or Independent Media Center.

It became the fastest independent media collective to go from birth at the 1999 WTO summit in Seattle Wash. (from the need to have independent media report on Police abuse and brutality against protestors) to having Live-Satellite transmission capabilites. A Technical group composed of Hollywood Filmmakers made up of Latino, Jewish, Black, progressive Whites and other ethnicities, M.A.P.A., worked for several months in the technical planning, deployment of a media center.

L.A. indymedia leased the Patriotic Hall[2](Owned and operated by) County of Los Angeles. and converted the entire building into a giant media studio within 24 hrs. of taking possession of the premises. Outfitted with Film-production equipment like Diesel Power Generators, Power Distribution networks, stage lighting, etc. etc. Indymedia went from street protesters with personal video-cams in Seattle to Multi-floor production Studio with Satellite-uplink capabilities in the short span of 6 months. The entire lobby became a public forum with several podiums and large-screen TVs while technical and production crews managed the live media in several upper floors. dozens of field reporters,like bees, delivered media to a triage stage and moved on to editing crews composed of teen-age nerds to Hollywood indie filmmakers.

Political and Media Luminaries were present: Amy Goodman broadcast her daily radio/TV show Democracy Now[3]-- and other social activists like Arianna Huffington [4] several (independent Parties) political candidates, pundits, activists, etc. Amy Goodman on Democracy Now! Amy Goodman (b. ...

This independent media content was broadcast through DishNetwork and DirectTV via Freespeech TV available on both Satellite Television providers. These Capabilities caught the Establishment off-guard which quickly sent the Highway patrol (State Police) to shut down the studio. However, this situation was only temporary since there were no laws in violation, and Indymedia had a valid lease from the County. Other than the dislike from the Police that regular Citizens had, now, the capabilities to broadcast media content as easily as mainstream corporate media, but in a free-speech, independent fashion. The following day, indymedia in true collective spirit, resumed media broadcast activities, Thanks to the quick intervention of the Lawyers Guild which actually oversaw the entire DNC activities in order to provided eye-witness accounts to ensure the prevention of police abuse, brutality and a democratic process. Lawyers Guild members identified themselves with bright green, fluorescent, ball-caps emblazoned with their name and carrying legal pads. Progressive supporters like Ben & Jerry[5] ice cream,(sister company of Breyers) provided thousands of dollars in free product to the indymedia project with a continuously-resupplied Truck in the Patriotic Hall parking lot. This history-making event became known as the DNC-2000 "Shadow Convention"

The anarchists' activities

In addition to the anarchist participation in the protests of the DNC, a group of anarchists, calling themselves the "August Collective", held the North American Anarchist Conference, a three-day conference in the days before the DNC took place. The conference was a convergence of hundreds of anarchists both from North America and abroad, and consisted of workshops, panels, speaking engagements and various other events. The recommended $25 donation granted access to the events for three days, as well as free housing (attendees slept on the floor in the warehouse that hosted the conference) and free meals provided by Food Not Bombs. Logo Food Not Bombs is a loose-knit group of independent collectives, serving free vegan and vegetarian food to others. ...

Due to the local media and LAPD-induced "Black Scare", the organizers of the event took special security measures during preparations. For instance, attendees of the conference had to "check-in" at a local vegetarian cafe called Luna Tierra Sol to get the address of the conference warehouse (a large orange building next to LA River that usually held "Raves"). The motive behind this decision was fear that if the LAPD knew the location of the conference, they would pressure the owner to cancel the rental of the building, a common scenario for modern radical organizers. In addition to this, the actual location of the building was withheld from everyone except the two August Collective members who secured the space. Despite this, the LAPD reportedly installed a video surveillance system on a nearby lamppost days before the conference, and removed it after the DNC has ended. This leak in security is generally believed to be through law enforcement surveillance, such as wire taps.

Despite fear that the LAPD would raid the conference and shut it down, the conference went ahead as scheduled, and other than undercover surveillance, police presence was kept to a minimum. Among other things, many members and attendees suspected that the police would pressure the fire department to deem the nature of sleeping attendees as a fire hazard. However, nothing came of such suspicions.

The Protest Zone

In order to provide security around the Staples Center, Los Angeles Convention Center (which housed print and radio media), and the large media contingent housed outside in a "Media Village", the LAPD, Los Angeles Fire Department and United States Secret Service designed a large secure zone surrounded by a perimeter fence consisting of K-rail barriers with a 10-foot fence rising up from it. The parking lots adjacent to the Staples Center were designated for the large Media Village (consisting of many trailers and media vehicles for the television press), transportation department vehicles, security checkpoints, as well as "VIP Vehicles" to be parked immediately in front of the Staples Center. As a result of this layout, the perimeter fence remained a city block away from the Staples Center, and placed the proposed space for the expected protestors (known as the "Protest Zone") a substantial distance from the event they were protesting. The proposed layout was diagramed and published by The Los Angeles Times. The Los Angeles Convention Center is a convention center in Los Angeles. ... Secret Service redirects here. ... A Jersey barrier was originally developed to divide multiple lanes on a highway by the state of New Jersey in the United States. ... The Los Angeles Times (also L.A. Times) is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California and distributed throughout the Western United States. ...

Upon viewing the proposed layout, the protestors legally challenged the proposed fence route, winning a court judgement in their favor. As a result, the area for the VIP parking lot was moved elsewhere and the perimeter fence was redrawn to create a rectangular protest zone that stopped only a dozen yards short of the Staples Center entrance. This left only one open side of the protest zone for entrance and exit.

The protestors also won permission to set up a stage in the Protest Zone with sound amplification; and time on the stage was divided into hour-long segments and divided among the many groups wishing to bring up issues outside the convention. The LAPD was given permission take the stage and order the Protest Zone cleared if a civil disturbance was imminent.

Rage Against The Machine concert

Rage Against the Machine (RATM) played a free concert in protest of the two-party system. The band had been considering playing a protest concert there since April of that year.^[1] In the months leading up to the convention, cable channel MTV began planning a large, free concert to take place in downtown Los Angeles as a part of its "Choose or Lose" campaign aimed at getting youth out to vote. MTV decided that popular rock group RATM would be the ideal marquee band. However, RATM's aggressive political message combined with the title of its most recent album, The Battle of Los Angeles, caused serious concerns from LA city leaders. MTV's applications for staging the concert were denied by the city and the channel eventually gave up its attempts to plan one. After MTV's attempts failed, a number of protest groups agreed to give their one hour time allotments on the stage in the Protest Zone. RATM was offered prime time slots coinciding with the marquee speaker on the opening night of the convention, then-President Bill Clinton. Rage Against the Machine is a Grammy Award-winning American rock band, noted for their blend of hip hop, hard rock, punk and funk as well as their vocal revolutionary socialist beliefs. ... A two-party system is a form of party system where two major political parties dominate the voting in nearly all elections. ... MTV (Music Television) is an American cable television network headquartered in New York City. ... The Battle of Los Angeles is the third studio album by Rage Against the Machine. ...

Although they were at first required by the City of Los Angeles to perform in a small venue at a considerable distance, early in August a United States district court judge ruled that the City's request was too restrictive and the City subsequently allowed the protests and concert to be held at a site across from the DNC.^[1] The police response was to increase security measures, which included a 12" fence and patrolling by a minimum of 2,000 officers wearing riot gear, as well as additional horses, motorcycles, squad cars and police helicopters.^[2] A police spokesperson said they were "gravely concerned because of security reasons".^[2] Nickname: City of Angels Location within Los Angeles County in the state of California Coordinates: State California County Los Angeles County Incorporated April 4, 1850 Government  - Type mayor-council  - Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D)  - City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo  - Governing body City Council Area  - City  498. ... Map of the boundaries of the United States Courts of Appeals and United States District Courts The United States district courts are the general trial courts of the United States federal court system. ...

During the concert, de la Rocha said to the crowd, "brothers and sisters, our democracy has been hijacked,"^[1] and later also shouted "we have a right to oppose these motherfuckers!"^[3] After the performance, a small group of attendees congregated at the point in the protest area closest to the DNC, facing the police officers.^[3] Reports of what activity they engaged in vary, the most extreme being reports of throwing glass, concrete and water bottles filled with "noxious agents,"^[4] spraying ammonia on police and slingshotting rocks and steel balls.^[5] However, milder reports also arose, one only mentioning "tossing rocks."^[6] The police soon after declared the gathering an unlawful assembly,^[3] shut off the electrical supply, interrupting performing band Ozomatli,^[6] and informed the protestors that they had 20 minutes to disperse on pain of arrest.^[7] Some of the protesters remained, however, including two young men who climbed the fence and waved black flags, who were subsequently shot in the face with pepper spray.^[5] Police then forcibly dispersed the crowd, using tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets.^[5] At least six people were arrested in the incident.^[7] Ammonia is a compound with the formula NH3. ... Unlawful assembly is a legal term to describe a group of people with the mutual intent of deliberate disturbance of the peace. ... Ozomatli is a Latin funk/worldbeat/rock en Español group, formed in 1996 in Los Angeles, known as much for their extremely vocal activist viewpoints as their wide array of musical styles. ... This article discusses various anarchist symbols, including the circle-A and the black flag. ...

The police faced severe and broad criticism for their reaction, with an American Civil Liberties Union spokesperson saying that it was "nothing less than an orchestrated police riot."^[8] Several primary witnesses reported unnecessarily violent actions and police abuses, including firing on reporters,^[6] lawyers and people obeying police commands^[7]. Protesters were trapped between police fronts, and some were beaten by police while trying to obey commands. At one point, four young men were repeatedly beaten by mounted police while trapped against a wall. Police responded that their response was "outstanding" and "clearly disciplined."^[7] The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a major American non-profit organization with headquarters in New York City, whose stated mission is to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.[1] It...

Footage of the protest and ensuing violence, along with an MTV News report on the incident, was included in the Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium DVD. MTV News is the news division of television channel MTV. // Current USA reporters Sway Calloway (usually called Sway) Alisha Davis Kurt Loder John Norris SuChin Pak Gideon Yago Former USA reporters Serena Altschul Chris Connelly Brian McFayden Iann Robinson Tabitha Soren Alison Stewart Nick Zano MTV News UK Tim Kash... Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium is the final album released by the band Rage Against the Machine, on November 25, 2003. ... DVD (commonly known as Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc) is an optical disc storage media format that can be used for data storage, including movies with high video and sound quality. ...

Protests during the convention

On August 14, the opening day of the convention, RATM held a protest concert outside Staples Center at the same time as the main speaker of the night, President Bill Clinton. The crowd in the Protest Zone had swelled into thousands. While RATM did not hesitate to play its politically charged songs and express their opinion of the political system, they stopped short of inciting protests or violence in the Protest Zone. After they finished their set, the Latin funk band Ozomatli took the stage. However, the transition between bands took a particularly long time, nearly half an hour. During this transition period, members of black bloc and similar groups began to gather at the end of the Protest Zone closest to the Staples Arena, and away from the concert crowd that was gathered the opposite end, closer to the entrance to the zone. Approximately an hour after the concert ended, during the beginning of Ozomatli's set, the protesters at the perimeter fence began to concern the LAPD. Rubber bullets, pepper spray, bottles, rocks, and taunts were exchanged between demonstrators and police. One bare-chested protester managed to make it all the way to the top of the fence without his shirt, all the while being sprayed with pepper spray. Ozomatli is a Latin funk/worldbeat/rock en Español group, formed in 1996 in Los Angeles, known as much for their extremely vocal activist viewpoints as their wide array of musical styles. ... Black Bloc at April 12, 2003 anti-war demonstration in Washington DC. A black bloc is an affinity group of masked cowards, that come together during some sort of protest, demonstration, or event involving class struggle, anti-capitalism, or anti-globalization, and wear all black. ...

The LAPD, attempting to gain control of the situation, stopped Ozomatli. From the stage, the police ordered the Protest Zone emptied, giving protesters a fifteen minute warning to disperse. Meanwhile, LAPD riot police on horses began lining up on the open side of the Protest Zone in a tight formation (later, protestors who were caught in the resulting melee complained that this formation prevented people from exiting the area as quickly as required). While most of the concert crowd dispersed, the second crowd that had formed on the Staples Center-side of the Protest Zone remained defiantly.

As soon as the 15 minute period ended, the LAPD rushed the Protest Zone with the mounted riot police. The riot police wielded long batons and the remaining protestors very quickly ran out of the Protest Zone and onto bordering Olympic Boulevard. On Olympic, the foot-based riot police used rubber bullets, stun grenades, beanbag guns and a newly developed pepper spray pellets (designed to disperse pepper spray in a small area in lieu of using tear gas) to disperse the crowd. A slow moving street battle developed on Olympic and other streets in downtown as the protestors would refuse to move, then the LAPD would form firing lines and fire the aforementioned non-lethal weapons into the crowd. Olympic Boulevard is a major arterial road in Los Angeles, California. ... Rubber bullets are rubber-coated projectiles fired from guns. ... A hand grenade is a hand-held bomb, made to be thrown by a soldier. ... The flexible baton round is the trademarked name for a type of non-lethal kinetic projectile; it is more widely known as a beanbag round. ... // Pepper spray (also known as OC spray (from Oleoresin Capsicum), OC gas, or capsicum spray) is a lachrymatory agent (a chemical compound that irritates the eyes to cause tears, pain, and even temporary blindness) that is used in riot control, crowd control and personal self-defense, including defense against dogs...

Complicating matters, as the protest crowd retreated down Olympic, they were met by an advancing, city-approved march in support of homeless rights led by noted Los Angeles homeless activist Ted Hayes. The slow-moving collision slowed the protesters who were retreating and resulting in an entirely new wave of marchers who walked into the volleys of the LAPD. Hayes himself was shot in the chest with a rubber bullet[6]; a color photo of him sprawled on the ground, wearing all white and draped in an American flag, was featured in The Los Angeles Times the following day. (note: As an attendee there, it should be noted that Ted Hayes was forewarned of police activity^{[citation needed]} by some of the persons retreating from the tear gas and foam bullet impacts, and that Ted Hayes essentially "posed" himself^{[citation needed]} as a martyr^{[citation needed]} for the benefit of nearby cameras^{[citation needed]}). Ted Hayes is an American homeless advocate and Republican Party activist. ...

Numerous injuries took place in the melee, including protestors and the press. When one reporter brought up their injury at a press conference, the LAPD created controversy by responding that "Maybe you should have gotten out of the way like you were told." Hundreds of lawsuits were filed. Most were settled out of court.

Notes and citations