While on a mini-vacation in Los Angeles this weekend, I stumbled upon Occupy Los Angeles.
After watching Occupy San Diego form, grow and slowly dissipate into a fragmented group of demonstrators, it was fascinating to see an Occupy movement that was thriving as much as Los Angeles’.
Occupy Los Angeles is comprised of hundreds of protesters in an encampment outside of City Hall. It’s a small, bustling tent metropolis.
The city of San Diego forced occupiers to remove their tents from outside City Hall, griped that they were urinating on the ground and employs scores of police officers to patrol a largely vacant Civic Center concourse. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles City Council has supported the occupation, the group uses portable bathrooms along the sidewalk, and there was scant police presence on the afternoon I visited.
Here are some images from the occupation, a stark contrast to the near-barren Civic Center concourse in San Diego. I only spent a small amount of time at Occupy LA, but also be sure to check out the Los Angeles Times fantastic photo coverage.
I’m a photojournalist at voiceofsandiego.org. You can contact me directly at sam.hodgson@voiceofsandiego.org or 619.550.5664.
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