Reporter. Words & photos in @nytimes, @THR, @rollingstone, @CNN, @dailybeast. Send tips/feedback to samuelbraslow@gmail.com
Los Angeles, CA
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Happening now: Students at Micheltorena Elementary School in Silverlake, California, staging a walkout in support of gun control.
Students chant, “Save kids, not guns.”
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Happening now: pro-Palestinian protesters have partially blocked traffic in front of the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood to protest the Oscars.
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Today, a group of anti-maskers protested at Ralph’s and the Century City shopping mall. Lots of angry confrontations with customers and a few physical altercations.
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Mayor of Pasadena, along with his wife, personally taking down the vigil of Anthony McClain,a Black man killed by Pasadena police.
Here’s the Mayor of Pasadena taking down the vigil of Anthony McClain along with his wife. Personally. She also kicked the flowers.
Under his watch as mayor, Pasadena Police murdered him during a traffic stop.
#pasadena #blm #justiceforanthonymcclain #laprotest
@blmpasadena
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UCLA anesthesiologist Dr. Chris Rake, a COVID-19 vaccine mandate opponent, was escorted out of the UCLA medical plaza yesterday and placed on unpaid administrative leave for refusing to get vaccinated or request an exemption.
“I’m willing to go lose everything…even my life.”
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Police manhandle reporter @TinaDesireeBerg, who gets up and continues to report after being thrown to the ground.
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I went to Union Station today to document the Oscars. Instead, I ended up talking with a neighbor, Ash (they/them), who said that the event had prevented them and others with disabilities who live nearby from accessing Union Station for the last month. 🧵
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Thirty minutes in and the Trump “Freedom Rally” in Beverly Hills has attracted its largest crowd to date, by my estimation.
I’ll be covering the rally here, so follow for updates.
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One of the anti-maskers tries engaging with the high schoolers, asking where the Krusty Krab is.
The responses:
- “At the bottom of the ocean.”
- “Valet parking.”
- “Sus.”
- “The Krusty Krab is a metaphor for society.”
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Another angle showing multiple officers pushing me to the ground at tonight’s abortion rights protest downtown even as I complied with police orders
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A group of Santa Monica High seniors mount a counter protest…to protest labor conditions at the Krusty Crab? They are soon joined by Squidward.
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Almost every table full at some restaurants in Beverly Hills on the first night of outdoor dining
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Still more counter protesters show up, this time with “legalize ranch” and “I hate signs” signs.
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The protesters decide to leave, telling the high schoolers that they are “so indoctrinated.” As they go, the seniors tell them not to forget valet parking or legalizing ranch.
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One Protester tells Dr. Pope, who is Black, that the masks are “a form of slavery.” His daughter exclaims, “We have been through slavery, you have not!”
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A violent altercation broke out between a protester and a customer. Didn’t see see the inciting incident. She claims that the customer hit her; in response, she tries to ram him with a shopping cart and shout at him.
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ok twitter, so I filed a Public Records Act request for rejected vanity plates in CA. I spent *days* combing through the documents, which show the applicant's intended meaning and the DMV's comments. My abs still hurt. Bonus plates in thread. @LAmag lamag.com/citythinkblog/reje…
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The anti maskers went next Bloomingdales at Century City Mall. LAPD showed up eventually but did not try to remove them. @Bloomingdales staff seemed unable to force them to leave.
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At UCLA’s medical school graduation, despite a warning not to interrupt the ceremony, a graduate goes off script to deliver a plea for healthcare workers in Gaza.
“We must not be silent accomplices to the devastation in Palestine caused by our nation’s weapons.”
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A woman who said she’s a doctor yells at the anti-maskers that her mother is in the hospital with COVID. A protester responds, “People die. Your father’s not special.”
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One protester tries handing out cards to the middle school students as they leave school. One girl tells them to “kill yourselves.”
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A Black family once owned part of Manhattan Beach. But like with DTLA’s Bunker Hill and Dodger’s Stadium, the city used eminent domain to seize it. Black wealth didn’t disappear; it was stollen. latimes.com/california/story…
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Police repeatedly push a national legal observer to the ground with a baton before firing multiple less lethal rounds at protests at near point-blank range.
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A mall official asks some anti-maskers to leave. A protester asks, “In the 40s, would you ask a group of Black people to leave if they were harassed? Trump supporters are oppressed in America today.”
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A lot of shouting matches like this, where a shopper tells two protesters to leave and they say that this isn’t Communist China.
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Worth noting that physicians at UCLA must get the annual flu vaccine. UCLA medical students are required to be vaccinated for tdap, annual flu, hep b, and mmr.
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As the shopper was checking out, the anti-masker kicked him.
“Some guy take care of him out there, come on patriots.”
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One protester suggests he doesn’t need to wear a mask bc he tested negative. He calls a shopper a “mask Nazi.”
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A student asks one of the protesters if he is a doctor and tries to give him a mask. He asks, “Where’s your data? On Google?”, and then walks away.
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The anti maskers have a little dance party on the floor of @Bloomingdales, dancing to the MAGA version of YMCA.
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The anti-maskers mistake a woman taking a sip of her coffee as a supporter. She quickly puts her mask back on.
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“COVID and flu are two different things,“ Dr. Pope‘s daughter says.
The protesters say that they’re the same thing.
“Well, broadly speaking, yes. Like a cheetah and my house cat are the same thing, and yet different, depending on how you slice it,” Dr. Pope says.
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Here is the moment when one line of officers shove me and a freelance photojournalist into a second line of police. Even as we try to move back, they continued to push aggressively. I fell to the ground and they handcuffed the photojournalist.
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A worker in the foot court asks why the anti-maskers are protesting on private property. The anti-masker tells him that he has a right to be there because he is an American.
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Update: I was sent a screenshot of one of the protesters expressing dismay at the kids’ reactions.
They say that they “expected some kids to join us.” Instead, they were met by kids who “were dressed like they were grooming to become antifa.”
“They gave us middle fingers…”
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An anti-masker enters an 85 Degrees cafe/bakery and says to tell the company that masks are illegal. The customers and employees appeared nonplussed.
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@Bloomingdales staff escort a shopper out after he gets into an argument with multiple protesters
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Some the anti-maskers were not served by foot court employees. One of them confronts malls security and says that they can be arrested for not serving them. “We don’t live in China, we don’t live Iran.”
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BREAKING: County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl confronts anti-masker protesters at her home in Santa Monica. When one protester says that HIV doesn’t cause AIDS, Khuel takes a step forward and points a finger. “You are really crossing a line now. How many people did you lose to AIDS?”
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Today, anti-mask protesters went to the Beverly Connection Target and returned to the Westfield Century City mall. LAPD showed up to the mall in force, escorting some out of the mall. I witnessed no arrests or violence.
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A legal observer tells an officer, “You surrounded her, you guys told them to exit, pushed her into another cop, and then that cop hit her, and you’re arresting her?”
(Note: they’re pronouns are they/them)
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The protesters get into a conversation with a girl and her father, Dr. Blaine Pope, who works (it turns out) in public health. They say they shouldn’t be made to wear masks; Dr. Pope says they are missing the “public” part of “public health.”
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Here, a neighbor lets protesters through a gate. “You can come through, just watch my car.”
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A parent confronts the anti-mask protesters over approaching his son. He tells them they shouldn’t talk to other people’s children.
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Just a note, the fake hedge was put in place as a makeshift barricade. LAPD opted to observe and intervene only when necessary rather than try and expel the anti-maskers.
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Things get heated between a Steve Madden employee and a protester who tries to push through their door, claiming the employee pushed him first.
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On scene in South Central Los Angeles, where a neighborhood man was killed by sheriff’s deputies. A crowd of more than 50 has gathered around the corner from body, behind police tape and LASD in riot gear.
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One parent, apparently recognizing one of the protesters, yells at the group through his window. “Now I know, you’re that idiot!…We’ve had this conversation before.”
The driver says he has also lost somebody to of Covid, a theme of the day.
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At John Adams Middle School/Will Rogers Elementary in Santa Monica, where anti-mask activists are protesting public safety guidelines requiring masks in school.
Multiple SMPD cruisers nearby.
This is the third such protest in Los Angeles that I’ve documented.
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A group of anti-vaccine/anti-vaccine mandate activists protested at Walk to School Day in Beverly Hills today. Protesters followed Mayor Bob Wunderlich from the civic center to Hawthorne Elementary School, engaging in heated exchanges with parents.
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An anti-masker pantomimes dying of COVID to an Ugg’s employee who was saying something to the group.
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Kuehl tells one of the protesters that he “can talk and talk and talk, but you actually do not know what you’re talking about.”
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Dr. Pope asks an anti-masker to explain what “agenda” COVID-19 serves and to name the “they” behind it. The protesters answer that the agenda “is about control” in order to “depopulate the world.”
“For what end?”
“I just told you, it’s about control. It’s about depopulation.”
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Police intervene in an incident where a shopper allegedly pushed an anti-maskers camera.
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Police establish a kettle that seems to be mostly press and legal observers with a handful of protesters. Onlookers chant “Let them go.”
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A woman tells a protester that she has lost 3 family members to covid. The anti-masker says “it probably wasn’t even Covid that killed them.“
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TikTok has taken down the video of a freelance photographer who was forcefully detained by LAPD while covering abortion rights protests, claiming it violates community guidelines.
This goes against TikTok’s own guidelines on newsworthy content. @tiktok_us
Since TikTok took my video down, here is footage of when I was illegally detained by LAPD on 06.24.22
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At some point today, police apparently detained Shiva Bagheri after an altercation with a shopper. According to @peterdelachinga, who witnessed her detention and filmed it, he saw Bagheri walking free after this.
Will follow up with LAPD for details.
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Dr. Pope points out how hospitals reached their breaking point over the winter.
“These scenarios have repeated themselves throughout the world. If you look at what’s going on in India right now, is that fake?“
“I would say so, yeah.”
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At hawthorn elementary school in Beverly Hills, where a small group of anti-maskers has gathered with signs and flyers to protest public safety measures. They are telling passing children not to wear masks.
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An administrator asks the group why they’re not at the Department of Public Health. “To big for you?”
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UCLA Health said in a statement that it was acting in accordance with the state public health order and UC policy.
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The protester reviews footage of the incident with police. It seems to show the shoppers putting their hands over or into her phone. Officers told me that no charges were pressed.
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The protesters, who seem skeptical whether COVID-19 is even a real virus, argue that nobody is actually dying from COVID. Dr. Pope points out that COVID can precipitate a health crisis in vulnerable people.
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Shiva Bagheri, who organized the protest, argues with a kid who tells her that masks work. “You think it does because they told you that, sweetheart...it’s called propaganda.”
In response, the child sticks his tongue out at her.
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Happening now: large crowd in support of abortion rights at Pershing Square in downtown Los Angeles.
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This footage was sent to me by a neighbor who wishes to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals from the anti-maskers.
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On the ground at the final Beverly Hills Freedom Rally before the election. While it was scheduled to start at 3, people began showing up before 12.
Counter protesters plan on showing up.
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Lots of motorcycles kicking up smoke. This guy blew out his tire and the crowd goes insane.
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Protesters surround a group of police officers and yell at them to go home and throw liquids on them. Police use batons and chase protesters down.
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Police just pushed me and another reporter into other police officers resulting in the other reporter’s detention or arrest. I haven’t seen officers this aggressive in a long time.
Police violently handled other members of the press as well.
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At a rally in front of LA City Hall, he said that he refused to even request a medical exemption, making yesterday’s outcome somewhat inevitable.
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Police grab someone and pull him behind the scrimmage line before cuffing him. He isn’t wearing shoes, which makes me wonder if he’s unhoused. The kettle is right by Skid Row.
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Ash made a direct address to Academy members, asking if the ceremony was worth the cost to the community.
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The protesters tell me that they plan on going to County Supervisor Shiela Khuel’s house next—a frequent target of their protests.
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“My grandmother died of COVID,” the neighbor filming says.
A protester, Ashley, rolls his eyes and asks how old she was.
“She was 86.”
“That’s a good life,” the anti-masker tells him.
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The neighbor asks Ashley what his training is in.
“Chemical engineering.”
Ashley says he is currently unemployed “partially” because of Supervisor Kuehl, but does not explain why.
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Police aimed at me. Less lethal round literally hits my phone out of my hands (credit to apple, it kept recording)
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Rake previously came under criticism for speaking at an anti-vaccine rally in Santa Monica in September. dailybruin.com/2021/09/16/uc…
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The conversation between Dr. Pope and the protesters went on for some time. I will excerpt portions of it at the end.
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SURPRISE ACTION: Protesters with the activist organization Black Future Project made flyers for a protest at DA Jackie Lacey’s house, but in a switch, the group is now at LAPD Chief Michael Moore’s house to stage a Die-In.
Follow thread for updates.
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Content warning: sexually violent language.
Shiva Bagheri, founder of the Beverly Hills Freedom Rally, says that “this is rape…they’re trying to rape our children with this poison. They’re going to rape their lives away.”
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After making another arrest, police declare an unlawful assembly and instruct us the exit “north on Winston” (not a north/south street) then say to exit “north on Main.” When we try to exit north, police seem confused and direct us down Winston.
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I’ve covered multiple protests in front of Supervisor Kuehl’s house. This is the first time she has engaged with the protesters as far as I’m aware.
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The protesters are marching down Imperial Highway trailed by a pretty long caravan (and some cars caught behind)
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