Police Shut Down A Los Angeles Photo Walk After Mistaking It For A Rave
Feb 2, 2015
Tiffany Mueller
Tiffany Mueller is a photographer and content strategist based in Hawi, Hawaii. Her work has been shared by top publications like The New York Times, Adobe, and others.
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When most people think of photo walks, they probably imagine a small group of photographers casually strolling down the sidewalk snapping photos of random things along the way. Then there’s FlaskMob, a group of photographers, models, and artists who do photo walks a little bit differently. For example, the photo walk the group organized near downtown Los Angeles on Saturday, was complete with their own mobile DJ, fireworks, steel wool spinners, smoke bombs, and booze. The organizers were expecting approximately 300 participants to show up; however, as word spread via social media, that number quickly grew to about 2000.
Needless to say, the police, who were unaware the event would be taking place, showed up in full force as soon as they caught wind of it. In their initial reports, the police reported the assembly to be a rave which had grown out of control. Another report by the local CBS affiliate called the group a “huge protest”. After speaking with some of the participants, the police eventually learned the event was actually a photo walk. Still, with no permits and large amounts of people lighting playing with fire (though, to be clear, no damage was reported), the event was destined to be shutdown.
We made the news! #FlaskMob pic.twitter.com/VRijasJbBV
— playdoe (@djplaydoe) February 1, 2015
One photographer in attendance of the event made a post on Reddit calling the event “a complete disaster” and commending the LAPD on doing “a hell of a job overreacting.” The post continued to explain that the assembly was corralled into an alley before being surrounded by officers who forced them to disperse by allowing 10 people to exit the alley at a time. No arrests were made, but, the Redditor claims at one point, an officer “pulled out a shotgun, cocked it, and pointed it at the crowd.”
Last night was a movie #FlaskMob pic.twitter.com/aJ9SecNEI7
— playdoe (@djplaydoe) February 1, 2015
As most of you know, tensions have been very high between police forces and the general public in the past year, especially in large gatherings and assemblies. Some attendees of Saturday’s photo walk are saying the police used unnecessary force and intimidation tactics in order to break up the crowd. To that end, I’m sure the police are saying the group should have notified them of the event ahead of time, acquired the appropriate permits, and not have been lighting things on fire in the street.
[ via Reddit ]
Tiffany Mueller
Tiffany Mueller is a photographer and content strategist based in Hawi, Hawaii. Her work has been shared by top publications like The New York Times, Adobe, and others.
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10 responses to “Police Shut Down A Los Angeles Photo Walk After Mistaking It For A Rave”
Welcome to the police state.
Oh for crying out loud…I am SOOOOOO F****** tired of hearing crap like that. You have NO idea of what a REAL police state consists.
Good grammar, Sean.
Really, nothing intelligent to say? Sorry, I did realize that this was an English Comp class and grammar was part of the grade.
Because ravers carry that many cameras..duh..were they all wearing candy necklaces and fuzzy boots?
creativity… step by step freedomless…
Let’s be real here people. about 2000 people marching down the streets. There is fire. You don’t know why they’re here. This is a bit alarming considering the actual context of racial conflicts.
I don’t know in LA, but here in Montreal, there are rules about reporting a massive crowd movement before they occur. Obviously, it was not done.
I am not laying a blame. All I am saying is that the police were well within their rights to shut it down. Could they have been more comprehensive? Absolutely. But don’t talk to me about police state. This is far from it. There have been obvious cases reported; this is not one.
Doesn’t matter what the point of the gathering was, there was a gathering that did not take the proper precautions. Permits are not so police can “monitor” you. They are required so that police can be in attendance in case something goes wrong (ie. some outsiders decide to harass the group, pickpockets start taking camera equipment, someone is injured, etc.).
The police deemed the situation a threat to the safety of the people in attendance, a disturbance to other citizens (whom they have the responsibility to, as well), and not obeying the law (which if you don’t like, you can try to change… it’s a democracy), so they shut it down in a peaceful and orderly fashion.
I’m not an authoritarian or a police apologist, but the right to assemble is not carte blanche. If you are going to have that many people gather, you have a responsibility to ensure their safety and a responsibility to the non-participating citizens around the area, and that is why you are required to have permits. The terms of the permits also require you to meet certain safety and sanitation criteria when you gather with that many people.
If nothing else, having permits is the neighborly thing to do. Obviously some of the people in the area were disturbed by the group.
When did we photographers become such entitled a-holes?
Well said, Jim!
spot on.