Police crack down on unruly Rams fans in downtown L.A.
Police issued a dispersal order and shot projectiles after some revelers who gathered in downtown Los Angeles to celebrate the Rams’ Super Bowl win grew unruly.
Many of the hundreds of fans who converged near L.A. Live by 8 p.m., including Michael Gillette, 31, and his partner, just wanted to celebrate with the crowd. “It’s a wild night. We are glad we are here,” he said. “In L.A., we aren’t tearing things down, we are building things back.”
But at 11th and Hope streets just before 9 p.m., police cordoned off the area as fans shot off fireworks in the middle of the intersection. Multiple people climbed nearby street lights.
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Police on bullhorns told people in the area that they were “risking serious injury” if they stayed, and declared an unlawful assembly on a loudspeaker from a truck. Some revelers left immediately, while others taunted officers, throwing glass bottles in their direction. Police fired projectiles at people as the crowd fled.
“We’re just going to walk this way like we’re normal citizens,” one woman said to her scared friend as they came out of a bar and walked hurriedly away from the police skirmish line.
By 10 p.m., the L.A. Live crowd had relocated to Grand and 12th streets. People threw water bottles and traffic cones, and several climbed atop parked cars. Some sprayed graffiti onto buildings and signs.
Dozens of people stood on a Metro bus — graffitied with the words “Go Rams” — holding traffic cones and a detour sign. The bus driver was still inside.
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