Pro-Trump demonstrators and counter-protesters from Black Lives Matter squared off on the street in Tujunga Friday, leading police to fire rubber bullets, officials said.
Police arrived to the area of Foothill Boulevard, near Lowell Avenue around 3 p.m. to disperse a large crowd, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
Aerial video from Sky5 showed several protesters staring each other down and engaging in skirmishes around 5 p.m.
“As the Trump supporters were demonstrating on the sidewalk, approximately 200 counter-protesters arrived and both groups began to clash with one another,” the department said in a news release. “At some point during this altercation, a counter-protester struck a Trump supporter with a pipe.”
While officers were attempting to arrest the person for an assault with a deadly weapon, a second counter-protester began to interfere, police said. Ultimately both were taken into custody.
An unlawful assembly was declared and both groups were advised to disperse, according to the department.
“Protesters then started throwing objects at officers trying to clear the area which resulted in the use of less-lethal munitions,” the department said.
Both groups started to disperse around 6 p.m.
A woman who identified herself only as Randi said she helped organize the event from the pro-Trump side. She said a couple of veterans and others who live in the area have been setting up with Blue Lives Matter signs and Trump flags every Friday for several months, and it had remained non-violent until recently.
“Once it got a lot of publicity, other supposed Trump groups starting claiming it was their event, showing up and starting to fight,” she said. “We don’t know who a lot of these people are. Our goal is to get the egos out of the way.”
She said the group tried obtaining permits for Friday’s event but had not obtained them.
