Nearly 200 Arrested in LA on Second Day of Ferguson Demonstrations

Police boxed in about 30 protesters at 9th Street and Flower Street, with all being arrested. At Temple Street and Broadway up to 50 demonstrators were arrested, with some resisting arrest.

Nearly 200 people were arrested in Los Angeles as protests Tuesday continued for a second day over the Ferguson, Missouri grand jury decision to not file charges against a police officer who shot and killed an unarmed teenager.

Police boxed in about 30 protesters at Ninth and Flower streets, with all being arrested. At Temple Street and Broadway up to 50 demonstrators were arrested, with some resisting arrest. There were no injuries at either location.

The arrests in connection with Tuesday's protests included 167 for disturbing the peace, one for felony assault on a police officer and 15 curfew violations. Earlier estimates placed the number of arrests at nearly 100, but LAPD Chief Charlie Beck provided updated numbers at a morning news conference.

All have been cooperative, and are being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center, LAPD Lt. Andy Neiman said. Some of those participating in the protests had brought weapons with them to what was meant to be a peaceful demonstration, with Mace spray and clubs among the items seized, Neiman said.

"There are certain individuals who feel the need to have weapons with them, makeshift homemade weapons, and it's really unfortunate," he said. "It detracts from this whole message."

Protests grew tense late Tuesday as a group threw debris onto the Hollywood (101) Freeway in downtown LA, bringing traffic to a halt and injuring an officer when a frozen water bottle was hurled at his head.

At least four people who attempted to get on the freeway were arrested by California Highway Patrol officers.

The demonstrations continued for a second day against a grand jury decision in Ferguson, Missouri not to indict a police officer who shot Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, on Aug. 9, sparking months of protests in the St. Louis suburb.

Several hundred protesters marched across Los Angeles, engaging officers in a standoff at a freeway ramp and surrounding a CHP patrol car in a tense scene in South LA.

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The protest started Tuesday afternoon at Leimert Park. Several hundred protesters marched through South LA.

They circled an intersection in crosswalks before moving into the center of the road and bringing traffic to a halt.

The group briefly staged a sit-in at the MLK-Western intersection, with one person holding a sign reading "Shut it down."

They marched past USC and under a freeway where a line of police blocked their passage.

The protests remained peaceful except for a few tense moments when protesters jumped on patrol cars before officers ordered them to move on.

Police made no arrests.

Some protesters carried signs reading, "Not Anti-Cop; Anti-Brutality" and "Arrest Darren Wilson."

The march followed protests Monday night in cities across the country. In Ferguson overnight, police made more than 80 arrests.

Beck said earlier Tuesday that only three people were arrested in protests across LA on Monday.

There were no injuries and no property damage during hourslong demonstrations, Beck said.

Police watched as protesters marched through streets, blocked intersections and entered freeways. Officers fired foam rounds to keep demonstrators from returning to a freeway, Beck said.

The three arrests were for assaulting an officer, failure to disperse and public drunkenness, Beck said.

The unrest in Ferguson on Monday night reminded Beck of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, touched off by the verdict in the Rodney King beating case.

"I was extremely worried that people would lose their lives," Beck said. "That was somewhat reminiscent of 1992 when you see folks looting and fires, police cars being vandalized and an extreme degree of tension."

Jonathan Lloyd and Annette Arreola contributed to this report.

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