LOS ANGELES — Scattered violence and fist fights broke out Sunday between Palestinian supporters and supporters of Israel in the Pico-Robertson area of Los Angeles, where police in riot gear restored order.
One person was arrested for carrying a “spiked flag,” a prohibited item at a public demonstration, Los Angeles Police Department Officer Tony Im told City News Service.
Protesters allegedly block entrance to Synagogue in Los Angeles https://t.co/e9eytkqpqg
— KTLA (@KTLA) June 23, 2024
Video appeared to show at least two pro-Palestinian demonstrators taken from an SUV and detained at a gas station at Pico Boulevard at Doheny Drive with an LAPD officer removing a small child from the back seat.
The confrontation began at 10:52 a.m. Sunday, when Pro-Palestinian demonstrators had gathered in front of the Adas Torah synagogue at 9040 W. Pico Blvd., one block east of Doheny Drive, and were met with counter-demonstrators, some carrying Israeli flags, Im said.
Heated verbal confrontations grew physical shortly thereafter, with several scuffles occurring in streets throughout the neighborhood. Video from the scene showed punches being thrown and some people wielding the handles of protest signs as weapons. Police responded in riot gear.
Im said there were no immediate reports of any injuries.
The violent clashes outside the Adas Torah synagogue in Los Angeles are appalling.
There is no excuse for targeting a house of worship. Such antisemitic hatred has no place in California.
— California Governor (@CAgovernor) June 24, 2024
Mayor Karen Bass issued a statement Sunday night condemning the violence.
“Today’s violence in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood today was abhorrent, and blocking access to a place of worship is unacceptable,” Bass said. “I’ve called on LAPD to provide additional patrols in the Pico-Robertson community as well as outside of houses of worship throughout the city. I’ll be meeting with (interim) Chief (Dominic) Choi tomorrow to further discuss the safety of Angelenos.
“I want to be clear that Los Angeles will not be a harbor for antisemitism and violence. Those responsible for either will be found and held accountable. I will be joining Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky, the Chief Executive Officer of the Jewish Federation Los Angeles Rabbi Noah Farkas and other law enforcement and faith leaders in a community meeting as we talk about steps forward, together.”
Yaroslavsky, whose Fifth District includes the heavily Jewish Pico-Robertson neighborhood, said in a statement, “The antisemitic violence that broke out this afternoon in Pico Robertson would have been completely unacceptable anywhere in Los Angeles, but that it was planned and carried out in front of a synagogue in the heart of LA’s Jewish community should be deeply concerning to us all.
“Everyone has the right to protest, and everyone also has the right to be safe from fear and violence. We deserve answers for how this situation escalated.”
“It doesn’t belong here,” said Rabbi Hertzel Illulian, the founder of the Beverly Hills-based JEM Community Center which provides sports, recreational, and educational activities for youths. “I don’t think the Jewish people would go in front of a mosque and the Christian people would go in front of a mosque to do such a thing. Nobody would accept this.
“But here, when it comes to Jews and Israel, everything is kosher, everything is OK.”
Sergio Ramos, an investigative reporter for the news organization CalMatters, posted on the social platform X that a demonstrator stole his cell phone, “to stop me from filming.”
“I told him I was press and showed him my press creds, he told me `You shouldn’t be there,’ and took my phone,” Ramos wrote.
Ramos also wrote, “Earlier I was filming a pro-Israeli protestor chase and beat a pro-Palestinian protestor in the streets when a man drove his truck through at high speed, almost ramming people. At that moment. a pro-Israeli demonstrator knocked my phone out of my hands to stop me from filming it.”
John Ondrasik, the Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter known by his stage name Five for Fighting, shared video of the violence, “If radical masked mobs were attacking a mosque, chanting death to all Muslims, beating Muslims in the streets. … There would be mass arrests, POTUS would be giving a speech tomorrow, and our media would demand an emergency national conversation on Islamophobia. WeAreNotOK.”
Jewish Federation of Los Angeles issued a statement saying it its Community Security Initiative was “monitoring the situation and working with our local law enforcement partners to make sure our community are kept safe.”
The initiative began in 2012 in an attempt to combat the rising threat of terrorism and works to protect every Jewish school, synagogue, summer camp and organization in Los Angeles County.
