Tensions rose downtown late Saturday afternoon as Los Angeles Police Department officers on horseback pushed back hundreds of protesters from the federal building, charged into the crowd on horseback, fired tear gas canisters and shot less lethal munitions.
The LAPD issued a dispersal order around 4 p.m., saying some protesters were “throwing rocks, bricks, bottles and other objects,” but few in the crowd seemed to realize the order had been given. Within minutes, police had cleared the area and moved people away from the troops.
Rebecca Ellis covers Los Angeles County government for the Los Angeles Times. Previously, she covered Portland city government for Oregon Public Broadcasting. Before OPB, Ellis wrote for the Miami Herald, freelanced for the Providence Journal and reported as a Kroc fellow at NPR in Washington, D.C. She graduated from Brown University in 2018. Ellis was a finalist for the Livingston Awards in 2022 for her investigation into abuses within Portland’s private security industry and in 2024 for an investigation into sexual abuse inside L.A. County’s juvenile halls.
Ruben Vives is a general assignment reporter for the Los Angeles Times. A native of Guatemala, he got his start in journalism by writing for The Times’ Homicide Report in 2007. He helped uncover the financial corruption in the city of Bell that led to criminal charges against eight city officials. The 2010 investigative series won the Pulitzer Prize for public service and other prestigious awards.
Mark E. Potts is the senior editor for video at the Los Angeles Times. A native of Enid, Okla., Potts graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a master’s degree in broadcast journalism. He has created and edited video for DreamWorks, YouTube, Microsoft, Sony and BET.
