From [HERE] In the wake of Thursday's chaotic Art Walk in Downtown Los Angeles, one Angeleno has launched a Change.org petition asking officials to investigate the Los Angeles Police Department's use of force during the event. Directed at Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, California Governor Jerry Brown and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, the human rights petition says the "LAPD used excessive force on the citizens of Los Angeles creating an unsafe environment and violating the civil rights of the citizens they are sworn to protect resulting in a tactical alert being issued for the downtown area" during the monthly Art Walk. Occupy L.A. planned and executed their "Chalk Walk" Thursday night, where activists protested via sidewalk chalk messaging and drawing in various parts of Downtown, including in front of City Hall LAPD Headquarters.
Clad in riot gear and armed with stinger balls, around 140 LAPD officers confronted "unruly" Occupiers, some of whom the department says attacked officers with rocks and bottles. Protesters were reportedly herded from the sidewalk to the street then back to the sidewalk and chastised for not dispersing.
The petition, created by activist Todd Downing of Los Angeles, states the LAPD has violated the civil rights of its citizens and put lives and property in jeopardy. We call for an independent investigation in to LAPD's actions the night of July 12,2012. LAPD escalated a peaceful event jeopardizing lives and property. That LAPD did not follow their own policy on use of force. LAPD had no grounds for their actions. Additionally, the petition urges "all citizens who were endangered, injured, suffered property damage, or were arrested to file a formal complaint with the LAPD" here.