From [HERE] A scuffle between Los Angeles Police and local residents erupted Thursday night after police alleged that citizens were vandalizing public property by, no joke, writing on the pavement with chalk. As tensions heightened, police fired rubber bullets into the crowd and arrested eleven individuals, primarily for chalk-related offenses.

Members of Occupy Los Angeles planned an artistic demonstration to coincide with downtown’s monthly Art Walk event. In recent weeks, twelve affiliates of Occupy have been arrested for writing on public streets and sidewalks with chalk. Feeling that their First Amendment rights were being stifled and that they were being targeted for a harmless offense, Occupiers distributed chalk to passersby in order to illustrate that chalking should not be considered a crime.

Police arrived on the scene and began arresting those who used chalk. They contend that the situation became violent when Occupiers threw bottles and rocks at them. However, Occupiers argue that the situation escalated when the crowd watched a young girl forcefully shoved to the ground and arrested for writing with chalk. They cite that the agitators who threw the bottles were not Occupiers, but unaffiliated community members who were fed up with the police’s tactics, and that most Occupiers had left the scene by the time violence occurred.