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Los Angeles Lakers

Dozens arrested after vandalism in Oakland, L.A.

Laura Mandaro
USA TODAY
Los Angeles police officers stand in front of Staples Center following a  Lakers-Grizzlies game on Nov. 26. Several people who were protesting the Ferguson, Mo., grand jury decision marched in front of the arena after the game ended.

Dozens of protesters in Los Angeles and Oakland were arrested late Wednesday during a third night of demonstrations linked to protests over the grand jury decision in Ferguson, Mo.

Police said at least 130 demonstrators who refused to disperse during a protest in Los Angeles were arrested, while 33 people were detained in Oakland following a march that deteriorated into unrest and vandalism.

In Los Angeles, about 200 or 300 largely peaceful demonstrators crisscrossed downtown streets for several hours in the afternoon and evening, but some were later stopped by police in riot gear near the Central Library.

LAPD Lt. Andy Neiman said an unlawful assembly was declared after some protesters began walking in the street and disrupting traffic. They were ordered to disperse but instead re-formed, with police trying to corral them.

Neiman said 130 protesters were arrested, with most appearing calm as they were handcuffed with plastic bands and walked to waiting Sheriff's Department buses.

Oakland Police said 35 people were arrested for a variety of crimes. The arrests came after a march by about 100 people.

Force spokeswoman Johnna Watson said small groups began moving through the streets with some vandalizing property, mainly breaking windows.

Most of the protesters had dispersed but shortly before midnight Watson said that there was still a very small group that police were monitoring.

In Los Angeles on Wednesday, protesters marched to a federal building and police headquarters. They were turned away by lines of police after heading toward the county jail and the Staples Center arena, where the Los Angeles Lakers were playing.

"The system is wrong," demonstrator Jovan Brown told KCAL-TV.

"We're trying to let everybody know if we come together as a people and unite, we can change it."

Earlier in the day, police arrested nine people after they sat in a bus lane alongside the U.S. 101 freeway near downtown Los Angeles.

The California Highway Patrol in Oakland said it had a large number of officers around Oakland "as protesters have begun vandalizing buildings and throwing rocks and bottles at officers."

Demonstrators took to the streets in cities from New York to Los Angeles starting Monday after a grand jury declined to press charges against Darren Wilson, the white police officer who fatally shot an unarmed black teenager in August. Protesters in Los Angeles and Oakland have been trying, sometimes successfully, to block highways and several small businesses have suffered damage and looting.

Police arrested 135 people in Oakland in relation to the protests on Monday and Tuesday.

After two days of violent confrontations with the police in Ferguson, Mo., the ravaged town was relatively quiet Wednesday as snow fell.

Contributing: the Associated Press

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