Following a peaceful demonstration in Hollywood Sunday afternoon, LAPD pursued and attempted to corral about 200 demonstrators attempting to leave the Orange & Sunset area where the demonstration was held.

Hundreds of police in riot gear, some on motorcycles, some riding on armored vehicles, others on foot, marching in groups of about a dozen each refused to allow demonstrators to disperse, corralling the group down various sidestreets south of Sunset Blvd.

One demonstrator attempting to return to his car parked down one street was confronted by two baton wielding LAPD members yelling "Get the fuck back! Stay with the group!" The man returned to the group, which was accompanied by members of the National Lawyers Guild.

The afternoon demonstration, which was sponsored by numerous Peace Groups, included performances by Michelle Shocked, a Latino musical group, and speeches by California State Rep. Jackie Goldberg, Congressman John Conyers (D-MI) and several others.

Several skirmishes with police occurred earlier around Sunset & Highland with at least 10 arrests reported.

A major anti-war demonstration will be held next weekend in downtown Los Angeles.

The protestor who was beaten by the police at Sunday's Oscar's protest is
a graduate student in chemistry at UCLA named Ian Craig. Ian's cheekbone near his eye was broken after he was struck by a baton, and he had to be hospitalized.

Ian is currently at the men's central jail and faces a felony charge, listed
as "take/remove firearm from peace officer."

From the commentary at this site, it's clear that several people witnessed
this event. If you did, please contact us so that we can get an affidavit of
what took place. If you did not personally witness the attack, please ask
everyone you know who was at the march, and have any who did contact us at:

oscarprotest@yahoo.com

The most important thing we need right now is video of the events. If you have video of the event, or know someone who videotaped the protest, please contact us as soon as possible.

Thank you,

Friends of Ian
oscarprotest@yahoo.com

I guess if you try to take an officer's gun you might expected to get your ass thumped! Just think if he had been able to get the gun, he would be in the morgue with about a dozen bullet holes!

Well TREX, we know this guy, and there's no way he'd make a grab for a gun. Remember, this is the LAPD that has framed and murdered people
before.

support Ian Craig and all injured anti-war protesters!!

if you are a witness - don't allow yourself to be silenced!! get in touch with others who are organizing to support one another.