LOS ANGELES—People assembled the morning of November 5, 2014 outside Los Angeles City Hall to participate in the worldwide #Anonymous Million Mask March. Signs bearing the messages “We Don’t Want to Live in a World Government for the Corporations” and “Occupy Love” were among the dozens on display.

As the crowd began a brisk march around the block chanting “The People United Will Never Be Divided,” livestreamer @PMBeers remarked on the strange lack of police presence at City Hall.

The march paused at a CBS 2 newsvan on the east side of Los Angeles City Hall, asking why the mainstream media wasn’t interested in covering the #MillionMaskMarch. A woman in bodypaint labeled Goddess Anonymous encouraged everyone to leave the media van: “We’re wasting our time with people who don’t want to hear from us. Just like right here, these buildings, we’re trying to conform them to our wishes, but this not where the masses are. We need to go where the masses are.”

Within seconds, Goddess Anonymous had decided the march was moving to Hollywood Boulevard. Concerns about transportation were answered with “people who need transportation can get there.” The march resumed at a quick pace towards Union Station. The livestream was used to communicate the location change to other citizen journalists and participants who still on their way to the original location.

Participants at the rear of the march repeatedly requested that the procession slow down because people were getting left behind. The self-appointed leaders at the front of the march offered conflicting messages about heading to “the subway” or “Hollywood and La Brae” (actual pronunciation) but locals kept responding with “Hollywood & Highland” as the most reasonable rally point.

By 11:45 AM, the march was underground on the Metro headed to Hollywood. The livestream returned at 12:15 PM showing a crowd marching on the sidewalk of the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The Million Mask March encountered thousands more members of the public in Hollywood than they had in downtown Los Angeles, but the participants were split into multiple small groups due to unequal walking paces. People made requests for water breaks to “Goddess Anonymous,” who dictated when and where the march would stop.

The peaceful protest remained on sidewalks and crosswalks, yet Los Angeles Police Department deployed hundreds of police in riot helmets to line Hollywood Boulevard. Police cruisers blocked entire lanes of traffic and the LAPD told local newsmedia that they were blocking traffic for a “rolling protest.”

A disagreement broke out among participants upon the unfurlment of a “Fuck the Police” banner. “We need to inform the masses but its apparent we need some kind of organized hierarchy,” stated Goddess Anonymous. “We can’t have ‘Fuck the Police’ because we want to unfuck them.”

When others expressed surprise that a single person would attempt control the feelings of the group, Goddess Anonymous declared, “We’ve got to be able to unite. If we have people who want to say ‘Fuck the Police’ they are going to do that. If they piss off the police, they might get arrested.”

Another local Anon explained to Goddess Anonymous, “I’ve been with [the families] every weekend for the last two years in front of police departments begging the murders of their fathers, mothers, grandpas—asking the killers to arrest themselves, with no avail. I’ve been with these people while they’ve cried and told me they don’t have dreams. They don’t believe in the future… So, yes, fuck the police. There is no job that tells you that you have the right to murder, that you have the right to crush the spirits of children, that you have the right to destroy people’s dreams.”

A performer sang “Waiting on the World to Change” accompanied by acoustic guitar as #MillionMaskMarch Los Angeles danced on the Hollywood Walk of Fame outside the Dolby Theater. Signs reading “Occupy Love,” “Anonymous Worldwide Uprising,” “Fuck the Lies!” and “One Solution Revolution” bounced in the air as the protestors moved to the music.

Electro house musician Aoki appeared in social media photos of the #MMM #N5 #OpVendetta in Hollywood.

As the march moved into the open space of the shopping mall at Hollywood & Highland, LAPD officers ringed the protest in pairs. Private security officers also came out to confront the masked masses, who continued dancing and waving signs. By remaining in one place for over a half an hour, the scattered participants were able to reunite, and the march was hundreds strong as it resumed down the Walk of Fame.

@LAPDHollywood tweeted “Please avoid Hollywood Blvd near highland due to protest" around 1:30 PM. LAPD Media Relations advised CBSLA.com “An anti-police brutality protest shut down a stretch of Hollywood Boulevard. More than 100 protesters took part in the march.”

Dozens of police cars and officers in riot helmets bearing guns and billyclubs formed a skirmish line occupying the street as the Million Mask March proceeded along the star-studded sidewalk. Three parallel marches continued down Hollywood—police vehicles crawling at a snail’s pace in the traffic lane, police marching single file in the shoulder, and protestors half a dozen wide ambling down the sidewalk, with underground hip hop blaring.

Citizen journalist @PMBeers expressed her feelings about police: “The fact that riot cops come to peaceful protests and that intimidates people and makes them afraid to express their grievances is insulting. The fact that people equate protesting with getting arrested even if no laws are broken is insulting. It took me two years to realize that yes, in fact, all cops actually are bastards even if they think they are good people doing good things.” #ACAP

Later in the afternoon, the march traveled Sunset Blvd to the CNN Building. Green and black Anonymous flags were joined by upside-down American flags with stars made of corporate logos. “No Law Can Give You Freedom” declared one block-letter sign. “Who Do You Call When the Government Breaks the Law?” asked the sign of a mirror-masked protestor.

An @InLeaguePress reporter noticed a NBC 4 cameraman following the march and answered the “why are you marching?” question: “This is the Million Mask March. We’re here to let people know that in a crowd, we have more rights than by ourselves. They seem to trample us, overpower us, they swarm us, they beat us down like chickens for feed. They’re just trying to murder us. So, we’ve got get to together and protect ourselves. That’s how we do it, by aligning ourselves with this guy [gesturing to an Anonymous mask on a balcony]. He’s watching you, I’m watching you, we’re all watching eachother.”

Asked for his name, he responded, “Sure, I have a name. It’s A-N-O-N, aww, you know how to spell Anonymous.”

Livestream coverage by @PMBeers
www.ustream.tv/channel/pmbeers

Livestream coverage by @inLeaguePress
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/inleague-press

LAPD Blocks Hollywood Blvd for #MillionMaskMarch
Photograph by Mike Chickey
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Anonymous Offers LAPD a Rose #MillionMaskMarch
Photograph by Anthony Martinez
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LAPD Cruisers Line Hollywood Blvd for #MillionMaskMarch
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#MillionMaskMarch Los Angeles in Hollywood
Photographs by Mike Chickey
November 5, 2014

#MillionMaskMarch Los Angeles photographed by @PMBeers (11-05-2014)

#MillionMaskMarch Los Angeles photographed by @PMBeers (11-05-2014)

#MillionMaskMarch Los Angeles photographed by @PMBeers (11-05-2014)

Anonymous portraits by @PMBeers at Million Mask March, Los Angeles, CA (11-05-2014).

#MillionMaskMarch (Hollywood,CA)
Photographs by Mike Chickey
November 5, 2014

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Electro house musician Aoki appeared in social media photos of the #MMM #N5 #OpVendetta in Hollywood.

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#MillionMaskMarch (Hollywood,CA)
Photographs by Mike Chickey
November 5, 2014

#MillionMaskMarch (Hollywood,CA)
Photograph by Mike Chickey
November 5, 2014

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere"
Message from #MillionMaskMarch (Hollywood, CA)
Photographs by Mike Chickey
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#MillionMaskMarch (Hollywood,CA)
Photographs by Mike Chickey
November 5, 2014

#MillionMaskMarch (Hollywood,CA)
Photographs by Mike Chickey
November 5, 2014

#MillionMaskMarch (Hollywood,CA)
Photograph by Mike Chickey
November 5, 2014