LOS ANGELES — An abortion rights protest had been going on peacefully for hours in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday when a "help call" suddenly went out over police radios about 9 p.m.
The SOS didn't come from Los Angeles police officers, but a small group of federal officers with the Department of Homeland Security. They claimed, according to a statement by the LAPD, that they had come "under attack" from protesters while in their patrol cars near the intersection of Fifth and Hill streets — about a half-mile away from the federal courthouse where the protest had begun and where federal officers have jurisdiction.
Video showed protesters banging on the officers' cars and taunting them in a circle, and the officers shoving protesters and screaming at them to "back up."
