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"We heard some rumblings on Twitter of a BP protest bike tonight, to culminate at the futuristic BP gas station on Robertson and Olympic Blvd. The ride did occur, narrowly cutting around West Hollywood.
Police were busy with the riders all evening, escorting them at different points with patrol cars. They became concerned about traffic and the possible resulting interference to emergency vehicle response times, especially when the riders were in the Hollywood area. Fire department units were notified of the disruption.
Los Angeles Police first encountered the riders as they were spotted on 6th Street heading west, then cutting up Crescent Heights to 3rd before continuing westbound towards their destination at the gas station.
The riders were part of a loosely organized group called Critical Mass, which advocates for bikers rights. They often organize late night rides in various parts of the city that “flood” the streets with bike riders to increase awareness of bike riding and the need for vehicles to share the road.
LAPD dispatchers reported their numbers starting out at about 200, growing to 400 at the gas station.
Many calls came in to the LAPD about the group, with one frustrated driver complaining that some riders around Olympic and Fairfax were hitting their vehicle as they passed, perhaps with their hands as the driver attempted to pull into their path.
The riders apparently didn’t stay at the station on Robertson for very long, as reports indicated they quickly switched back, riding eastbound, possibly stopping at Pan Pacific Park near The Grove shopping center. At that point, one LAPD officer reported to the dispatch center that the group possibly numbered at 1000 or more.
From there, they headed further east, making their way up to Hollywood Blvd and Highland Ave, numbering about 200 riders at that point according to the LAPD.
They then continued east to Western, where they seemed to remain for awhile and possibly dispersing to some degree. Riders were reported going both east and west on Hollywood Blvd after being reported at Western.
Reports are still coming in about riders continuing on their ride at about 11:15pm, further east at Temple and Glendale."
p.s. I love that the news is getting their info from twitter..
i love how they are reporting it as a BP protest..... when in reality it's just a bunch of wanna be gangsters and a minority of good people who follow whatever person has the biggest music trailer through the streets of LA to cause chaos XD
this" Reports are still coming in about riders in another part of Los Angeles at about 11:15pm, further east at Temple and Glendale. That appears to be a different group, called People’s Ride."
Is a really good reason why having CM go to the People's Ride is a good idea, just simply calling itself something else is a good way to take heat off of CM, and by heat, I mean both in the media and the popo.
"No officer, we're not that Critical Mass thing, we're The People's Ride..."
The whole night was intense. Whoever took the ride from Wilshire and Western through parts of West Hollywood, then swooping down into Beverly Hills and West LA to the BP station was a genius. Because we never had popo trouble until that one group broke off and rode up to Hollywood Blvd. I was with a group that took Beverly, Santa Monica and Sunset. We even stopped at red lights. No popo trouble for us, and we had 400 or 500 riders. How many did Hollywood Blvd? Like 200?
The Peoples ride decided to avoid Hollywood altogether and took Fountain to Sunset all the way to Echo Park. The popo trailed us but didn't do anything. By the time we hit downtown LA, we were in the clear.
My issue is the LAPD radio transmission said that the bicycles were "causing traffic problems". Like cars don't cause traffic problems every frickin' day! Yeah some car drivers got angry cause bicycles were in the way. I say, get used to it. We're here and we bring fear to BP!
THE COPS ROLL UP ON ME AT CRITICAL MASS I CRASH INTO A COP CAR AND I RAN AWAY WITH MY BIKE 2 SECONDS LATER GOT TAKLED DOWN LIKE NEVER BEFORE MY HIP AND SHOULDER GOT FUKED UP THEY WERE BEATING ME UP NASTY AND GOT A TICKET RACING AGAINT TRAFFIC