U.S. - Ferguson police shooting - LAPD: Arrested protesters to be released by dinner

By Associated Press



Demonstrators who can’t make bail after being arrested during Los Angeles protests linked to the Ferguson police shooting will be released in time for Thanksgiving dinner, police said Thursday. About 90 people remained in jail after being arrested late Wednesday, and those who weren’t able to pay the $500 bail were to be released on their own recognizance, LAPD Commander Andrew Smith said. A total of 338 people were arrested over three days during protests in Los Angeles, including 145 on Wednesday. Those with outstanding warrants or who were arrested on suspicion of a felony will not be released, but those taken in for disturbing the peace and failure to disperse — both misdemeanors — will be freed, Smith said. Many of them would have otherwise remained in custody until Monday, when courts reopen after the holiday weekend. “We have the legal right to keep them until Monday but it’s the holidays,” Smith said. Another 35 people were arrested in Oakland on Wednesday following a march that deteriorated into vandalism. On Monday and Tuesday, some demonstrators in Oakland vandalized businesses and blocked freeways. During the demonstration Wednesday in Los Angeles, people marched to a federal building and police headquarters but were turned away by police after heading toward the county jail and then the Staples Center arena. Nine people were arrested for sitting in a bus lane on U.S. 101 near downtown during one of the busiest driving days of the year.