The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that Los Angeles erred in arresting a protester at a event known as the Skid Row Walk in 2011. The walk was intended to convene the community to find solutions to homelessness, but many of the homeless thought it was designed to bring homeless out so they could be arrested for low-level crimes, hence the protest and the arrest. (Courthouse News Service, March 11, 2015, by Lorraine Bailey)
The appeals court wrote that while the activists banged on drums and shouted, they had not used “threats, intimidation or unlawful violence,” and so were protected by a California law governing political events. (Los Angeles Times, March 10, 2015, by Maura Dolan and Gale Holland)