Why California's protest law is flawed and the consequences to protesters
Imperfect Paradise
LAist Studios
4.5 • 535 Ratings
🗓️ 19 September 2025
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
After the George Floyd protests of 2020, California took steps to rein in violent policing of protests by passing laws restricting how law enforcement uses less-lethal weapons, like tasers and rubber bullets. But high profile protests in 2024 and 2025 – including this summer’s protests against the ICE raids in Los Angeles – have revealed major flaws in those laws. LAist Senior Editor Jared Bennett joins us to talk about an investigation around these flaws and what they mean for people exercising their right to free speech.
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Transcript
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| 0:32.0 | This is In Perfect Paradise. |
| 0:33.7 | I'm Antonia Selejido. |
| 0:36.7 | One of the biggest stories this summer were the ice rates that swept across Southern California |
| 0:41.1 | and the protests in response to them. |
| 0:44.3 | We, of course, covered these events on this show with civics and democracy correspondent Frank Stoltz. |
| 0:49.3 | There was another protest happening outside what's known as the Metropolitan Detention Center. |
| 0:55.0 | That was about a couple of hundred people who were facing off with ICE agents. |
| 1:01.4 | That's one of the few areas where we saw actual clashes between the protesters and ICE. |
| 1:10.9 | Videos and witness accounts coming out of the protests showing law enforcement using what's |
| 1:15.9 | called less lethal weapons like tasers and pepper spray against protesters. |
| 1:21.9 | One journalist was even shot by a rubber bullet on live TV. |
| 1:25.4 | The LAPD moving in on horseback, firing rubber bullets at protesters, moving them on through |
| 1:31.9 | the heart of L.A. |
| 1:34.4 | It was a moment of a lot of chaos and fear in the city as we saw these events carry out. |
| 1:43.8 | Here at Alias, we conducted an investigation that has found |
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