Demonstrators brawl exterior LA’s Museum of Tolerance after screening of Hamas assault video

LOS ANGELES — Avenue fights erupted between pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian demonstrators exterior Los Angeles’ Museum of Tolerance after a personal screening of video exhibiting the Oct. 7 assault on Israel by Hamas militants.

The Los Angeles Instances reported that 150 folks attended the personal screening of “Bearing Witness to the October seventh Bloodbath,” that included graphic footage captured by Hamas militants’ physique cameras and cellphones and was compiled by the Israel Protection Forces.

Outdoors the museum, demonstrators waved flags and acquired into shouting matches, earlier than dispersing because the occasion ended, the newspaper reported. However an hour later, a small group of demonstrators returned and fistfights broke out.

“Two stories for battery have been taken and will probably be totally investigated,” the Los Angeles Police Division mentioned in a press release Thursday. “At the moment, we do not need suspects in custody regarding the battery, or for every other motive regarding this occasion.”

The video has additionally been screened for world leaders and journalists in different nations, the Instances mentioned.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass referred to as for unity after the Wednesday evening struggle.

“We can’t permit present worldwide rigidity to devolve into this unacceptable violence in our metropolis,” she wrote in a social media put up. “It is a time of immense ache and misery for 1000’s of Angelenos. We should stand collectively.”

The Museum of Tolerance describes itself as the tutorial arm of the Simon Wiesenthal Middle, the Jewish human rights group named for a famend Nazi hunter. A phone message searching for touch upon the conflict was left on the museum’s media workplace.

The brawl got here two days after a pro-Israeli demonstrator died from head accidents following a confrontation with a pro-Palestinian demonstrator in suburban Thousand Oaks, northwest of Los Angeles. The loss of life stays underneath investigation and nobody has been arrested.