TANKS APPEAR AT ANTI-WAR PROTEST IN WESTWOOD:

LOS ANGELES, November 9, 2004 - At 7:50 PM armored tanks showed up at an anti-war protest in front of the federal building in Westwood.

The tanks circled the block twice, the second time parking themselves in the street and directly in front of the area where most of the protesters were gathered.

Enraged, some of the people attempted to block the tanks, but police quickly cleared the street.

The people continued to protest the presence of the tanks, but after about ten minutes the tanks drove off. It is unclear as to why the tanks were deployed to this location.

A National Guard base is just down the street, so perhaps they were just passing through.

But, seriously, tanks?

Note that that link includes a video and a screengrab. So, I'm pretty sure this report is accurate.

Since the L.A. Times doesn't appear to be covering this: Readers.Rep@latimes.com

UPDATE: Did loony libs leave Lonewacko looking loopy? See the comments here. Someone offers a partially satisfactory explanation for this incident. In fact, my joke above might have turned out to have been prophetic. The explanation is these "tanks" were lost. The protest was Tuesday evening, and on Wednesday morning a Veteran's Day memorial was held nearby. The "tanks" apparently took the "Wilshire east" exit when they wanted the "Wilshire west" exit of the 405.

What were (tracked) "tanks" doing on the freeway? Apparently, as the larger photos show, these were not tanks but "Light Armored Vehicles" with tires and thus (apparently) suitable for freeway travel. Although I can't recall having seen any military vehicles travelling on freeways other than military trucks. And, as pointed out on the thread above, they might have been lost or it might just be a useful explanation.

Once again, the Big Media needs to get on this story.

UPDATE 2: For your tin foil collection:

The LAPD (Los Angeles Police Department) is claiming, but only after being hounded by journalists, that the tanks were coming back from an "exercise" -- now here's the thing-- I live one mile from the tank(s) appearance at Westwood and was there at the protest last night -- I have never seen a tank nor have I seen a National Guard unit nor anything resembling an armory in this area and again I have lived here for decades. This is the Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Brentwood (where Ah-nuld lives) area -- i.e., an extremely wealthy area of LA, tanks don't come down our streets lightly (pun intended). This was a deliberate attempt by my neighbor Ah-nuld and Our Crowned Prince George Jr., to put California in its place. And it was like Tiannamen (sp?) Square in a very creepy way. The police and the National Guard should not be working together to suppress dissent, but it appears tanks on the streets of Los Angeles is the first salvo in the new Bush war on our Bill of Rights. So spread the video far and wide because first the Bush Reich will come for the Kali-fornians and then they will come for...you! I was there, I have jpgs -- get the tank video out to everyone NOW before it's too late, and we all have tanks on our streets.

Despite my visceral disgust with the area, even I know the Federal Building is right across from the Veteran's Cemetary, less than a mile from a VA hospital, and less than a mile from a National Guard Armory. There's also some sort of former military base up Veteran or something. That said, as pointed out on these other threads, these LAVs are used by the Marines, but the closest Marine base is at Camp Pendleton, which is 100 miles south of Westwood.