RUNNING HEAD: Watts and the 1965 Los Angeles riots
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police evacuated the area the pent-up fury unleashed. Cars driving down Avalon
Boulevard were stoned. Encounters with police or even fire units invariably ended up in
violent confrontations. Although the riot area was cordoned-off, during the night of
Wednesday, August 11 the riot flared up for a good number of hours before dying off
toward dawn. The violent clashes produced many wounded, some of them police officers,
some riot participants and some passer-bys. The next day, although the LAPD chief,
William Parks, triumphantly announced the end of the “violent incidents,” the riot
continued. With the on-set of the night the clashes became a full-fledged rebellion,
spreading up North, toward the downtown area. Stores and official buildings were broken
into, looted and frequently burned. The scenario repeated itself on Friday, August 13 and
Saturday, August 14, despite of the fact that thousands of National Guardsmen were
deployed on Friday night to impose a curfew in a 50 mile area south of the Los Angeles
downtown and East of the international airport.
When the situation was finally brought under control, the statistics were
“staggering,” as the McCone Commision Report (charged with inquiring into the causes
of the events) put it. According to this document: “There were 34 persons killed and
1,032 reported injuries, including 90 Los Angeles police officers, 136 firemen, 10
national guardsmen, 23 persons from other governmental agencies, and 773 civilians. 118
of the injuries resulted from gunshot wounds. Of the 34 killed, one was a fireman, one
was a deputy sheriff, and one a Long Beach policeman. […] It has been estimated that the
loss of property attributable to the riots was over $40 million
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. More than 600 buildings
were damaged by burning and looting. Of this number, more than 200 were totally
destroyed by fire.”
Convention