crowd

Bridgette Covelli arrived near Los Angeles City Hall for last Saturday’s “No Kings” festivities to find what she described as a peaceful scene: people chanting, dancing, holding signs. No one was arguing with the police, as far as she could tell.

Enforcement of the city’s curfew wouldn’t begin for hours. But seemingly out of nowhere, Covelli said, officers began to fire rubber bullets and launch smoke bombs into the crowd, which had gathered to protest the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement campaign.

“No dispersal order. Nothing at all,” she said. “We were doing everything right. There was no aggression toward them.”

Covelli, 23, grabbed an electric bike and turned up 3rd Street, where another line of police blocked parts of the roadway. She felt a shock of pain in her arm as she fell from the bike and crashed to the sidewalk.

In a daze, she realized she was bleeding after being struck by a hard-foam projectile shot by an unidentified LAPD officer.

The young tattoo artist was hospitalized with injuries that included a fractured forearm, which has left her unable to work.

“I haven’t been able to draw. I can’t even brush my teeth correctly,” she said.

Bridgette Covelli says she was shot with a less-lethal round by law enforcement last week during the ‘No Kings Day’ protest in downtown Los Angeles, which resulted in a fractured arm that has put her out of work as a tattoo artist.

(Luke Johnson / Los Angeles Times)

She is among the demonstrators and journalists hurt this month after being targeted by LAPD officers with foam projectiles, tear gas, flash-bang grenades and paintball-like weapons that waft pepper spray into the air.

Despite years of costly lawsuits, oversight measures and promises by leaders to rein in indiscriminate use of force during protests, the LAPD once again faces sharp criticism and litigation over tactics used during the past two weeks.

In a news conference at police headquarters last week, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell promised “a comprehensive review when this is all done,” while also defending officers he said were dealing with “a very chaotic, dynamic situation.”

Police officials said force was used only after a group of agitators began pelting officers with bottles, fireworks and other objects. At least a dozen police injuries occurred during confrontations, including one instance in which a protester drove a motorcycle into a line of officers. L.A. County prosecutors have charged several defendants with assault for attacks on law enforcement.

Behind the scenes, according to communications reviewed by The Times and multiple sources who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, tensions sometimes ran high between LAPD commanders and City Hall officials, who pushed for restraint in the early hours of the protests downtown.

Bridgette Covelli holds a 40mm foam round like the type fired by Los Angeles police during a protest she and thousands of others attended last weekend in opposition to the Trump administration’s policies.

(Luke Johnson / Los Angeles Times)

On June 6 — the Friday that the demonstrations began — communication records show Mayor Karen Bass made calls to LAPD Capt. Raul Jovel, the incident commander, and to McDonnell. In the days that followed, sources said Bass or members of her senior staff were a constant presence at a command post in Elysian Park, from where local and federal officials were monitoring the on-the-ground developments.

Some LAPD officials have privately grumbled about not being allowed to make arrests sooner, before protesters poured into downtown. Although mostly peaceful, a handful of those who flooded the streets vandalized shops, vehicles and other property. LAPD leaders have also pointed out improvements from past years, including restrictions on the use of bean-bag shotguns for crowd control and efforts to more quickly release people who were arrested.

But among longtime LAPD observers, the latest protest response is widely seen as another step backward. After paying out millions over the last decade for protest-related lawsuits, the city now stares down another series of expensive court battles.

“City leaders like Mayor Bass [are] conveniently saying, ‘Oh this is Trump’s fault, this is the Feds’ fault.’ No, take a look at your own force,” said longtime civil rights attorney James DeSimone, who filed several excessive force government claims against the city and the county in recent days.

A spokesperson for Bass didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

McDonnell — a member of the LAPD command staff during an aggressive police crackdown on immigrant rights demonstrators on May Day in 2007 — found himself on the defensive during an appearance before the City Council last week, when he faced questions about readiness and whether more could have been done to prevent property damage.

“We’ll look and see, are there training issues, are there tactics [issues], are there less-lethal issues that need to be addressed,” McDonnell told reporters a few days later.

One of the most potentially embarrassing incidents occurred during the “No Kings” rally Saturday, when LAPD officers could be heard on a public radio channel saying they were taking friendly fire from L.A. County sheriff’s deputies shooting less-lethal rounds.

Three LAPD sources not authorized to speak publicly confirmed the incident occurred. A spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Department said in a statement that the agency “has not received reports of any ‘friendly fire’ incidents.”

Motorists encountered mounted LAPD officers as curfew enforcement began near Temple Street on June 10.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Some protesters allege LAPD officers deliberately targeted individuals who posed no threat.

Shakeer Rahman, a civil rights attorney and community organizer with the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition, said he was monitoring a demonstration snaking past LAPD headquarters on June 8 when he witnessed two colleagues who were demanding to know an officer’s badge number get shot with a 40mm less-lethal launcher at close range.

In a recording he shared of the incident, Rahman can be heard confronting the officer, who threatens to fire as he paces back and forth on an elevated platform.

“I’m gonna pop you right now, because you’re taking away my focus,” the officer is heard saying before raising his weapon over the glass partition that separated them and firing two foam rounds at Rahman, nearly striking him in his groin.

“It’s an officer who doesn’t want to be questioned and knows he can get away with firing these shots,” said Rahman, who noted a 2021 court injunction bans the use of 40mm launchers in most crowd-control situations.

Later on June 8, as clashes between officers and protesters intensified in other parts of downtown, department leaders authorized the use of tear gas against a crowd — a common practice among other agencies, but one that the LAPD hasn’t used in decades.

“There was a need under these circumstances to deploy it when officers started taking being assaulted by commercial fireworks, some of those with shrapnel in them,” McDonnell said to The Times. “It’s a different day, and we use the tools we are able to access.”

City and state leaders arguing against Trump’s deployment of soldiers to L.A. have made the case that the LAPD is better positioned to handle demonstrations than federal forces. They say local cops train regularly on tactics beneficial to crowd control, including de-escalation, and know the downtown terrain where most demonstrations occur.

Police prepare to fire less-lethal projectiles at protesters after an unlawful assembly was declared from the “No Kings” protest on Temple Street in downtown Los Angeles on June 14.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

But numerous protesters who spoke with The Times said they felt the LAPD officers were quicker to use violence than they have been at any point in recent years.

Raphael Mamoun, 36, followed the June 8 march from City Hall to the federal Metropolitan Detention Center on Alameda Street. Mamoun, who works in digital security, said his group eventually merged with other demonstrators and wound up bottlenecked by LAPD near the intersection of Temple and Alameda, where a stalemate with LAPD officers ensued.

After roughly an hour, he said, chaos erupted without warning.

“I don’t know if they made any announcement, any dispersal order, but basically you had like a line of mounted police coming behind the line of cops that were on foot and then they just started charging, moving forward super fast, pushing people, screaming at people, shooting rubber bullets,” he said.

Mamoun’s complaints echoed those of other demonstrators and observations of Times reporters at multiple protest scenes throughout the week. LAPD dispersal orders were sometimes only audible when delivered from an overhead helicopter. Toward the end of Saturday’s hours-long “No Kings” protests, many demonstrators contended officers used force against crowds that had been relatively peaceful all day.

The LAPD’s use of horses has also raised widespread concern, with some protesters saying the department’s mounted unit caused injuries and confusion rather than bringing anything resembling order.

One video captured on June 8 by independent journalist Tina-Desiree Berg shows a line of officers on horseback advance into a crowd while other officers fire less-lethal rounds at protesters shielding themselves with chairs and road signs. A protester can be seen falling to the ground, seemingly injured. The mounted units continue marching forward even as the person desperately tries to roll out of the way. Several horses trample over the person’s prone body before officers arrest them.

At other scenes, mounted officers were weaving through traffic and running up alongside vehicles that were not involved with the demonstrations. In one incident on June 10, a Times reporter saw a mounted officer smashing the roof of a car repeatedly with a wooden stick.

“It just seems like they are doing whatever the hell they want to get protesters, and injure protesters,” Mamoun said.

Protesters were pushed back by LAPD officers on Broadway during the “No Kings Day” protest downtown.

(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)

Audrey Knox, 32, a screenwriter and teacher, was also marching with the City Hall group on June 8. She stopped to watch a tense skirmish near the Grand Park Metro stop when officers began firing projectiles into the crowd.

Some protesters said officers fired less-lethal rounds into groups of people in response to being hit with flying objects. Although she said she was well off to the side, she was still struck in the head by one of the hard-foam rounds.

Other demonstrators helped her get to a hospital, where Knox said she received five staples to close her head wound. In a follow-up later in the week, a doctor said she had post-concussion symptoms. The incident has made her hesitant to demonstrate again, despite her utter disgust for the Trump administration’s actions in Los Angeles.

“It just doesn’t seem smart to go back out because even when you think you’re in a low-risk situation, that apparently is not the case,” she said. “I feel like my freedom of speech was directly attacked, intentionally.”

Times staff writers Julia Wick, Connor Sheets and Richard Winton contributed to this report.

The crowd near Los Angeles City Hall had by Sunday evening reached an uneasy detente with a line of grim-faced police officers.

The LAPD officers gripped “less lethal” riot guns, which fire foam rounds that leave red welts and ugly bruises on anyone they hit. Demonstrators massed in downtown Los Angeles for the third straight day. Some were there to protest federal immigration sweeps across the county — others appeared set on wreaking havoc.

Several young men crept through the crowd, hunched over and hiding something in their hands. They reached the front line and hurled eggs at the officers, who fired into the fleeing crowd with riot guns.

LAPD officers stage on Los Angeles Street.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Jonas March, who was filming the protests as an independent journalist, dropped to the floor and tried to army-crawl away.

“As soon as I stood up, they shot me in the a—,” the 21-year-old said.

Violence and widespread property damage at protests in downtown L.A. have diverted public attention away from the focus of the demonstrations — large-scale immigration sweeps in such predominantly Latino cities as Paramount, Huntington Park and Whittier.

Instead, the unrest has trained attention on a narrow slice of the region — the civic core of Los Angeles — where protests have devolved into clashes with police and made-for-TV scenes of chaos: Waymo taxis on fire. Vandals defacing city buildings with anti-police graffiti. Masked men lobbing chunks of concrete at California Highway Patrol officers keeping protesters off the 101 Freeway.

A person lobs a large rock at CHP officers stationed on the 101 Freeway.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

The escalating unrest led LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell on Sunday night to break with Mayor Karen Bass, who has condemned President Trump’s decision to deploy the National Guard to the city.

“Do we need them? Well, looking at tonight, this thing has gotten out of control,” McDonnell said at a news conference. The chief said he wanted to know more about how the National Guard could help his officers before he decided whether their presence was necessary.

McDonnell drew a distinction between protesters and masked “anarchists” who he said were bent on exploiting the state of unrest to vandalize property and attack police.

CHP officers on the 101 Freeway.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

“When I look at the people who are out there doing the violence, that’s not the people that we see here in the day who are out there legitimately exercising their 1st Amendment rights,” McDonnell said. “These are people who are all hooded up — they’ve got a hoodie on, they’ve got face masks on.”

“They’re people that do this all the time,” he said. “They get away with whatever they can. Go out there from one civil unrest situation to another, using the same or similar tactics frequently. And they are connected.”

McDonnell said some agitators broke up cinder blocks with hammers to create projectiles to hurl at police, and others lobbed “commercial-grade fireworks” at officers.

“That can kill you,” he said.

The LAPD arrested 50 people over the weekend. Capt. Raul Jovel, who oversaw the department’s response to the protests, said those arrested included a man accused of ramming a motorcycle into a line of officers and another suspect who allegedly threw a Molotov cocktail.

California National Guard troops watch as protesters clash with law enforcement in downtown Los Angeles.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

McDonnell said investigators will scour video from police body cameras and footage posted on social media to identify more suspects.

“The number of arrests we made will pale in comparison to the number of arrests that will be made,” McDonnell said.

Representatives of the Los Angeles city attorney and Los Angeles County district attorney’s office could not immediately say whether any cases were being reviewed for prosecution. Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman said those who “hurl cinder blocks, light vehicles on fire, destroy property and assault law enforcement officers” will be charged.

On Sunday, the LAPD responded to a chaotic scene that began when protesters squared off with National Guard troops and Department of Homeland Security officers outside the Metropolitan Detention Center.

Around 1 p.m., a phalanx of National Guard troops charged into the crowd, yelling “push” as they rammed people with riot shields. The troops and federal officers used pepper balls, tear gas canisters, flash-bangs and smoke grenades to break up the crowd.

No one in the crowd had been violent toward the federal deployment up to that point. The purpose of the surge appeared to be to clear space for a convoy of approaching federal vehicles.

Department of Homeland Security police officers had asked protesters to keep vehicle paths clear earlier in the morning, but their commands over a loudspeaker were often drowned out by protesters’ chants. They offered no warning before charging the crowd.

California National Guard troops stand guard at the Metropolitan Detention Center.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

Some in the crowd lobbed bottles and fireworks at the LAPD. Two people rode motorcycles to the front of the crowd, revving their engines and drawing cheers from bystanders. Police accused them of ramming the skirmish line, and the motorcycles could be seen fallen over on their sides afterward. The drivers were led away by police, their feet dragging across asphalt lined with shattered glass and spent rubber bullets.

On the other side of the 101, vandals set fire to a row of Waymos. Acrid smoke billowed from the autonomous taxis as people smashed their windows with skateboards. Others posed for photographs standing on the roofs of the burning white SUVs.

After California Highway Patrol officers pushed protesters off the 101 Freeway, people wearing masks flung chunks of concrete — and even a few electric scooters — at the officers, who sheltered under an overpass. A piece of concrete struck a CHP car, drawing cheers from the crowd.

Los Angeles Police Department officers shoot tear gas as they advance on demonstrators who formed a makeshift barricade.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Closer to City Hall, the LAPD pushed demonstrators toward Gloria Molina Grand Park, where some in the crowd wrenched pink park benches from their concrete mounts and piled them into a makeshift barricade in the middle of Spring Street.

The crowd, which included a Catholic priest wearing his robes and a woman with a feathered Aztec headdress, milled behind the barricades until LAPD officers on horseback pushed them back, swinging long wooden batons at several people who refused to retreat. Video footage circulating online showed one woman being trampled.

The crowd moved south into the Broadway corridor, where the LAPD said businesses reported being looted around 11 p.m. Footage filmed by an ABC-7 helicopter showed people wearing masks and hooded sweatshirts breaking into a shoe store.

McDonnell said the scenes of lawlessness disgusted him and “every good person in this city.”

Before any chaos erupted on Sunday, Julie Solis walked along Alameda Street holding a California flag, warning protesters not to engage in the kind of behavior that followed later in the day.

Solis, 50, said she believed the National Guard was deployed solely to provoke a response that would justify further aggression from federal law enforcement.

“They want arrests. They want to see us fail,” she said. “We need to be peaceful. We need to be eloquent.”

A phalanx of police officers on horseback surround a person who has been knocked to the ground and repeatedly pummeled with batons.

An Australian TV news reporter winces in pain as she’s shot by a rubber bullet while wrapping up a live broadcast.

A crowd milling above the 101 Freeway lobs rocks and chunks of concrete down on California Highway Patrol officers detaining protesters, prompting a volley of flash-bang grenades.

Those incidents and others captured on video have gone viral in recent days as immigration protests reached a boiling point in Los Angeles.

Leaders at the LAPD and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department have long maintained that they have no role in civil immigration enforcement. And yet the region’s two largest police agencies are suddenly on the front lines of the Trump administration’s crackdown, clashing in the street with demonstrators — most peaceful and some seemingly intent on causing mayhem.

Waymo taxis burn on Los Angeles Street as thousands protest ICE immigration raids throughout the city.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell condemned the actions of those carrying out the “disgusting” violence.

“This thing has gotten out of control,” McDonnell said at a news conference Sunday when asked whether he supported President Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops. After news broke Monday that the president was sending hundreds of Marines to the city, McDonnell said that without “clear coordination,” adding more soldiers to the mix creates “a significant logistical and operational challenge for those of us charged with safeguarding this city.”

Sheriff Robert Luna told The Times that deputies are prepared to support federal agents in certain circumstances — even as the department maintains its official policy of not assisting with immigration operations.

“They start getting attacked and they call and ask us for help, we’re going to respond,” Luna said.

Both publicly and behind the scenes, the situation has led to tensions with Los Angeles officials who have questioned whether local law enforcement is crossing the line with aggressive crowd control tactics — or being put in a lose-lose situation by Trump, who has cast blame on the LAPD chief and others for not doing enough.

“The federal government has put everybody in the city, and law enforcement in particular, in a really messed up situation,” said City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson. “They started a riot, and then they said, ‘Well, you can’t handle the riot, so we’re sending in the military.’”

Los Angeles police officers push back protesters near a federal building in downtown Los Angeles on Monday.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

The LAPD said in a statement that officers made a combined 50 arrests on Saturday and Sunday, mostly for failure to obey a dispersal order. They also arrested a man who allegedly rammed a motorcycle into a skirmish line of officers, and another for attempted murder with a Molotov cocktail.

Five officers were injured while policing the protests, the department said, while five police horses also suffered minor injuries. The department said officers fired more than 600 so-called less lethal rounds to quell hostile crowds.

Although the LAPD has changed the way it handles protests in recent years — moving away from some of the heavy-handed tactics that drew widespread criticism in the past — the city still pays out millions for crowd control-related lawsuits every year.

As of Monday, Internal Affairs had opened investigations into seven complaints of officer misconduct, including the shooting of the Australian TV news reporter, said LAPD Deputy Chief Michael Rimkunas, who runs the department’s professional standards bureau.

Additionally, he said, the department’s Force Investigations Division, which reviews all serious uses of force, was investigating two incidents “because of possible significant injury,” including one incident in which a protester was struck in the head with a rubber bullet.

“We’re continuing to review video and monitor the situation,” he said.

The high-profile incidents caught on video — combined with mixed messaging by L.A. officials — have created opportunities for the White House to control the narrative.

On Saturday, Mayor Karen Bass told reporters that the protests were under control, while the LAPD chief publicly lamented that his department was overwhelmed by the outbursts of violence. Trump seized on those comments, writing in a post on Truth Social that the situation in Los Angeles was “looking really bad.”

“Jim McDonnell, the highly respected LAPD Chief, just stated that the protesters are getting very much more aggressive, and that he would ‘have to reassess the situation,’ as it pertains to bringing in the troops,” Trump wrote on the right-wing social media platform shortly after midnight on Monday. “He should, RIGHT NOW!!! Don’t let these thugs get away with this. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”

Protesters clash with police downtown near the VA Outpatient Clinic on Sunday in Los Angeles.

(Luke Johnson / Los Angeles Times)

On the streets over the weekend, local cops often found themselves playing defense while confronting unruly crowds.

Cmdr. Oscar Barragan in the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department’s Special Operations Division described the scene Sunday when his unit responded to a protest near a Home Depot in Panorama. While rumors of a raid targeting migrant workers at the store spread on social media, Barragan said the real issue was a federal immigration office nearby that was being used as a staging area.

“Social media took over and a false narrative started growing and it just grew out of control,” he said.

Barragan said there were “people launching mortars at us and rocks and things” as the scrum moved west toward the 710 Freeway and the Compton border. He said some people put nails and cinder blocks in the street trying to block the police response.

“It got pretty hairy,” Barragan said. “They just kept launching every type of firework you can imagine and it was consistent.”

He said local law enforcement tolerates protests — but has to step up to restore order when things start to get out of hand.

“The sheriff has made it clear that we allow the peaceful protests to occur, but once violence occurs we’re not gonna tolerate it,” he said.

On Sunday outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, a group of roughly 100 protesters spent hours chiding California National Guard members and Department of Homeland Security officers near the entrance to the immigration jail, calling them “Nazis” and urging them to defy orders and defend the public instead of a building.

At one point, a Homeland Security officer approached one of the more vocal demonstrators and said he “didn’t want a repeat” of Saturday’s violence, urging protesters to stay off federal property and clear a path for any vehicles that needed to enter. But around 1 p.m. on Sunday, guardsmen with riot shields moved to the front of the law enforcement phalanx on Alameda and charged into the protest crowd, screaming “push” as they rammed into people. They launched tear gas canisters and smoke grenades into the street, leaving a toxic cloud in the air.

A protester is hurt near the 101 Freeway in clashes with law enforcement in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

It left an enraged crowd of protesters, who had otherwise been peaceful all morning, for the LAPD to contend with.

After National Guard troops and Homeland Security officers retreated to the loading dock, LAPD officers found themselves in an hours-long back and forth with protesters on Alameda. Officers used batons, less lethal launchers and tear gas to slowly force the crowd of hundreds back toward Temple Street, with limited success.

The LAPD repeatedly issued dispersal orders from a helicopter and a patrol car loudspeaker. Some members of the crowd hurled water bottles and glass bottles at officers, and the windshield of a department vehicle shattered after it was struck by a projectile.

One officer grabbed a sign from a protester who was standing near a skirmish line, broke it in half and then swung a baton into the demonstrator’s legs. Another officer was seen by a Times reporter repeatedly raising his launcher and aiming at the heads of demonstrators.

In one particularly wild moment, two people riding motorcycles inched their way to the front of the protest crowd, revving their engines and drawing cheers. At some point, they got close to the LAPD’s skirmish line and skidded out.

Both were handcuffed and led away, their feet dragging across asphalt covered in shattered glass and spent rubber bullets. LAPD later alleged at least one of the motorcyclists rammed officers.

The tensions spilled into Monday.

City workers repair broken windows on Spring Street at Police Headquarters.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

At police headquarters, where city workers were spotted boarding up the ground-level windows, a row of officers in riot gear began assembling outside. With some government offices urging their employees to work from home, the surrounding streets were emptier than usual. Those who came downtown kept their heads down as they hustled past the now-ubiquitous “F— ICE” graffiti.

Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday afternoon that Trump had ordered another 2,000 National Guard troops to the city, doubling the previous total. In response, the governor said, he had worked with other law enforcement agencies on a “surge” of an additional 800 state and local law enforcement officers “to ensure the safety of our LA communities.”

McDonnell said at a news conference that the department was seeking to strike a balance between “dealing with civil unrest on the streets, [while] at the same time trying to protect peaceful protests.”

Some community leaders were left deeply unsatisfied with the police response.

Eddie Anderson, a pastor at McCarty Memorial Christian Church in Jefferson Park, argued that the LAPD was effectively doing the work of protecting Trump’s immigration agents.

“We asked them to pick a side: Are they going to pick the side of the federal government, which is trying to rip apart families?” Anderson said. “Donald Trump would like nothing more than for Angelenos to resort to violence to try to fight the federal government, because his whole scheme is to try to show L.A. is a lawless place.”

Times staff writers David Zahniser and Matthew Ormseth contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON — President Bush, reaffirming his support for the anti-abortion movement, told an estimated 200,000 abortion foes gathered under a hot, cloudless sky in the nation’s capital Saturday that their mission “must be to help more and more Americans make the right choice–the choice for life.”

In a brief telephone address broadcast to the crowd over loudspeakers, Bush predicted that “one day, your life-saving message will have reached and influenced every American.” The President urged abortion opponents to “continue to work for the day when respect for human life is sacrosanct and beyond question.”

He added: “I know from your devotion and selflessness that this day cannot be far away.”

With the temperature hovering near 90 degrees, demonstrators spread blankets on the grass, sunbathed and ate picnic lunches in the shadow of the Washington Monument while waiting to hear Bush and to catch a glimpse of Vice President Dan Quayle, who spoke to them in person.

Many wore anti-abortion T-shirts and carried placards reading: “Stop Abortion Now,” “Let My People Grow,” and “Killing Should Never Be a Personal Choice.”

Their numbers far exceeded the estimated 75,000 to 100,000 people who came for the 17th annual March for Life last January, and for a time threatened to rival the 300,000 who attended an abortion rights rally here last year.

Officials from the National Right to Life Committee, which sponsored the rally, said the event was intended to show the strength of their cause, despite a series of recent setbacks suffered at the state level.

Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states could impose restrictions on abortion. The decision, Webster vs. Reproductive Health Services, galvanized the abortion rights movement to work on behalf of candidates who share their views and to defeat attempts by state legislatures to curtail abortion.

The latest blow to the anti-abortion movement came Friday, when the Connecticut state Senate overwhelmingly approved a bill to ensure a woman’s right to an abortion even if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns its 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision guaranteeing that right. The Connecticut House already has passed the measure, and Gov. William A. O’Neill has promised to sign it.

Bush spoke to the demonstrators from the White House after returning from a five-hour fishing expedition on the Potomac River, where he caught several largemouth bass.

The President made no mention of proposals favored by many abortion foes to add a “human life” amendment to the Constitution. Nor did he refer to the possibility of the Supreme Court overturning its Roe vs. Wade ruling.

The Administration, confronted with a growing division within the Republican Party over its position on abortion, has emphasized its willingness in recent months to accommodate all points of view on the issue.

“In January of this year, I addressed the March for Life on this very issue,” Bush said. “And I said then, and reaffirm now, that your presence on the Mall today reminds all of us in government that Americans from all walks of life are committed to preserving the sanctity and dignity of human life.”

He called the widespread availability of abortion “a tragedy, not only in terms of lives destroyed, but because it so fundamentally contradicts the values that we as a nation hold dear. And when I look at adopted children, I give thanks that their parents chose life.”

Quayle, too, called the prevalence of abortion a “national tragedy.” But he seemed to take a less hard-line approach than he has in the past.

Quayle said that a majority of Americans oppose abortion on demand. “They may disagree about how best to turn the situation around, but almost all stand together against the terrible reality of unlimited abortion on demand,” he said.

Quayle said that “none of us, woman or man, can presume to judge those faced with a problem pregnancy.” But, he added, “the loss of some 25 million children in total to abortion since 1973 has been unspeakable.”

“It is as if we were shooting out the stars, one by one, preparing for ourselves an unending night of the most fearful darkness,” he continued. “You have been voices against the night . . . “

Referring to the growing dispute within GOP ranks–in which some Republican officials have said the GOP “tent” is large enough to include all views on abortion–Quayle said that abortion opponents make up “the largest coalition–I might add, the biggest tent–in American politics.”

Quayle said that Saturday’s demonstration could “begin a healing of the terrible wound which, for almost two decades, has torn at our country’s heart.”

Saying the anti-abortion movement was “more important than partisanship, and surely more important than personal advancement,” Quayle described it as “ the humanitarian movement of our time.”

He added: “Will the American people continue to accept the notion that unborn children are disposable?”

To shouts of “No” from the crowd, he responded: “Our answer is: Not in this country. Not now. Not ever.”

Olivia Gans, the rally director, told the demonstrators that the anti-abortion movement was not faltering, but gaining momentum.

“We are not losing,” she said. “We are winning. We are winning throughout the United States, despite what we hear and what we read. We are winning despite what (National Organization for Women president) Molly Yard has to say. And who listens to Molly Yard anyway?”

Meanwhile, in Portland, Ore., Yard spoke to a rally of about 2,000 people who had gathered to express their opposition to two proposed state laws that would restrict abortion rights. She reiterated that the anti-abortion movement was losing force across the country.

“(They) have lost in virtually every state legislature and they are losing in the elections across the country, and we expect them to lose heavily” in the November, 1990, elections, she said.

Many of the demonstrators in Washington said they traveled by bus, car and airplane from all over the country to show their support for an end to abortion.

“There’s really more people here than I could have imagined,” said James Davis, a paint factory production planner who drove 10 hours nonstop from Lancaster, Ky., with his wife and two children.

“Our prayers are being answered,” added his wife, Dora Sue.

Roger Bus, a lawyer from Kalamazoo, Mich., called the anti-abortion movement “more powerful than it’s ever been.”

And Carol Kraft, a bakery clerk from Emporia, Kan., said this was the first time she had attended an anti-abortion rally in Washington.

“I came because I want to take a stand for life,” she said. “I love life.”

In Southern California, a crowd of abortion opponents estimated by police at 8,300 made a human chain in the form of a cross along the streets of Van Nuys to coincide with the Washington demonstration. Police characterized the two-hour demonstration as peaceful.

“We wanted to send a clear message to politicians that there are many, many people out there who are opposed to abortion,” said Laura Gillen, an organizer of the event.

Organizers included Operation Rescue, the Right to Life League and more than 200 churches from San Diego to Bakersfield.

Participants, who formed the cross along Sherman Way and Van Nuys Boulevard, waved blue-and-white signs in English and Spanish reading “Abortion Kills Children.”

A small group of abortion rights activists carrying their own signs briefly disrupted the demonstration. Barri Falk, coordinator of the San Fernando Valley Chapter of the National Organization for Women, waved a sign that said “Honk for Choice.”

“We’re out here to show our support for life, too,” Falk said. “They want to oppress both men and women.”

Staff writer Mayerene Barker in Van Nuys contributed to this story.

PARIS — Top-ranked Jannik Sinner beat Novak Djokovic 6-4, 7-5, 7-6 (3) on Friday to set up a French Open final against defending champion Carlos Alcaraz.

Djokovic is the men’s record 24-time Grand Slam champion but could not counter Sinner’s relentless accuracy and pounding forehands on Court Philippe-Chatrier.

Sinner became only the second Italian man to reach the final at Roland-Garros after Adriano Panatta, the 1976 champion.

Earlier, Alcaraz led 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-0, 2-0 against Lorenzo Musetti when the eighth-seeded Italian retired with a leg injury.

Sinner is aiming for his fourth major title, Alcaraz his fifth.

Djokovic fought back in the third set but wilted in the tiebreaker, somehow missing an easy smash at the net to trail 3-0 and then lost on the second match point he faced when his forehand hit the net.

“These are rare and special moments,” Sinner said. “I’m very happy.”

He extended his winning streak in Grand Slam tournaments to 20 matches, after winning the U.S. Open and the Australian Open.

Djokovic was bidding for a record-extending 38th Grand Slam final, and eighth in Paris, where he was won three times. But he spent much of the semifinal camped behind the baseline, sliding at full stretch and grunting loudly while Sinner sent him scurrying left and right like a windshield wiper.

A cross-court two-handed backhand winner from Sinner in the ninth game of the third set was executed with such pure timing that it drew applause even from Djokovic.

Sinner gave him almost no chances, but there was a glimmer of light in the 10th game, when Djokovic had four chances to break Sinner’s serve.

The crowd broke out into prolonged chants of “Nole! Nole!” as Djokovic forced two break points at 15-40.

Sinner saved both. Tensions were rising.

The crowd started self-policing when a couple of rowdy fans shouted out as Sinner prepared to serve, telling the offenders to “Chut!” (the French for shush).

Djokovic’s forehand landed wide on his third break-point chance making it deuce. The chair umpire Damien Dumusois came down to check the mark. Djokovic disagreed and walked over, saying “It’s on the line.” Then Sinner came to the net and had a brief discussion with Djokovic, who lost the point but won the next with an overhead smash for a fourth set point, saved again by Sinner.

In the first semifinal, Alcaraz acknowledged it was a tough way for Musetti to lose.

“It’s not great to win a match like this. Lorenzo is a great player,” Alcaraz said. “I wish him all the best, and wish him a quick recovery and hope to see him soon on the court.”

Musetti had treatment on the inside of his left thigh late in the third set and then again before the fourth.

He was 5-0 down after 16 minutes of the third set when he called for a trainer. Alcaraz broke Musetti in the next game to clinch the set in 21 minutes, winning 24 of 29 points.

Musetti was clearly hindered in his movements and called for the trainer again. After Alcaraz broke his serve to lead 2-0, Musetti walked slowly up to the net and received a hug from Alcaraz.

“I felt at the beginning of the third when I was serving, I start losing a little bit of strength on the left leg behind, and definitely was going worse and worse, so I decided to stop,” Musetti said. “I think was the right decision to make, even if it was not what I wanted. Tomorrow I will do exams.”

In a region where baseball is king, the long-awaited rematch of last year’s World Series between the Dodgers and Yankees is unfolding. Ohtani. Judge. Two of the game’s best, facing off once more.

But just down the 5 Freeway in Anaheim, the home of Disney, the hottest ticket in baseball this weekend belongs to a stilted pitcher, juggling infielders and a yellow-suited, top hat-wearing carnival barker.

For back-to-back nights, more than 45,000 fans packed the Big A to see the Savannah Bananas — a team born from a small-time collegiate summer team that became a tour de force that has forever changed baseball. It was one stop during the Bananas’ most audacious barnstorming effort since their baseball traveling show hit the road just a few years ago.

The Savannah Bananas celebrate amid confetti after beating the Firefighters at Angel Stadium on Friday.

(Luke Johnson / Los Angeles Times)

These tickets were only available through a lottery — reserved months in advance. And when they went on sale, all were gone in an instant. The only way in was through the resale market, where just hours before first pitch on Friday, the lowest price (fees and taxes included) for a pair of tickets on StubHub was $209.52.

Meanwhile, two lowest price StuHub tickets for the Dodgers versus Yankees game were available for $171.72.

All for the sake of “Banana Ball.”

This baseball game is a ballyhoo. One rooted in the thrills, energy and pageantry of early 20th-century carnivals, but with a 21st-century twist — the atmosphere of a TikTok reel brought to life. It’s the showmanship of Ringling Brothers Circus combined with the athletic flair of the Harlem Globetrotters.

But above all, it’s a brand built on Walt Disney’s blueprint— not just to entertain, but to make the audience feel.

“When you look at all the touch points — the joy, the fun, the dancing, the celebrating — and think about all the different stages, just like Walt, we think about all the stages: from the parking lot to the plaza, to the upper deck, to the dugouts,” said Bananas owner Jesse Cole, the man in the top hat. “How do we make someone feel something?”

Instead of lounging in a cushy, air-conditioned owner’s suite, Cole is in the dugout hours before showtime — a Disney-like archetype, his energy as vibrant as his layered, all-yellow suit, braving the afternoon heat.

Savannah Bananas founder and owner Jesse Cole leads the crowd in a cheer as his team takes on the Firefighters at Angel Stadium on Friday.

(Luke Johnson / Los Angeles Times)

“Nonstop,” Cole said, describing Banana Ball in a nutshell. Refusing to sit, not wanting to lose an ounce of edge, he added, “It’s all about energy. We want to give people energy, delivering it every second, from the moment we open the gates at two o’clock until the last fan leaves at 11.”

While gates opened at 2 p.m., fans began arriving as early as 11 a.m. — clamoring for a shot at Banana-themed merchandise, many leaving the team tents with bags in both hands. In the parking lot, two young boys passed the time playing catch, gloves in hand.

As the afternoon wore on and the temperature climbed to 91 degrees, crowds trudged through the heat, some seeking refuge beneath the oversized Angels helmets at the stadium entrance, all for a chance to meet their favorite Banana Ballers. At the pregame plaza party, fans collected autographs, posed for photos and presented handmade gifts to players.

Savannah Bananas mascot Split marches through the crowd before the team’s game against the Firefighters at Angel Stadium Friday.

(Luke Johnson / Los Angeles Times)

When the gates opened, the LaCaze family pointed out their 9-year-old daughter’s favorite player, David “DR” Meadows. Decked out in her signed Meadows jersey, Carrigan LaCaze ran into his arms, with glove and oversized baseball clutched tightly and began speaking with him as if they were old friends.

“I ran to DR, and we started hugging and just started talking for a while because I missed him,” Carrigan LaCaze said. “Tomorrow is actually one year on the dot since I met him.”

A Christmas road trip planned around the holidays, the family of four traveled across three states from their home in Alexandria, La., to Anaheim for two reasons: to visit Disneyland and see the Bananas. It was their second game — the family first saw the Bananas in the club’s hometown of Savannah, Ga., when Carrigan, who is battling cystic fibrosis, was granted a Make-A-Wish experience so meaningful it was a no-brainer to relive it.

“It’s great,” her father, Pierre LaCaze, said of the player interactions. “We’ve gotten to keep track with some of them during the course of the year. We come back, we see them again. You know they’re truly about the fans.”

Rainer Easton, 11, tries to catch a yellow “Banana Ball” from the stands before the Savannah Bananas take on the Firefighters at Angel Stadium on Friday.

(Luke Johnson / Los Angeles Times)

The Bananas don’t sell tickets. They sell connections, moments and memories.

For Cole, meetings are a constant brainstorming session on how to keep fans engaged and interacting. That’s how he measures success. He says when the focus shifts to transactions, the game begins to lose its meaning.

“Our success is not judged by revenue,” Cole said. “It’s not judged by sales. It’s judged by the moments we create.”

But the numbers don’t lie.

The last time the Bananas came to Southern California, they played in front of 5,000 fans at LoanMart Field in Rancho Cucamonga in 2023 — a far cry from now selling out 18 major league ballparks and three football stadiums with capacities over 70,000.

Fans fill the stands as the Savannah Bananas take on the Firefighters in front of a sold out crowd Friday at Angel Stadium.

(Luke Johnson / Los Angeles Times)

Attendance has soared year after year. Last season, the Bananas drew one million fans. This year, that number is expected to double, with more than three million people on the waitlist for their ticket lottery. Every game since February has sold out and every date in June and July is as well.

Michael and Melinda Schulteis, a husband and wife from Mission Viejo, were there the last time the Bananas came to town. When they heard the team was returning, they knew they couldn’t miss it.

“The intimate atmosphere at the last event was great,” Melinda Schulteis said. “But I’m curious, because they do such a good job putting on events, what touches are they going to add to still keep it close and intimate and give us another great experience?”

As the Bananas’ success and reach have grown, spilling out from cozy minor league parks into stadiums not built for intimacy, the games still feel like family gatherings. Whether serenading players with stadium anthems like Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer” or the waving of phone lights to Coldplay’s “Yellow,” the crowd moves in sync, no matter the tune.

While they’re a privately owned team and don’t disclose revenue figures, they’ve confirmed generating millions. Much like their box office appeal, their social media reach extends into the millions as well.

The Savannah Bananas perform a kick line before taking on the Firefighters at Angel Stadium on Friday.

(Luke Johnson / Los Angeles Times)

Their antics — choreographed dances, lip-synced walk-ups, backflip outfield catches — have attracted nearly 10 million followers on TikTok, almost double the combined total of the Dodgers and Angels. That viral mastery, and the parasocial bonds it fosters, is part of what makes every game feel tight-knit.

With his glove by his side, hoping to catch a foul ball for an out — one of the many offbeat rules of Banana Ball — Michael Schulties was disappointed he missed his favorite player, RobertAnthony Cruz, whom he first discovered on social media through his baseball coaching channel, better known as “Coach RAC.”

Cruz, who drew the longest meet-and-greet line, is a former minor leaguer in the Nationals’ farm system and a local — born just an hour away in Fontana. The game was a homecoming for Cruz, who joined the Bananas in 2023.

With more than 70 family members and friends in attendance — and even more social media direct messages asking for tickets — playing in big league stadiums has become a dream come true, especially for a former minor leaguer whose baseball ambitions nearly died when he never got the call to the show.

Savannah Bananas pitcher Correlle Prime delivers at Angel Stadium on Friday.

(Luke Johnson / Los Angeles Times)

Behind all the gimmicks, wackiness and absurdity, the roster is still filled with ballplayers — many of them with unrealized MLB dreams — now finding a second life through Banana Ball. And for Cruz, it’s the happiest he’s ever been in the sport.

“I never would have imagined playing in this capacity,” Cruz said. “Banana Ball didn’t even exist when I was pursuing my dream of professional baseball. To be here, to see a sold-out crowd at a stadium that I went to growing up all the time, it’s very special.”

As the team travels the nation, sold-out crowds and newfound stardom have become the norm for Cruz.

“I’m not surprised by anything anymore,” Cruz said. “If you told me that we’re playing on the moon next year, I’d be like, ‘All right, cool. Let me know when and where, and I’ll be there’ … I wouldn’t be surprised if this thing continues to grow at an unprecedented rate.”

Despite their growing success, the Bananas’ brand of baseball remains polarizing — an easy target for detractors of zaniness, gatekeepers of fun and opponents of pizzazz who either don’t understand it or refuse to see its appeal.

“Anybody that criticizes this, we’re not for them,” Cole said. “There’s tradition in baseball, perfect. They’ve got Major League Baseball. … For people that want to come out and have fun, not take themselves too seriously and see something they’ve never seen before — and hopefully see the greatest show in sports — we built something for you.”

The formula works. And again, the numbers don’t lie.

The Savannah Bananas’ Jackson Olson celebrates a Troy Glaus base hit while the Bananas take on the Firefighters at Angel Stadium on Friday. Comedian Bert Kreischer celebrated behind the Bananas in the dugout.

(Luke Johnson / Los Angeles Times)

Yes, the Savannah Bananas’ brand of baseball is far too outlandish ever to be compared to the major leagues — from flaming baseballs, rump-shaking umps and dress rehearsals. That’s the point. It all feels like something conjured from the wildest dreams of the late Bill Veeck’s imagination found a home, in a good way.

With many of the Banana Ball’s 11 rules — like an automatic strike when hitters step out of the box or ejecting bunting hitters because bunting “sucks” — are grounded in some sports-based logic, the innovations remain sacrilegious to baseball purists.

But for a fleeting moment in December, Major League Baseball and Banana Ball were almost linked.

In Banana Ball, the Golden Batter rule allows teams, once per game, to send their best hitter to the plate regardless of where they fall in the batting order.

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred caused a stir when he floated a potential seismic rule by floating, making an offhand comment about the golden batter rule. Manfred later clarified it was merely “a very preliminary conversation” among members of the league’s competition committee and had not been formally discussed by the full ownership group.

A far-fetched idea, but Manfred has ushered in sweeping changes, from the widely praised pitch clock to the more contentious extra-inning “ghost runner.”

“Anything that’s best for the fans, I’m all in,” Cole said of its potential. “I know Major League Baseball won’t do it because of traditions, but … we’ve had a lot of fun doing it.”

The Firefighters run on the field before taking on the Savannah Bananas at Angel Stadium on Friday.

(Luke Johnson / Los Angeles Times)

But MLB would be behind the Bananas, who already introduced their version of the rule last season with a typical flair and showmanship. Their spin on it is a batter summoned from the dugout wearing a James Brown-esque cape and a gleaming golden helmet — an honor that went to Joe Lytle, who came to bat in the top of the ninth for the Bananas’ Anaheim opponent, the Firefighters.

Ultimately, in a game where the score isn’t the end-all, be-all — but the fun is — the Bananas beat the Firefighters 5–2.

Like any other Bananas game, the festivities took center stage. It began with the “First Peel,” a signature ceremony in which a young fan bites into a banana to declare whether it’s good or bad — setting the tone for the night.

Heisman Trophy winner and USC legend Matt Leinart threw out the ceremonial first spiral (because, of course, he did). And in true fashion, Angels World Series MVP Troy Glaus made a surprise cameo as a pinch hitter.

But what was more important was the trip to Anaheim, a fitting one for Cole and Co.

The team that opened its season lip-syncing “Be Our Guest” from the Disney classic “Beauty and the Beast” — and its owner, cut from the same theatrical cloth as Disney — were celebrated a visit to the Happiest Place on Earth — Disneyland.

Savannah Bananas founder and owner Jesse Cole provides color commentary during the baby race between innings at Angel Stadium on Friday.

(Luke Johnson / Los Angeles Times)

Greeted by fans in yellow gear, Cole’s creation — the Bananas — marched in step down Main Street U.S.A., alongside Walt’s own — Mickey Mouse, Goofy, Donald Duck.

“When I walked underneath the castle and over the bridge and in front of thousands of people, they were all there for us,” Cole said. “Then I look and see Walt’s statue, holding the hand of Mickey, and I see that and I’m like, ‘This is special.’”

It was a full-circle moment for Cole, who became “immersed in the magic” after his first trip to Disney World as a kid — and who now says, “In a perfect world, I’d play catch with Walt on Main Street.” Serendipity.

“For me, that was an emotional moment — to know that we have worked so hard to create something that means something to people, that they come from all over the country just for a chance to see us,” Cole added.

LIVERPOOL, England — A 53-year-old British man who injured 65 people when his car rammed into a crowd of Liverpool soccer fans celebrating their team’s Premier League championship was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, police said Tuesday.

The driver was also being held on suspicion of dangerous driving and driving on drugs, Detective Chief Superintendent Karen Jaundrill said.

The incident late Monday afternoon turned a jubilant parade into a tragedy that sent 50 people to hospitals for treatment of their injuries. Eleven remained hospitalized Tuesday in stable condition.

The wounded included four children, one of whom had been trapped beneath the vehicle with three adults.

Driver dodged road block

Police had closed off much of the area to traffic, but the driver is believed to have maneuvered around a road block by following an ambulance that was rushing to treat a person suspected of having a heart attack, Asst. Chief Constable Jenny Sims said.

Merseyside Police said they were not treating the incident as terrorism and were not looking for other suspects. The force has not identified the arrested driver. Police in Britain usually do not name suspects until they are charged.

Detectives were still working to piece together why the minivan plowed into crowds packing a narrow street just after the players of Liverpool Football Club had celebrated its championship with an open-topped bus parade.

The incident cast a shadow over a city that has suffered twin tragedies linked to the soccer team and led to widespread expressions of shock, sadness and support.

“It is truly devastating to see that what should have been a joyous celebration for many could end in such distressing circumstances,” King Charles III said in a statement while on a visit to Canada. “I know that the strength of community spirit for which your city is renowned will be a comfort and support to those in need.”

Crime scene scoured for evidence

Water Street, near the River Mersey in the heart of the city, was cordoned off by police tape, and a blue tent had been erected on the road strewn with the detritus of celebration, including bottles, cans and Liverpool flags.

Teams of officers wearing white forensic suits scoured the damp streets for evidence and snapped photos of clothing and other items left behind as people fled the chaotic scene.

Hundreds of thousands of Liverpudlians had crammed the streets of the port city in northwest England on Monday to celebrate the team winning England’s Premier League this season for a record-tying 20th top-flight title.

As the parade was wrapping up, a minivan turned down a cordoned-off street just off the parade route and plowed into the sea of fans wrapped in their red Liverpool scarves, jerseys and other memorabilia. A video on social media showed the van strike a man, tossing him in the air, before veering into a larger crowd, where it plowed a path through the group and pushed bodies along the street before coming to a stop.

“It was extremely fast,” said Harry Rashid, who was with his wife and two young daughters as the minivan passed by them. “Initially, we just heard the pop, pop, pop of people just being knocked off the bonnet of a car.”

Rashid said the crowd charged the halted vehicle and began smashing windows.

“But then he put his foot down again and just plowed through the rest of them, he just kept going,” Rashid said. “It was horrible. And you could hear the bumps as he was going over the people.”

Suspect partly identified to stop rumor mill

Police quickly identified the suspect as a white local man to prevent misinformation from flooding social media, Liverpool City Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram said.

Rotheram said police acted appropriately to tamp down online speculation about the person responsible as false rumors spread rapidly online of there being another incident.

“Social media is a cesspit,” he said, referring to the conjecture and misinformation. “It was designed to inflame. It was designed to divide. The message of hate doesn’t go down well here.”

Last summer, a teen in the nearby town of Southport killed three girls in a stabbing rampage at a dance class and wounded 10 others, including two adults. An incorrect name of the suspect was spread on social media and people said he was an asylum-seeker. In fact, he had been born in the U.K. Rioting spread across England and Northern Ireland, targeting Muslims and refugees in hotels for asylum-seekers, lasting about a week.

Liverpool soccer legacy tainted by tragedy

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was appalled by the tragedy as he hailed the bravery of rescuers and said the country’s thoughts were with the city and its people.

“Scenes of joy turned to utter horror and devastation,” Starmer said Tuesday. “Liverpool stands together and the whole country stands with Liverpool.”

The storied franchise has been associated with two of the biggest tragedies in professional soccer.

Its fans were largely blamed for the 1985 disaster at Heysel stadium in Belgium when 39 people — mostly supporters of Italian team Juventus — died when Liverpool backers surged into the rival’s stand.

Four years later, a crush at Hillsborough stadium in Sheffield led to the deaths of 97 Liverpool fans.

Ha and Melley write for the Associated Press. Melley reported from London. AP writer Jill Lawless contributed to this report.

LIVERPOOL fans who lined the streets to celebrate the club’s Premier League triumph have spoken out after a car ploughed into a crowd.

A 53-year-old white British man from Liverpool was arrested at the scene on Water Street just after 6pm and is thought to have been the driver of the car, police said.

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Some 27 injured people were rushed to hospital – two with serious injuries – and 20 were treated at the scene, with more patients self-presenting later on, the North West Ambulance Service said.

A survivor of the Manchester Arena bombing was one of those knocked to the floor by the car.

Frankie, 24, told the Mail: “I was at the Manchester Arena incident. I don’t want to go out again.

They continued: “The side of the car went into me and I fell to the floor. It’s all a blur.

“I’ve got cuts and bruises and I’ll be fine but there’s loads who have got more severe injuries.”

Meanwhile, supporter Harry Rashid, 48, was a stone’s throw away from the swerving vehicle during the terrifying scene.

“It happened about 10 feet away from us,” he said.

“We were just in a crowd and we had no control over where we would be, because it was a very narrow street. 

“The vehicle came to our right. It emerged from just right next to an ambulance, which was parked up.

“This grey people carrier just pulled up from the right and just rammed into all the people at the side of us.

“It was travelling south, down Water Street, straight towards this strand, which is where the docks are.

“It was extremely fast. Initially, we just heard the pop, pop, pop of people just being knocked off the bonnet of a car.”

Merseyside Police are leading the investigation and were initially supported by counter-terrorism police.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “The scenes in Liverpool are appalling — my thoughts are with all those injured or affected.”

He later praised the “remarkable bravery” shown by the emergency services in Liverpool and added: “Everyone, especially children, should be able to celebrate their heroes without this horror.”

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper described the scenes as “truly shocking” and thanked the emergency services for their “swift response”.

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Police say a male suspect is taken into custody after a car collides with several pedestrians in Liverpool.

A man has been arrested after driving a car into a crowd in Liverpool during a parade to celebrate Liverpool FC’s Premier League football title, emergency services say.

Merseyside Police in northwest England said they were contacted just after 6pm (17:00 GMT) on Monday “following reports a car had been in collision with a number of pedestrians”.

The PA Media news agency, quoting police, reported the arrested man is a “53-year-old white British man from the Liverpool area”.

“Extensive enquiries are ongoing to establish the circumstances leading up to the collision,” police said. “We would ask people not to speculate on the circumstances surrounding tonight’s incident.”

There was no immediate word from authorities about how many people were injured.

Social media footage appeared to show a dark-coloured car swerving into the dense crowd at the end of the celebrations as players showed off the trophy on an open-topped bus through the city.

Harry Rashid, who was at the parade with his wife and two young daughters, told The Associated Press news agency the car began ramming people about 3 metres (10ft) away from him.

“It was extremely fast,” Rashid said. “Initially, we just heard the pop, pop, pop of people just being knocked off the bonnet of a car.”

Crowds and uniformed police officers quickly surrounded the vehicle and several people lying on the ground.

Cordons were put in place, and a fire engine was also at the scene.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was being kept updated about the incident.

“The scenes in Liverpool are appalling – my thoughts are with all those injured or affected. I want to thank the police and emergency services for their swift and ongoing response to this shocking incident,” Starmer said on social media.

The incident followed a large celebration in the city centre, where tens of thousands of dancing, scarf- and flag-waving fans braved wet weather to line the streets and watch Liverpool’s players display the Premier League trophy atop two buses bearing the words “Ours Again”.

The hours-long procession – surrounded by a thick layer of police and security – crawled along a 10-mile (16km) route and through a sea of red smoke and rain. Fireworks exploded from the Royal Liver Building in the heart of the city to seemingly signal the end of the parade.

Rashid said after the car struck its initial victims, it came to a halt and the crowd charged the vehicle and began smashing windows.

“But then he put his foot down again and just ploughed through the rest of them. He just kept going,” Rashid said. “It was horrible. And you could hear the bumps as he was going over the people.”

Rashid said it looked deliberate and he was in shock and disbelief.

“My daughter started screaming, and there were people on the ground,” he said. “They were just innocent people, just fans going to enjoy the parade.”

Meanwhile, Liverpool said in a post on X that it was in direct contact with police about the event. “Our thoughts and prayers are with those who have been affected by this serious incident,” the team said.

LONDON — A 53-year-old British man plowed his minivan into a crowd of Liverpool soccer fans who had been celebrating the city team’s Premier League championship Monday and was arrested, police said.

There was no immediate word from authorities on how many people were injured. An air ambulance and other emergency vehicles swarmed the scene to respond to reports that multiple pedestrians had been hit.

“It was extremely fast,” said Harry Rashid, who was at the parade with his wife and two young daughters and only several feet away. “Initially, we just heard the pop, pop, pop of people just being knocked off the bonnet of a car.”

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was being updated on the situation and thanked police for their quick response.

“The scenes in Liverpool are appalling — my thoughts are with all those injured or affected,” Starmer said.

Liverpool fans had come out in their tens of thousands to celebrate the team winning the Premier League this season for a record-tying 20th top-flight title.

Liverpool’s last league title came in 2020 but supporters were denied the chance to publicly celebrate that trophy because of restrictions in place at the time during the pandemic.

Dancing, scarf-and-flag-waving fans braved wet weather to line the streets and climb up traffic lights to get a view of Liverpool’s players, who were atop two buses bearing the words “Ours Again.”

The hours-long procession — surrounded by a thick layer of police and security — crawled along a 10-mile route and through a sea of red smoke and rain. Fireworks exploded from the Royal Liver Building in the heart of the city to seemingly signal the end of the parade.

The team issued a short statement saying its thoughts and prayers were with those affected.

Rashid said after the car rammed its initial victims, it came to a halt and the crowd charged the vehicle and began smashing windows.

“But then he put his foot down again and just plowed through the rest of them, he just kept going,” Rashid said. “It was horrible. And you could hear the bumps as he was going over the people.”

Rashid said it looked deliberate and he was in shock and disbelief.

“My daughter started screaming and there were people on the ground,” he said. “They were just innocent people, just fans going to enjoy the parade.”

Melley and Douglas write for the Associated Press.

Bulls are yoked together by thick wooden frames in a sun-scorched field in rural Pakistan. Behind them, clutching nothing more than ropes – and his pride – stands a man perched on a plank.

Hundreds of spectators whoop and cheer as the animals thunder down a track, kicking up clouds of dust and a tangible sense of danger.

This is bull racing, Punjabi style.

The traditional sport encapsulates the raw vibrancy of village life and stands in stark contrast to the floodlit cricket and hockey stadiums of Pakistan’s cities.

In the Attock district of the eastern province of Punjab, bull racing runs deep. Here, it is more than a pastime. It forms part of the region’s living heritage.

In the village of Malal, a key hub for the sport, crowds gather annually to witness the spectacle. Jockeys crouch low behind the bulls on their wooden planks, gripping the reins and relying upon experience and instinct to claim victory.

Yet chaos is never far away. It is not uncommon for bulls to unseat the jockeys, sending them tumbling through the dust.

“This isn’t just entertainment. It’s tradition,” said Sardar Haseeb, whose family has organised races for generations. “We take pride in our animals. Farmers and landowners raise their bulls year-round just for this moment. People are willing to pay high prices for a winning bull. It becomes a symbol of pride.”

The event has a festive air with dancing and showers of banknotes tossed into the sky – a celebratory gesture more usually associated with weddings.

The aroma of freshly fried sweets wafts from sizzling pans, enticing the crowds. Stallholders serve roasted chickpeas and other delicacies. The bustling scene generates income for local vendors, who benefit from the celebration of culture.

At the most recent event put on by Haseeb, more than 100 bulls competed, and participants came from across Pakistan to take part.

Among the competitors was farmer Muhammad Ramzan.

“My bull came in fifth place, and I’m thrilled,” he said. “It left 95 others behind.”

Near the end of an evening ruled by queens, a king was keeping Chaka Khan waiting.

“Stevie Wonder’s in the house tonight,” Khan said late Sunday as she stood in the spotlight at Inglewood’s Kia Forum. “I don’t know where he is.” The veteran soul-music star wandered over to the edge of the stage, the black fringe of her bedazzled cape swaying with every step, and peered out into the crowd. “Steve, you over there?”

Khan was in the middle of her set to close Sunday’s installment of a traveling R&B revue called “The Queens” that launched last week in Las Vegas and has her on the road through the fall with three fellow lifers in Patti LaBelle, Gladys Knight and Stephanie Mills. (One longs to have been in the room when they decided who plays last.) She’d come out singing “I Feel for You” — saucy, casual, effortlessly funky — then glided through “Do You Love What You Feel” and “What Cha’ Gonna Do for Me.” Now her would-be special guest was nowhere to be found.

Chaka Khan performs with Stevie Wonder.

(Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Times)

“Stevie Wonder!” she said again, attempting to summon him to the stage. “We go back a long, long way. I remember once we did a tour, he and I — must have been back in the ’80s, the ’70s or something. It was that long ago. We were on tour for dang near two years. Two friggin’ frack years.” Khan went on for a minute about a vexing old record deal then seemed wisely to think better of that. “Call him,” she instructed the crowd, which started up a “Stevie” chant.

“What?” boomed a voice at last over the sound system. It was Wonder, shuffling out from the wings wearing his signature shades and beret to join his old friend for — well, for what? Khan had set up Wonder’s cameo by saying they should do “I Feel for You” again since Wonder played harmonica on the original record in 1984. But Wonder didn’t appear to have gotten that note: After clasping hands with Khan, he started telling the story of writing “Tell Me Something Good” a decade earlier for her group Rufus, which led Khan to cue her backing band on that number instead.

And what a number it was — that slinky up-and-down riff still a marvel of rhythmic ingenuity that inspired Khan and Wonder to go off in a volley of ad libs like the seasoned pros they are.

Patti Labelle performs.

(Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Times)

Signs of life such as that one are precisely the reason to go to a concert like “The Queens,” in which the vast experience of the performers — Mills was the youngest at 68, LaBelle the oldest at 80 — serves not as a safeguard against the unexpected but as a guarantee that whatever might happen is fully roll-with-able.

Mills got up there Sunday and discovered an unwelcome climate situation — “I wish they would cut that air off,” she said, “it’s blowing so cold on me” — but went ahead and sang the bejesus out of “Home,” from “The Wiz.” LaBelle put out a call for willing men from the audience — “Black, white, straight, gay,” she made clear — then presided over an impromptu talent show as each guy did a bit of “Lady Marmalade” for her. And then there was Knight’s handler, who seemed to show up a few beats early to guide her offstage after “Midnight Train to Georgia.” No biggie: He could just stand there holding her arm gently for a minute while she traded “I’ve got to go’s” with her background singers.

Gladys Knight performs.

(Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Times)

Another reason to go to “The Queens,” especially on Mother’s Day, was to behold the finery displayed onstage (and in the crowd). Knight wore a crisp red pantsuit with glittering figure-eight earrings, Mills an off-the-shoulder mermaid gown. LaBelle showed off two outfits, emerging in a silky blue suit before changing into a long tunic-style dress. During “On My Own,” she kicked off her heels, sending them hurtling across the stage; later, she spritzed herself from a bottle of fragrance then spritzed the front row for good measure.

As a three-hour program — Knight opened at 7 p.m. on the dot — Sunday’s show moved quickly, with a rotating stage that whirred to life after each woman’s set. And of course nobody stuck around long enough to offer up anything but hits. The musical pleasures were the ripples of detail in all those familiar tunes: a little ha-ha-ha Knight used to punctuate “That’s What Friends Are For”; LaBelle’s frisky vocal runs in “When You Talk About Love,” which she sang as a stagehand came out to help put her in-ear monitor back in; the way Khan toyed with her phrasing in “Through the Fire,” slowing down when you thought she’d speed up and vice versa. (Nobody wants to start a fight here, but Khan was undoubtedly the night’s best singer.)

Stephanie Mills performs.

(Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Times)

After bringing the Mother’s Day audience to its feet with “I’m Every Woman” — somewhere out there was Khan’s own 91-year-old mom, she said — she started to make for the exit when her band revved up the throbbing synth lick from “Ain’t Nobody.”

“Oh, one more?” she said to no one in particular. “S—. One more!”