Crowds ordered to disperse during trans rights protests at Koreatown spa

Protest duels outside a Koreatown spa against transgender rights sparked a major police backlash on Saturday and resulted in more than a dozen arrests.

LGBTQ activists gathered outside the Wi Spa on Saturday morning to counter a protest against transgender access to spa facilities. The Los Angeles Police Department declared an illegal gathering outside the spa near Wilshire and Rampart Boulevard around noon when the two groups of protesters began to clash, according to police and videos posted on Twitter.

Retail LAPD Meghan Aguilar said authorities declared the gathering illegal after protesters started throwing projectiles, including at officers. Videos posted on social media show police in riot gear firing bullets into bean bags and 40-millimeter hard foam projectiles at protesters.

The number of protesters in the region was not immediately clear. Protesters demonstrating against spa policies held up signs saying “Save Our Children” and “Stop Defending Pedos.” ”

“Most people have left the area, but currently a number of arrests are being made for non-dispersal,” Aguilar said.

No injuries were reported. A journalist from the US Guardian which covered the demonstration wrote on Twitter that she had been chased and “thrown to the ground by right-wing anti-pedophile protesters.”

The protests, similar to those at the spa earlier this month, were apparently sparked by a viral video taken by an angry spa client in late June.

The woman in the video, which was posted on Instagram, complains to Wi Spa staff that a man allegedly entered the women’s section and showed his genitals to young girls. The client the woman complained about was reportedly identified as a woman.

“He’s a man,” we can hear the woman say. “It’s not a woman. There are girls there, other women who are very offended by what they just saw and that you didn’t do anything. You sided with him.

Wi Spa defended its policy in a statement to Los Angeles magazine.

“Like many other metropolitan areas, Los Angeles is home to a transgender population, some of whom enjoy visiting a spa,” the statement said. “Wi Spa strives to meet the needs of all of its customers.