LA spa transgender rights protests turn violent

LOS ANGELES – Police arrested dozens of people and fired non-lethal projectiles to disperse an unruly crowd on Saturday after a transgender rights protest duel at a Los Angeles spa turned violent.

The protests stem from a video that circulated online earlier this month, in which an angry customer complained to Wi Spa staff that a transgender woman was in the female-only section of the spa.

The video sparked controversy after the spa defended its policy of allowing transgender guests at its facilities, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Police declared a gathering illegal in front of the Koreatown spa around 11 a.m. when protesters against transgender access to spa facilities clashed with counter-protesters and some in the crowd threw smoke bombs and smoke bombs. other items on officers, Det. LAPD spokesperson Meghan Aguilar said.

A video posted to Twitter shows officers in riot gear hitting protesters with batons and firing bursts of bean bags and other projectiles. At one point, a woman was shot in the abdomen, causing her to fall to the ground.

Several dozen people were arrested for ignoring scatter orders, and police found stun guns, knives and pepper spray thrown on the streets, police said later.

Aguilar did not have an immediate count of the arrests as authorities were still treating those arrested and checking to see if anyone needed medical treatment.

She said no officers were injured and no demonstrators were taken to hospitals.