VAN NUYS (CNS) - Los Angeles police were searching today for members of a group of protesters, numbering about 50, who demonstrated outside the department's Van Nuys station, burned an American flag, sprayed graffiti on the building and harassed several officers inside a cruiser before leaving the scene.
The incident took place around 11 p.m. Friday, the Los Angeles Police Department reported.
The protesters, wearing masks and dark clothing, first gathered at Tyrone Avenue and Delano Street before marching to the station on Sylmar Avenue, where they circled the building chanting anti-cop slogans.
Several members then pulled down the American flag from in front of the station and set it on fire, the LAPD reported. Others in the group then spray painted anti-police slogans on the walls.
Several protesters surrounded a cruiser and began hitting the vehicle and blocked it from driving away. The officers were eventually able to back out of the area.
The group then left the area and was last seen near Hazeltine Avenue and Oxnard Street at around 1 a.m. Saturday, police said.
The Los Angeles Police Protective League condemned the group's actions.
"Last night's defund the police riot at the Van Nuys police station is a pathetic reflection of those who continue to promote hate, violence and destruction to justify their dangerous anarchist agenda that calls for the abolishment of police officers in the city of Los Angeles,'' a union statement said.
Anyone with information on these protesters was asked to call the LAPD's Van Nuys station at 818-374-9500. Tipsters can also call Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477.