julia dupuis

They then proceeded to start patting me down—touching my breasts and my front/back pockets, still laughing. Finally, one of them admitted," We shouldn't be doing this." Then they called over a female officer to search me. Their names are Officer Cho and Codilla of the LAPD.

I was not the only gender non conforming protestor to be called "it." There were trans/non-binary protestors divided into the 'male' and 'female' buses and deliberately misgendered. I was also not the only protestor to be sexually harassed or made uncomfortable.

After being held for over 4 hours—with protestors vomiting, fainting, forced to pee in their seats, losing circulation in their bruised wrists/arms—many began to advocate. We demanded access to bathrooms, water, and medical attention. We held them accountable to the law.

The only response was an officer telling us to "stop acting like high school girls." We were held even longer, watching other buses with prisoners being processed and released. When I got off the bus, an officer said, "Now that you're acting reasonable, we let you off the bus."

We spoke up about LAPD abuse and were punished for it. They heard us begging and screaming for medical attention and chose to keep us there for 5 1/2 hours to silence us.

After the zip ties were cut off, I was threatened by an officer who said: "Stop it with the attitude. This is us being nice—I can make this much worse for you." In response to us advocating for our rights, they told us: "You have no rights here."

This is what protestors are facing. This is the violence and harassment police have been using to silence us, wear us down, and force us off the streets. Even without rubber bullets, tear gas, and batons, they have other means of physical and emotional violence.