Current protests in Los Angeles have been compared to the 1992 riots that followed the acquittal of LAPD officers involved in the brutal beating of Rodney King. However, city leaders, including former LAPD chief Bernard Parks and Mayor Karen Bass, argue that the current situation is far less severe. They emphasize that the scale of civil unrest today is not comparable to the chaos of the past, where widespread violence and destruction led to significant casualties and losses, suggesting the recent deployment of federal troops is unnecessary and largely performative.
"It's not even close," said former LAPD chief and city councilman Bernard Parks, who was a deputy chief in the police department during the 1992 unrest. "You get a sense that this is all theatrics, and it is really trying to show a bad light on Los Angeles, as though people are overwhelmed."
Federal troops and California National Guard units joined forces with local law enforcement officers to quell the turmoil, but not without harrowing results. More than 60 people were killed, thousands were injured and arrested, and there was property damage that some estimate exceeded $1 billion.
Mayor Karen Bass remarked on CNN, "There was massive civil unrest [then]. Nothing like that is happening here. So there is no need for there to be federal troops on our ground right now."
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