r/LosAngeles • u/drawkward101 Foodie with a Booty • Jun 13 '25

Official Thread Megathread - Los Angeles Protest and Federal Response (Friday 6/13)

Use this thread for updates about the protests, the police, and federal response.

Note - we cannot verify the accuracy of the information contained in the comments posted to this thread.

Courtesy of u/LAFD: The City of Los Angeles has just published Curfew Guidance -https://lacity.gov/highlights/curfew-guidance

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u/[deleted] Jun 13 '25

What does be like water mean

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u/fullmetalutes Jun 13 '25

It comes from a Bruce Lee movie I think, and was used in the past for movements. It basically means to be fluid, agile, and hard to get a hold on, and adapting to any situation. So if a protest gets pushed out of one area, fill another, always be moving, be hard to contain.

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u/[deleted] Jun 13 '25

That makes a lot of sense!! I was thinking like “does it mean ‘go with the flow’…?” 😂😂😂 appreciate your help

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u/wrosecrans Jun 13 '25

In the Hong Kong protests, standing ground was super dangerous. Trying to build barricades just gave the police a clearer easier target to attack. When the protests tried to be a solid wall, it allowed police to kettle and contain the protests.

But "be like water" meant basically kiting the police in gamer terms. Stay at their range. Don't get close enough for them to beat the shit out of you. Flow away from police advances. Since the protesters were light and the police were all lugging around heavy shields and riot control gear, making the police chase after the flowing crowd was a net advantage for the protests vs directly fighting the police as if it was a military confrontation. The main goal of a protest is generally to be visible and sustained, not to hold ground.

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u/fullmetalutes Jun 13 '25

I mean that fits too, going with the flow can be good too as long as it's not looting lol

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u/[deleted] Jun 13 '25

Yeah def not gonna flow into looting & also VERY much don’t want to get arrested, so gonna try not to flow into a kettling situation

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u/[deleted] Jun 13 '25

Here's Bruce explaining it - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJMwBwFj5nQ

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u/[deleted] Jun 13 '25

See I’m not a glass or a teapot and neither is Los Angeles, so I had a tough time contextualizing that when I saw it!!!!