These Photos Capture How Police Escalated Saturday’s ‘No Kings’ Protest Into Violence in DTLA

By all accounts from we've seen from people on the ground, including on live broadcasts on corporate media, Saturday's "No Kings" protest started peacefully in Downtown Los Angeles and ended with violence spurred by authorities.

An estimated 200,000 participants were there, which included Angeleno families, children, seniors, and activists expressing their feelings with creative signs, performance art, dancing, and occasional costumes, all rallying against the Trump's administration's efforts to deport our families, neighbors, and friends.

Photographer Kemal Cilengir was at the protests to document a palpable, horrifying shift in the day's energy, telling L.A. TACO, "The police violence was totally unprovoked and has been the worst I've ever seen in all my years of covering protesting."

Here are a handful of Cilengir's photos from Saturday afternoon, showing both the peaceful energy of the protests, and the sudden flip to a crowd coming under what felt like an attack from law enforcement later in the afternoon.