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ACLU Threatens Legal Action Against LAPD For Denying DTLA Protest Permit

In a demand letter sent to Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell, Jonathan Markovitz, a staff attorney for the ACLU SoCal, said that the reasoning given for denying Refuse Facism’s permit “appears to be unconstitutional."

4:54 PM PDT on July 17, 2025

Federal agents wearing gas masks stand guard at the Federal Building on Alameda Street in DTLA on June 6, 2025. Photo by Lexis-Olivier Ray for L.A. TACO.

A Los Angeles activist group and the ACLU SoCal are demanding that the Los Angeles Police Department reverse a decision to deny the group a special event permit for a protest planned on Thursday, July 17.

In a statement, Refuse Fascism announced that they had applied for a special event permit for an “artistic, human installation” called “The Disappeared” on July 6. The installation was planned to be revealed at 5 PM on July 17 outside the Federal Building in Downtown Los Angeles. 

The group says that the LAPD informed them that they received permit applications from “a number of organizations,” but that the Police Commission, the civilian board of directors for the LAPD that signs off on permits, will not be issuing special event permits for protests on the 17th.