Los Angeles man arrested for spray-painting ‘Free Palestine!’ on LAPD headquarters 

The Los Angeles Police Department arrested a man who they say spray-painted “Free Palestine!” on the wall of their headquarters facility. 

According to a press release issued on Sunday morning by the LAPD, 26-year-old Alex Guillen was part of a demonstration in downtown Los Angeles that occurred on Saturday afternoon.

While the demonstration was taking place, around 4:10 p.m., Guillen was seen spray-painting “Free Palestine!” on the exterior of the LAPD’s Police Headquarters, located at 100 West 1^st Street.

It was also found that Guillen vandalized multiple locations along the route of the march in addition to the LAPD HQ, causing “significant damage” to city property, police said.

Other parts of LAPD’s headquarters had Palestinian flags and “Save Gaza” scrawled on the walls, in addition to other messages. Officials appeared to have covered up the “Free Palestine!” Guillen spray-painted.

Guillen was arrested at 6:10 p.m. at the intersection of Hill and 5^th streets, authorities confirmed, adding that he was in possession of two black spray paint cans and was wearing “distinctive clothing worn during the vandalism” when he was detained. 

The 26-year-old was booked for felony vandalism. Inmate search records show he was cited and released early Sunday morning, with a court date scheduled for Oct. 31. 

An alert put out by LAPD’s Central Division on Saturday indicates the demonstration began affecting traffic on Hill Street between 5^th and 6^th streets in downtown L.A. around 2:20 p.m.

The demonstration entered Pershing Square shortly after, blocking all lanes of traffic, before continuing towards City Hall. Video posted to the Citizen App shows a large crowd of people waving Palestine flags and chanting while taking up the whole street.

Eventually, the demonstration concluded shortly before 6 p.m., the Central Division indicated.