Watch out, the LAPD could get a bad reputation

At the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, the event that provoked days of street battles was a "savage attack" on a police officer by a protester wielding a sweater.

At the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, the event that provoked days of street battles was a "savage attack" on a police officer by a protester wielding a sweater.

When historians look back on Los Angeles in 2000 they may point to a similarly crucial turning point in the popular mood - this one prompted by a politically suspect tofu sandwich.

As President Bill Clinton was preparing to electrify the Democratic faithful, the police were busy closing down two of the week's more subversive outfits, the Independent Media Centre and the cabaret-cum-political salon, the Shadow Convention.

The pretext was a bomb scare at Patriotic Hall, the building housing both institutions. The police said they'd had a tip-off about a suspicious orange Volkswagen van and one happened to be in the car park. Three young women from Santa Cruz were arrested as they munched on their vegetarian sandwiches, their vehicle was searched from top to bottom, and the police set up blockades while they awaited the bomb squad.

The independent media could not put out its evening satellite digest of convention coverage because its transmitter truck was stuck behind police lines. The evening's Shadow Convention luminaries, led by Gore Vidal, Christopher Hitchens and Arianna Huffington, could not provide live commentary on Mr Clinton's speechbecause their auditorium was sealed off and the sound on their big-screen televisions blocked out.

With the police struggling to substantiate their bomb suspicions - they showed no intention of evacuating the building - murmurs of a darker agenda began to emerge. "We are not going to jump to any conclusions but if we don't get a reasonable explanation pretty soon, we're going to have to take action," Ms Huffington barked to an approving crowd.

As Mr Clinton's speech began, the police swooped on the Shadow Convention's offices and independent media activists frantically gathered up computer discs, schedules and contact books before they too could be targeted. Then the word went out: "We're taking this out into the street!" Gore Vidal led the charge, providing gently alarmist commentary as rows of riot police took up positions all around. "I'm just filling in time before the bomb goes off," he murmured.

Mr Hitchens was more trenchant, telling the police the bomb threat was a "ludicrous pretext" to squash free speech. "If there were a general election tomorrow, which general would you vote for?" he asked to roars of approval.

Then, just as things were warming up, the bomb scare was miraculously declared to be over and everybody was allowed back into the auditorium for the last 10 minutes of Mr Clinton's speech. It was not greeted kindly. As the president reeled off the list of hotspots where the US armed forces had distinguished itself,one audience member shouted: "What about LA?"

Nobody knew at the time that police were cracking heads a few streets away. Panellist Norm Ornstein nevertheless caught the spirit of the moment. "If the LAPD isn't careful," he said acidly, "they're going to get a bad reputation."