For days, protesters gathered outside the heavily guarded South Los Angeles sheriff’s station in tense but largely peaceful demonstrations to decry the deputies who shot and killed Dijon Kizzee last week in the nearby neighborhood of Westmont.

But over the Labor Day weekend, those demonstrations escalated to clashes, with deputies firing nonlethal projectiles and tear gas at the crowds and arresting 18 people over three nights of unrest.

The Sheriff’s Department said protesters initiated the confrontations by throwing rocks and bottles at deputies. But activists said in interviews that the displays of force were unprovoked.

“Deputies have not used less lethal options simply because protesters refused to leave,” said Lt. John Satterfield. “It has always been in response to being attacked by, like I said, the rocks, the bottles the frozen water bottles.”

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