Hundreds of Cyclists Stage Die-In at Jesus Castillo’s Ghost Bike

There are lots of Flickr sets from Friday's memorial at the Ghost Bike.  This picture is from Alex Thompson's but you should also check out Ensie's and Streetsblog's.

Last Friday, participants in Los Angeles Critical Mass, members of the local community and other assorted transportation activists all gathered at Los Angeles' newest Ghost Bike for a memorial for Jesus Castillo and rally for safer streets for cyclists.  Nearly 300 riders participated in the memorial which included a "die-in" where hundreds of cyclists laid down on the street in a similar manner to war protesters.  There to witness the act were a handful of LAPD officers and a representative of Eric Garcetti's office.

Occurring less than 24 hours after the LAPD patted a hummer driver on the back for riding through a group of cyclists from behind, the mood when the Critical Massers rode up to the newly chained up Ghost Bike was a mixture of sadness and anger.  However, that anger didn't break out in acts of violence or vandalism, excepting the one idiot who took a sharpie to a news van, and instead was a well-ordered example of civil disobedience.  Whether or not the LAPD would have been so restrained as to not step on the cyclists civil liberties without the television cameras is a different matter, especially since dozens of riders got tickets on their way Downtown for their next stop.

You can see CBS' take on the die-in here.