The Anti-Trump Protests in Los Angeles Were Even Larger Than We Thought

Yesterday I went to the Anti-Trump rally that ended in downtown Los Angeles. After the event, the LAPD estimated the crowd size to be around 8,000 people.

That figure was not questioned by any major news source. The LA Times, Wall Street Journal, CNN, ABC and many others, all cited it. Only the New York Times did not.

Having seen the crowd with my own eyes, I thought it was larger than 8,000 people. I reached out to LAPD to find out how they got this figure and Officer Tony IM said: “It’s not an exact science, it’s a guess based on observations from our helicopters in the air, and officers on the ground.”

That meant their estimate was based solely on who was flying that day, if they were good at estimating crowds, and if they were biased about the election results.

I wanted a more exact number.

Finding Source Footage

The protest stretched many blocks down Wilshire Boulevard, and ended on the steps of the federal building downtown. Close up footage at one location wouldn’t be useful, but I did find this great panning shot on YouTube from a user named David Baca. When stitched together, the footage shows the entire length of the protest all the way down Wilshire.

Using buildings as reference points, together with Google Maps, I was able to determine that the crowd spanned from half a block east of Lucas Ave., all the way down to Westlake Ave, near MacArthur Park.