Today Is The 23rd Anniversary Of The Los Angeles Riots

The L.A. riots turn 23 years old as tensions in Baltimore continue to build over the issue of police brutality.

The city of Los Angeles erupted in riots on April 29, 1992, after four officers were acquitted of charges surrounding their beating of motorist of Rodney King.

Kevork Djansezian / ASSOCIATED PRESS

Los Angeles police officer Theodore Briseno defends his actions in the assault on motorist Rodney King during court testimony in Simi Valley, California, April 3, 1992. A scene from the video of the assault is shown at left.

King’s beating was caught on videotape. The officers were acquitted of charges of assault and excessive force. The acquittal was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back in Los Angeles, where racial tensions had been boiling over.

David Longstreath / AP

King, right, is accompanied by his attorney Steven Lerman, pleading for an end to the rioting and famously asking, "Can't we all just get along?"

Citizens took to the streets to demonstrate.

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A woman yells at Los Angeles police officers who stand guard outside a shopping center on April 30, 1992.

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Part of a group of about 100 protesters gather outside the East County Courthouse, May 5, 1992, in Simi Valley, to protest the verdict in the trial of the four police officers who were acquitted in the Rodney King case.

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A man passes in front of a line of police officers in Los Angeles, April 30, 1992.

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A demonstrator protests the verdict outside the Los Angeles Police Department headquarters.

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Protesters express their anger at the acquittal on April 29, 1992.

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An unidentified man rips apart a U.S. flag outside the Los Angeles Police Department headquarters, April 29, 1992.

Douglas C. Pizac / ASSOCIATED PRESS

Spray-painted slogans on the wall of a small building in Los Angeles on Thursday, April 30, 1992.

It is estimated that 1,000 buildings were damaged, leaving a total of $1 billion in property damages.

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An aerial view of firefighters extinguishing a fire on April 30, 1992.

Reed Saxon / ASSOCIATED PRESS

A commercial building is left to burn as firefighters protect nearby buildings from fire damage in the South Central section of Los Angeles.

Nick Ut / ASSOCIATED PRESS

An unidentified owner of a clothing store reacts to seeing her burning business in Los Angeles, April 30, 1992.

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Looters leave a liquor store with cases of beer, May 1, 1992, in Los Angeles.

Kevork Djansezian / ASSOCIATED PRESS

A woman enters a Popeye's restaurant spared by the looters because of the sign saying "Black-Owned Business" posted in the window, May 8, 1992, in Los Angeles.

55 people died, and over 12,000 were arrested.

Nick Ut / AP

Police stand over a group of handcuffed looting suspects in Los Angeles, April 30, 1992.

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A Los Angeles police officer holds a shotgun on two looting suspects as a California State Police officer puts handcuffs on them near Martin Luther King Blvd. and Vermont Ave. in South Central Los Angeles.

David Longstreath / AP

A California Highway Patrol officer stands guard at Ninth Street and Vermont Avenue in Los Angeles as smoke rises from a fire farther down the street.

Nick Ut / ASSOCIATED PRESS

National Guard troops walk up the ramp into the back of a C-130 cargo plane at Los Alamitos Armed Forces Reserve Center near Los Angeles on Wednesday, May 13, 1992.

Twenty-three years later, many of the same tensions persist all over the country.

Reed Saxon / ASSOCIATED PRESS

A cross, flowers, and a banner urging an end to violence adorn the ruins of a service station at Florence and Normandie Avenues in South Central Los Angeles, May 3, 1992.