Page "Watts Riots" Paragraph 12

After a night of increasing unrest, police and local black community leaders held a community meeting on Thursday, August 12, to discuss an action plan and to urge calm ; the meeting failed.

Later that day, Los Angeles police chief William H. Parker called for the assistance of the California Army National Guard.

The rioting intensified and on Friday, August 13, about 2, 300 National Guardsmen joined the police trying to maintain order on the streets.

That number increased to 3, 900 by midnight on Saturday, August 14.

Sergeant Ben Dunn said " The streets of Watts resembled an all-out war zone in some far-off foreign country, it bore no resemblance to the United States of America.

" Martial law was declared and curfew was enforced by the National Guardsmen who put a cordon around a vast region of South Central Los Angeles.

In addition to the guardsmen, 934 Los Angeles Police officers and 718 officers from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department were deployed during the rioting.