Today we attended the first LA Drone Expo in Downtown LA at the Sports Arena. Hosted by the UAV Systems Association (UAVSA), the event was an overall success with an excellent turnout, great exhibitors, and informative presentations.
A brief disruption occurred during the keynote speech by Austin Blue when a group of 6-10 protesters stood up in the crowd and began shouting and waving signs that said things like “Child Killer” and “Drones Kill.” A couple of them unfurled a large cloth banner on which they had painted ”DRONE FREE LAPD." The chants ranged from “Shame on you Austin Blue” to “Hands up don’t drone” (which aside from not making any sense is kind of an insulting mockery of the Michael Brown protesters) and lastly “drone free LAPD, no drones LA” which they continued shouting even as police and venue security staff patiently and peacefully ushered them to the side of the stage and finally out a side door of the arena. I managed to get a couple of videos with my phone – one of the initial protest and another of the group chanting and mouthing off to police as they were being asked to leave.
Aside from this it was an awesome event. Looking forward to the next one. More video and a bunch of pictures of the event, vendor booths, etc can be found here: http://quadcoptergarage.com/la-drone-expo-protest/
