2h ago
05.54 BST
Today so
far
It is
almost 10pm in Los Angeles. Protests continue on the streets after Donald Trump
deployed the national guard to the city in response to demonstrations against
his administration’s immigration crackdown. Here’s what we’ve seen so far:
The Trump
administration has taken the stunning step of bringing hundreds of California
national guard soldiers into federal service to respond to the protests, and
has said it could bring US marines to the city “if violence continues”. About
500 marines are ready to deploy to the city if directed.
The Guard
was deployed specifically to protect federal buildings, including the downtown
detention center where protesters concentrated.
California
governor Gavin Newsom and the LA mayor Karen Bass have asked the administration
to rescind its order to deploy troops with Newsom calling it a “a serious
breach of state sovereignty.” Democratic governors across the US have described
it as an “alarming abuse of power”.
In a post
on X, Newsom criticised the president further, saying “Donald Trump has
manufactured a crisis and is inflaming conditions.”
Protests
have continued in large numbers. Police used teargas and “less-lethal
munitions” to disperse people from a federal complex and the 101 freeway, where
protesters brought traffic to a standstill in both directions. In some areas,
autonomous vehicles have been set on fire.
The Los
Angeles police department said the agency has declared an “unlawful assembly”
in the civic center area of downtown Los Angeles, and that officers have
arrested “a number” of people. Police are patrolling areas of the downtown on
horseback.
Los
Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said officers were “overwhelmed” by the
remaining protesters. He said they included regular agitators who show up at
demonstrations to cause trouble.
McDonnell
pushed back against claims by the Trump administration that the LAPD had failed
to help federal authorities when protests broke out Friday after a series of
immigration raids.
Karen
Bass urged protesters to remain peaceful. She said she has asked the Trump
administration to remove troops from the city. “We do not need to see our city
torn apart,” she said, adding that people are “terrified.”
Many
protesters dispersed as evening fell and police declared an unlawful assembly,
a precursor to officers moving in and making arrests of people who don’t leave.
Some of those remaining threw objects at police from behind a makeshift barrier
that spanned the width of a street and others hurled chunks of concrete, rocks,
electric scooters and fireworks at California Highway Patrol officers and their
vehicles parked on the closed southbound 101 Freeway. Officers ran under an
overpass to take cover.
An
Australian reporter, Lauren Tomasi, from Channel 9 news has been shot by a
rubber bullet fired by police while covering the protests in downtown LA.
2h ago
05.44 BST
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to our rolling coverage of the
protests in Los Angeles, where law enforcement officers have clashed with
demonstrators as police have used teargas and “less-lethal munitions” to
disperse massive crowds of people.
Demonstrators have gathered to reject Donald
Trump’s immigration crackdown and his deployment of the national guard against
the will of the state’s elected leaders.
On Sunday thousands of Angelenos swamped the
streets around city hall, the federal courthouse and a detention center where
protesters arrested in days before are being held. They also brought a major
freeway to a standstill.
The crowd for large parts of the day was mostly
peaceful. But tensions flared several times, with police deploying teargas to
disperse protesters and firing rounds of flash-bangs in an attempt to push the
protesters back up the freeway off-ramps. Several autonomous vehicles were set
on fire.
Trump’s decision to deploy national guard troops
into Los Angeles has sent shockwaves through America. California’s governor,
Gavin Newsom, and other Democratic governors across the US have sharply
criticized the move, describing it as an “alarming abuse of power”.
Newsom said the president had “manufactured a
crisis” and described his reaction as akin to a “dictator, not a President”. He
urged Trump to stand down and rescind the “unlawful” deployment.
Night has now fallen in LA, stay with us as we
follow the developments live.
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