LA protests reside: Curfew lifted after ‘mass arrests’ as Trump mulls sending troops to different cities
The downtown curfew enacted by Los Angeles MayorKaren Bass in response toDonald Trump’s “chaotic escalation” of the response to immigration protests has been lifted.
Authorities enforced the curfew between 8 p.m. Tuesday and 6 a.m. Wednesday, with Bass warning that anyone who failed to comply would be detained. The LAPD said that it made “mass arrests” after the restriction was imposed.
Approximately 700 U.S. Marines are scheduled to arrive in Los Angeles today from a staging point in Seal Beach, 30 miles south, less than 48 hours after Trump directed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to mobilize the battalion. The administration is now considering deploying troops to other cities to quell further protests, an official told the New York Times.
Gavin Newsom, who claims the presence of troops exacerbates tensions, asked a judge for an emergency injunction to halt the troop deployment, arguing it is “unlawful,” as well as “excessive and unnecessary.” A hearing is set for Thursday.
In a televised address on Tuesday, Newsom lambasted Trump’s “brazen abuse of power.” Earlier in the day, Trump called the city “a trash heap” and promised to “liberate” it.
Where things stand today…
- A battalion of 700 U.S. Marines ordered by President Trump is expected to arrive in Los Angeles from a staging point at Seal Beach amid ongoing unrest, marking the sixth day of protests against immigration policies. Up to 4,000 National Guard troops have also been deployed.
- Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass lifted the downtown overnight curfew, which was implemented in response to what she called President Trump’s “chaotic escalation” of the ICE raids protest response; the LAPD reported “mass arrests” after the curfew was imposed.
- California Governor Gavin Newsom is seeking an emergency injunction to halt the troop deployment, denouncing it as “unlawful,” “excessive,” and exacerbating tensions in the city.
- Trump defended his decision to deploy troops, claiming Los Angeles would be “burning to the ground” without his intervention; however, some residents and workers in the Little Tokyo neighborhood downtown argue the military presence is inflaming the protests.
- Protests that originated in Los Angeles have spread to at least 35 cities across the U.S., prompting hundreds of arrests and varying responses from local authorities, with some cities experiencing peaceful demonstrations and others facing clashes with police.
ICYMI: Trump calls LA a ‘trash heap’ of ‘chaos and disorder’
President Donald Trump on Tuesday turned what was meant as a celebration of the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary, for soldiers at one of the nation’s most storied military bases, into a bellicose campaign-style rally as he attacked Democratic elected officials and denigrated the country’s second-largest city as a cesspool made rotten by “uncontrolled migration.”
Andrew Feinberg reports.
In pictures: National Guard stand guard as officers detain two people in Los Angeles
Continued from previous post
Several of those interviewed by Reuters in Little Tokyo requested anonymity, citing concerns about potential reprisals from the federal government. Many were immigrants themselves or had family members who were not born in the U.S., and feared making themselves or their loved ones targets of ICE.
One of those was Anthony, who works at a tea shop in the neighborhood.
“There is no question that the president sending in thousands of National Guard and 700 Marines has done nothing but make the protesters more aggressive,” he said. “It’s instigating the protesters and making things worse.”
Samantha Lopez, a descendant of Filipino immigrants who works at a Korean ice cream parlor in Little Tokyo, said she felt empathy for the demonstrators but rejected any acts of vandalism or violence they carried out. Still, she blamed the use of military personnel for creating the unrest.
“It’s just poor handling of protests that stay peaceful until they’re confronted by officers,” Lopez said. “It’s bad for business, and it’s bad for this neighborhood.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom has said the use of military personnel to combat the protests had “inflamed a combustible situation” and warned that “democracy is under assault.”
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has said that Trump’s use of troops was a deliberate effort to create “chaos.” She implemented the curfew in downtown Los Angeles last night to curb the violence, which led to mass arrests.
Bass noted on Tuesday that the National Guard troops were guarding two federal buildings and had only arrived on Sunday, despite the president’s claim they had helped restore peace on Saturday.
The Trump administration claims that the actions it has taken were necessary in the face of local and state leaders’ inability to bring the situation under control.
On Wednesday morning, President Trump yet again claimed that if it weren’t for him, Los Angeles would be “burning to the ground right now.”
“The great people of Los Angeles are very lucky that I made the decision to go in and help!!!” he wrote on Truth Social.
Many Angelenos don’t seem to agree.
With reporting from Reuters
Angelenos say ‘no thanks’ Mr President
President Donald Trump says he sent in the National Guard and Marines to “liberate” Los Angeles from the violence of protesters, but some residents of Little Tokyo, a neighborhood hit hardest by the unrest, say “no thanks,” Mr President.
A dozen people who live, work, or frequent the neighborhood, where Japanese is heard spoken as frequently as English in shops and restaurants, on Tuesday told Reuters that Trump’s use of the military was inflaming the protests against recent immigration raids in Los Angeles.
In the heart of downtown LA, Little Tokyo is a charming neighborhood with shops selling Japanese goods and restaurants serving some of the city’s finest sushi. It also abuts the federal buildings where protesters have gathered for five consecutive nights.
For the past two nights, when police and National Guard troops have forcibly dispersed protesters in the early evening, demonstrators scatter into smaller groups into the neighborhood, which has been covered with anti-ICE and anti-Trump graffiti.
Running skirmishes have continued well into the night with police using booming flash-bangs and firing other “less lethal” munitions at protesters.
“The president sending in the National Guard and Marines has only made things worse, it’s made the protesters go crazy,” said Sulieti Havili, who lives nearby and helps run a Pokémon club with over 6,000 members that routinely plays in Little Tokyo. “They are doing nothing to protect this community.”
Havili, 25, who was out picking up trash in Little Tokyo with her Pokemon club partner Nolberto Aguilar, 42, said it was clear to her that Trump sending in thousands of military personnel had “brought out the worst in the protesters” and only served to aggravate the situation.
Aguilar added that Trump’s deployment of troops was thwarting the will of most Los Angeles citizens and local leaders, fanning the flames created by ICE immigration raids, which he said targeted law-abiding immigrants.
Continued…
Trump says Biden is the reason he can deploy troops to LA
Donald Trump acknowledged that he might not have been able to deploy the National Guard to Los Angeles during his first term.
“I’m able to do things now that I wouldn’t have been able to do because the previous president and presidency was so bad that anybody looks good,” Trump said in an interview with the New York Post’s Pod Force One. “As an example, I can be stronger on an attack on Los Angeles,” Trump said.
“I think bringing in the National Guard four years ago, or eight years ago, would have been more difficult,” he added.
Curfew lifted in downtown LA
The curfew which was imposed by the authorities in downtown Los Angeles Tuesday evening has been lifted.
LA Mayor Karen Bass ordered the curfew to be in effect from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. in the downtown area, home to City Hall, the Los Angeles Police Department headquarters and federal buildings.
“I issued a curfew starting tonight at 8pm for Downtown Los Angeles to stop bad actors who are taking advantage of the President’s chaotic escalation,” Bass said on Tuesday evening.
Police announced that there had been “mass arrests” soon after the curfew was enforced, though specific details have not yet been revealed.
Newsom ‘trying to overthrow results of the election,’ Trump aide says
As California Governor Gavin Newsom scrambles to stop Donald Trump from deploying the U.S. Marines, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller has accused the Democrat of “trying to overthrow the results of the election.”
“America voted for mass deportations,” Miller, who has been a vocal proponent of Trump’s military intervention, tweeted on Wednesday morning.
“Violent insurrectionists and the politicians who enable them, are trying to overthrow the results of the election.”
Voices: Trump’s response is a stark warning of what’s to come
The Trump administration makes clear nearly every day that the rule of law is for chumps.
It has been nearly three months since they deported 137 Venezuelans without hearings to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador, where they are being held indefinitely in horrific conditions. Others have been deported to third countries with which they have no connection.
This is the backdrop of the protest and violence that has erupted in California in recent days. It appears to foreshadow the next stage of lawlessness and a movement toward governing by emergency decree.
Read Eric Lewis’s full piece:
Trump says LA residents ‘very lucky’ he decided to send in troops
Donald Trump has repeatedly defended his decision to deploy California’s National Guard (over the governor’s head) and mobilize the U.S. Marines.
The president has said that Angelenos are “very lucky” that he ordered military intervention, once again claiming that LA would be “burned to the ground.”
“If our troops didn’t go into Los Angeles, it would be burning to the ground right now, just like so much of their housing burned to the ground,” he wrote on Truth Social Wednesday. “The great people of Los Angeles are very lucky that I made the decision to go in and help!!!”
Source: independent.co.uk
