LA protests stay: Trump admin threatens army deployment nationwide as rallies flare up throughout US
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth threatened to deploy troops nationwide “if necessary” as thousands joined anti-immigration rallies across the U.S.
While Los Angeles remains the epicenter of unrest, demonstrations against ICE operations and Donald Trump’s decision to mobilize 4,000 National Guardsmen and 700 U.S. Marines have seen protests flare up from Seattle through to New York City. More protests are scheduled for Thursday.
Trump again defended his decision to deploy troops to LA on Wednesday night before attending a theatre performance in Washington, claiming if he didn’t act, the city “would be burning to the ground right now.”
More than 400 people have been arrested in LA since protests first erupted on Friday, including 330 undocumented migrants and 157 individuals facing charges of assault or obstruction.
Police officers on foot and horseback dispersed crowds on Wednesday evening in downtown LA before enforcing a curfew for a second consecutive night in a bid to curb vandalism and looting. Mayor Karen Bass described it as a response to the president’s “chaotic escalation” of the situation.
DNI Gabbard peddles theory about ‘paid protestors’ in LA
National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard has peddled a theory that some of those protesting in Los Angeles against the Trump administration’s sweeping immigration raids are “clearly paid.”
Gabbard made the claims while speaking to Fox News’ Jessie Watters on Wednesday evening, adding that the demonstrations were “orchestrated.”
Watch her remarks below:
In pictures: Sixth day of upheaval in LA
Spokane becomes second city to enforce curfew due to protests
After a protest yesterday afternoon outside an ICE office in Spokane, Washington, Mayor Lisa Brown imposed a curfew in the city’s downtown area.
It marked the second city to enforce a curfew to curb criminal activity during the ongoing protests, after Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass enforced restrictions Wednesday in downtown LA for a second consecutive evening.
Brown enforced the curfew in Spokane from 9:30 p.m. Wednesday until 5 a.m. Thursday.
It came after 30-plus protesters were arrested and officers deployed “pepper balls” on the crowd, according to Spokane Police Chief Kevin Hall.
Brown told reporters that the curfew is meant to “protect public safety,” adding that the vast majority of protesters were peaceful.
New poll reveals what Americans think of Trump’s deployment of military troops to LA
A new poll has revealed what Americans think about Donald Trump’s deployment of military troops to Los Angeles.
Out of the 1,000 Americans surveyed by the Washington Post, 41 percent said they support Trump sending the National Guard and Marines to respond to the LA protests.
Meanwhile, 44 percent oppose the military mobilization and 15 percent were “unsure.”
Opinions vary dramatically along political lines.
Eighty-six percent of respondents who identify as Republicans support the troop deployment compared with just 10 percent of Democrats.
When asked about whether protestors were right to rally against the Trump administration’s sweeping immigration raids, 39 percent of respondents supported the demonstrations and 40 percent opposed them. Twenty-one percent were unsure.
Newsom’s six-word rebuke against Trump for Les Misérables attendance
After Les Misérables’s curtain call in D.C Wednesday evening, California Governor Gavin Newsom suggested that the plot of the musical went over the president’s head.
“Someone explain the plot to him,” Newsom said, sharing an article about Trump and First Lady Melania attending the show’s premiere at the Kennedy Center.
Pro-democracy protesters around the globe have rallied behind the anthems from the 19th-century French story, which portrays a struggle against oppression, injustice, and systemic inequality.
Critics have noted the irony that a tuxedo-wearing Trump attended the musical just days after deploying the National Guard and the U.S. Marines to Los Angeles’s streets as protests against his administration’s immigration raids continued.
Trump defends decision to send in troops to LA at Les Misérables showing
President Trump attended the opening show of Les Misérables, a musical about social injustice and rebellion, at the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday night while immigration protests continued for a sixth day.
Seemingly oblivious to any irony, Trump again defended his decision to deploy almost 5,000 military troops to LA prior to the show’s start.
“If I didn’t act quickly on that, Los Angeles would be burning to the ground right now,” he said at the performing arts venue.
In pictures: Protests erupt from San Antonio to New York City
Defense secretary says troops to be deployed nationwide ‘if necessary’
Pete Hegseth told Senators on Wednesday that military troops could be sent to cities across the U.S. if law enforcement were threatened as protests spill out from Los Angeles.
In a bid to get “ahead of the problem,” the defense secretary told the Senate Appropriations Committee that “if there are other riots in places where law enforcement officers are threatened, we would have the capability to surge National Guard there if necessary.”
Hegseth added that he hoped governors would mobilize troops themselves before making a jab at California Governor Gavin Newsom for “playing politics.” Newsom has been vocal in his criticism of Donald Trump’s decision to deploy more than 4,000 members of the National Guard along with a battalion of U.S. Marines.
Troops begin detaining immigrants in national defense zone at border in escalation of military role
U.S. troops have begun directly detaining immigrants accused of trespassing on a recently designated national defense zone along the southern U.S. border, in an escalation of the military’s enforcement role, authorities said Wednesday
U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Chad Campbell described in detail the first detentions by troops last week of three immigrants accused of trespassing in a national defense area near Santa Teresa, New Mexico.
Those migrants were quickly turned over to U.S. Customs and Border Protection and are now among more than 1,400 migrants to have been charged with illegally entering militarized areas along that border, under a new border enforcement strategy from President Donald Trump‘s administration.
Troops are prohibited from conducting civilian law enforcement on U.S. soil under the Posse Comitatus Act. But an exception known as the military purpose doctrine allows it in some instances.
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Source: independent.co.uk
