A total of 27 were arrested in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday as thousands of protesters took to the streets in response to US President Donald Trump’s ICE raids and deployment of National Guard troops.
At least 10 people were detained during scuffles between police officers and demonstrators in downtown Los Angeles, LAPD Police Chief Jim McDonnell said during a news conference Sunday evening local time.
Decrying the escalation of violence as “disgusting”, McDonnell said Molotov cocktails, fireworks, rocks and other objects were being used to target officers.
“It’s escalated now since the beginning of this incident,” McDonnell said, calling the protests “increasingly worse and more violent.”
Another 17 were arrested by the California Highway Patrol, clearing protesters from busy highways.
Separately, around 60 people were detained on Sunday in the city of San Francisco following a protest outside the Immigration Services building that turned violent.
Hundreds had gathered outside the building to rally against the agency’s raids and deportations across California as ordered by the Trump administration.
The initially peaceful protest escalated into a tense standoff with San Francisco police officers wearing riot gear, according to local media reports.
Another 29 people were also apprehended on Saturday, adding to the tally of 56 arrested in Los Angeles over the weekend in connection with the protests.
‘Serious breach of state sovereignty’
Sunday’s skirmishes in Los Angeles were sparked by protests that began on Friday after it emerged Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers were carrying out raids across the city in predominantly Hispanic neighbourhoods.
Trump has ramped up immigration raids during his tenure, asking federal agents last month to arrest 3,000 people a day. Under his directive, ICE officials are allowed to locate, detain and deport illegal immigrants living in the US.
Tensions escalated and protests became increasingly violent as demonstrators took to the streets in response to the deployment of some 300 National Guard soldiers, blocking off a major freeway and setting fire to self-driving cars. Police officers used tear gas, rubber bullets and flash bangs to try to quell the unrest.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has requested Trump remove the guard troops in a letter Sunday afternoon, calling their deployment a “serious breach of state sovereignty.”
His comments were echoed by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who said the escalation of violence on Sunday was “provoked” by the Trump administration’s use of National Guard troops, who are typically deployed in exceptional circumstances.
In response, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said it is a “bald-faced lie for Newsom to claim there was no problem in Los Angeles before President Trump got involved.”
Trump himself has insisted the troops are necessary and demanded that additional Marine units be deployed to the area in response to the unrest.
“Looking really bad in LA. Bring in the troops,” the US president posted on his Truth Social platform on Sunday.
About 500 Marines are stationed at Twentynine Palms, close to Los Angeles, where they were in a “prepared to deploy status” Sunday afternoon, according to the US Northern Command.
