What began as a small protest against immigrant arrests escalated over the days after President Trump called out the National Guard.
National Guard and protesters clashed with ice protests
Hundreds of protesters fought the National Guard as ice protests escalated.
Tensions in Los Angeles began to fade over the weekend, with both protesters and federal officials blaming each other for escalation. Details are still emerging, but here’s what we know now about how the situation unfolds.
The afternoon of June 6th immigrant raid in Los Angeles sparked a small protest. The next day, a bigger protest began in the town of Paramount, south of Los Angeles, in connection with rumors that there was a possible immigrant attack.
Heading into the evening of June 7th, President Donald Trump ordered 2,000 national security guards to the area. That night, protesters threw rocks, bottles and fireworks at the officers. Later that same night, local police declared a small section of downtown Los Angeles an illegal gathering area, and many protesters were cleared from the site.
This is the event timeline.
Friday, June 6th
Homeland Security agents detained several people outside Home Depot, just west of downtown Los Angeles on Friday morning.
A little later, another attack took place at the Amviance Clothing Store in downtown’s LA fashion district. During the operation, people gathered to take photos and video footage of the officers. Several protesters also arrived.
A Homeland Security spokesman told the Los Angeles Times that four different search warrants were executed in Los Angeles on Friday by US immigration customs. At least 44 people have been arrested.
On one site, David Huerta, president of the United Nations of Service Employees, was arrested on suspicion of obstructing a federal officer. The union said Fuerta is exercising his initial right to amend and document law enforcement activities.
More than 100 people gathered at the Immigration Bureau’s Building Construction Center in downtown Los Angeles to protest the attack, according to Reuters.
Around 7pm local time, Los Angeles police declared it an illegal assembly and ordered the crowd to be disbanded. About 30 minutes later, multiple police vehicles and at least 50 police officers arrived at the riot device.
Some protesters threw pieces of broken concrete at the officers. Officers responded by firing tear gas and pepper spray. They also used a concussion round of flash vans to disperse the crowd.
Saturday, June 7th
According to the Los Angeles Times, Border Patrol agents gathered at Gate Industrial Office Park in Paramount, a Latino suburb south of downtown Los Angeles.
Protesters began gathering as the attack spread across social media that it was planned at a nearby Home Depot, but officials don’t appear to be involved with immigrants at the store.
Police and Los Angeles Sheriff’s officers arrived and a highly localized protest began, focusing on the area around Home Depot. Approximately 350-400 protesters gathered. Some people throw objects at agents.
According to a Los Angeles Times reporter who was on the scene, tear gas and flash bangrounds were fired by federal agents whenever a protester threw something to an agent or police.
One video for X shows a protester identified by the Los Angeles Times as a former US s-bus blocking the bus. Another showed the destroyed car.
By 4pm, a social media post showed Los Angeles police and sheriffs gather illegal legislators and use speakers to tell protesters that they will be arrested by protesters.
Over the next few hours, the clash continued with protesters throwing things at officers, turning off fireworks and burning at least one piece of garbage.
By midnight, demonstrators began leaving the area. Several people had been arrested.
Another protest broke out in nearby city of Compton, where cars were on fire. Compton Mayor Emma Sharif called out calmly and calmly, posting online, “We urge everyone to maintain peace. Violence and destruction of property are not the solution.”
The Los Angeles Police Department issued a statement praising “all those who responsibly exercised their right to amendment.” However, “While today’s events have been concluded successfully, the Los Angeles Police Department remains fully prepared to respond quickly and appropriately to the potential actions of civil unrest.
On Saturday night, the mob surrounded the Immigration Bureau buildings and detention centers, “ice law enforcement officers, novel tires, dirty buildings and taxpayer-funded property,” according to Homeland Security.
In response, Trump has signed a presidential memorandum that will deploy “at least” 2,000 National Guard members to Los Angeles.
In a statement, the White House said “the violent mob attacked ice officers and federal law enforcement agencies running basic deportation operations in Los Angeles, California.”
Saturday Senior White House aide Stephen Miller denounced the protest and posted to X: “This is a violent rebellion.”
US lawyer Bill Essaylie was posted on X: “Federal law enforcement operations are going as planned in Los Angeles County this weekend. I am asking the public to refrain from interfering with these legal actions. Anyone who interferes with federal agents faces arrest and prosecution.”
At 5:15pm local time, California Gov. Gavin Newsom posted to X that he was “deliberately inflammatory and only escalating tensions,” a National Guard deployment in Los Angeles. He said the city “doesn’t have to be unfulfilled at this time.” “This is a wrong mission and erodes the trust of the people.”
Sunday, June 8th
Dozens of National Guard members arrived at the Metropolitan Detention Center, three blocks from Los Angeles City Hall, early in the morning of June 8th. By 10:30am, as many as 300 members of the California National Guard had been deployed in three separate sections of the city.
The crowd of protesters began arriving around the area around the federal housing complex, consisting of city, state and federal buildings around noon. The protest had not spread, and most of the city was quiet.
As the afternoon went up, things began to escalate. Many protesters waving Mexican flags and hybrid Mexican-American flags and chanting anti-ice slogans. Some saw them throwing water bottles and other objects at officers and law enforcement agencies.
Videos shared on social media and footage from local TV stations showed riot equipment officials who heard flash bangs in the background.
At least five Waymo self-driving taxis have been destroyed by protesters who spray-painted them with anti-Trump and anti-ice slogans. At least two were on fire.
At one point, a crowd of protesters walked to the 101 highway, blocking traffic in both directions. They faced riot equipment officers and the highway was cleared by 5pm local time.
LAPD said in X that it placed city officials on a “tactical warning.” The police department later declared an “illegal gathering” on the Civic Center area and the historic Orvera Street in downtown Los Angeles, an area that covers just a portion of the vast 500-square-mile city.
Approved “Less lethal ammunition use.”
The department issued a distributed order and said arrests were being made.
In an email letter released Sunday afternoon, Gov. Newsom officially asked Secretary of Defense Pete Hegses to withdraw the order that would deploy Trump’s order to Los Angeles.
The Los Angeles Times reported that National Guard troops and armored vehicles are stationed at business parks, including the Homeland Security Agency in Paramount.
By 6:30, Los Angeles police said “number of people had been arrested” in the Civic Center area.
At 8pm, authorities moved aggressively with flash bangs and tear gas hand-rena bullets, running through hundreds of people, eyes shedding tears. The helicopters scattered overhead as protesters fled the area to the corners of the car and regular cheers.
Contribution: Trevor Hughes
