As curfew takes effect in L.A., protesters — and the governor — say the military isn't needed at all
Tensions simmer as protesters clash with police over federal immigration crackdown
In the last minutes of daylight on Tuesday night in downtown Los Angeles, a police helicopter circled overhead and warned a crowd of people along Temple Street they were gathered in an unlawful assembly and would be arrested if they did not leave.
By then, an hour into the first night under curfew in a pocket of the downtown area, most people had backed up beyond the police perimeter. Some livestreamed the scene on TikTok or Instagram, while others taunted officers blocking the streets.
"Why you here, man? Why you here?" one shouted from the window of a car, as it pulled a U-turn past police at the edge of the curfew zone.
A curfew came into effect at 8 p.m. PT after five days of protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in the city. The weekday demonstrations have been been largely peaceful, but tension simmered in the city with freshly stationed marines and word the National Guard had been accompanying ICE agents on the job.
Demonstrators gathered by the Metropolitan Detention Centre earlier Tuesday afternoon, including some teenagers and adults with young children on their shoulders. Organizers regularly reminded the crowd to keep the temperature down and avoid provoking the National Guard members blocking the entrance to the parking lot.
"We are here to protest, not to fight," said Delilah Franco, 22, before taking the mic to remind the growing crowd to stay out of the road and on the sidewalk.
Hundreds of U.S. marines joined a contingent of National Guard troops in Los Angeles Tuesday at the direction of U.S. President Donald Trump. Their arrival was swiftly condemned by state and city officials, while protesters said they believed the military presence was an attempt to antagonize lawful demonstrations that had shrunk since the weekend.
"It's frightening, it's scary, but it's obviously used to instill fear in the citizens," Franco said of the marines and National Guard being deployed.
"We're here chanting to let the people in that [federal detention] building know we're here for them and they're not alone … we gotta keep fighting until there's some change being made."
There were fewer clashes between protesters and police officers Tuesday than there were Sunday, when demonstrators briefly closed the 101 freeway.
Tuesday's protest was isolated to the block around the Metropolitan Detention Centre and the federal detention building. Elsewhere, the only signs of unrest were days-old "F--k ICE" graffiti and the husk of a sole burned-out car.
Members of the Los Angeles Police Department moved in on the crowd of about 200 people along Alameda Street mid-afternoon on Tuesday, corralling the protesters from both sides until most of the crowd had left.
Los Angeles police Chief Jim McDonnell later said officers made 197 arrests on Tuesday, including 67 people taken into custody for unlawfully occupying part of the freeway.
Late in the afternoon, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass announced at a news conference that the city would be imposing a curfew for parts of downtown from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. PT. She also declared a local emergency and said the curfew might last several days.
Trump 'crossed a red line,' Newsom says
"It's so enraging to see that he can use this power for the bad," Franco said, referring to Trump authorizing the deployment of the marines and National Guard. "It's bullshit, I'm sorry."
"I feel like he's doing it to California to send a message to the other states and the country."
While tension on the streets of Los Angeles had eased, the conflict between California Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Trump administration took another step forward. Newsom, a Democrat, asked the courts for an emergency intervention to limit Trump's use of the National Guard in the city.
"A President of the United States who's unhinged and has now crossed a red line in this country," Newsom said in a video posted to X.
The Trump Administration is mobilizing an additional 2,000 National Guard troops to inflame tensions in LA, impacting the state’s wildfire prevention & fentanyl task force efforts.<br><br>Trump doesn't care about protecting Californians. He’s militarizing our state & provoking chaos. <a href="https://t.co/4qrKig94S4">pic.twitter.com/4qrKig94S4</a>
—@CAgovernorMore than a dozen protesters who spoke with CBC News said they were bewildered by the military presence, saying the protests were largely peaceful and any escalations were being controlled by the LAPD. The police department on Saturday put out a statement commending demonstrators for keeping the peace.
"This is America. 'Land of the free,' " said Isaac, 38, making air quotes with his fingers. He said he was a lifelong resident of L.A. whose parents immigrated to the United States.
"The marines, they're not well trained to deal with population control like LAPD," he said. "They're trained to shoot to kill."
One member of an interfaith group said they sympathized with the members of the service who had been ordered to face down their fellow Americans.
"They are being placed in a moral conundrum," said Tanya Lopez, 38, a first-generation American whose parents immigrated from Mexico. She noted that the service members are supposed to be protecting civilians of they nation they serve, yet were being deployed against them.
"They are just trying to incite violence and pit us one against the other," she said.
President claims military intervention was necessary
Trump has said military intervention was necessary to maintain law and order in the city. He referred to demonstrators on Tuesday as "animals" and "paid insurrectionists."
"If we didn't send out the National Guard … Los Angeles would be burning right now!" Trump said in the Oval Office Tuesday.
The authorization came amid Monday's mostly peaceful protests in the country's second-largest city.
It is rare, but not illegal, for the president to deploy National Guard troops despite the objections of the governor and local leaders. It is rarer still for marines to be deployed on home soil.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit Monday over the use of National Guard troops following the first deployment, telling reporters that Trump had "trampled" the state's sovereignty.
Weekday demonstrations were far less raucous than those held on Sunday, with thousands attending a peaceful rally at city hall and hundreds protesting outside a federal complex that includes a detention centre where some immigrants are being held following immigration raids at workplaces across the city.
Bass, the mayor, said her administration has heard the ICE raids could continue for the next 30 days, if not longer.
"It's a sense of intimidation and fear that is just so unnecessary and so corrosive to our city," Bass said at a Tuesday news conference. The mayor said she would place a call to Trump asking him to stop the raids.
Protests against Trump's immigration policies also began to spread across the country, with more planned into the weekend.
From Seattle and Austin to Chicago and Washington, D.C., marchers have chanted slogans, carried anti-ICE signs and snarled traffic through downtown avenues and outside federal offices.
Activists are planning more and even larger demonstrations in the coming days, with "No Kings" events across the country on Saturday to coincide with Trump's planned military parade through Washington.
Meanwhile, back in L.A., Isaac said his hometown wouldn't take the military intervention lying down.
"The city of Los Angeles, California? We're not going to give up without a fight," he said. "We're sick and tired."
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With files from The Associated Press