Protests intensify in Los Angeles after Trump deploys hundreds of
National Guard troops
[June 09, 2025]
By JASON DEAREN, JAIMIE DING and JAKE OFFENHARTZ
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Tensions in Los Angeles escalated Sunday as thousands
of protesters took to the streets in response to President Donald
Trump’s extraordinary deployment of the National Guard, blocking off a
major freeway and setting self-driving cars on fire as law enforcement
used tear gas, rubber bullets and flash bangs to control the crowd.
Many protesters dispersed as evening fell and police declared an
unlawful assembly, a precursor to officers moving in and making arrests
of people who don’t leave. Some of those remaining threw objects at
police from behind a makeshift barrier that spanned the width of a
street and others hurled chunks of concrete, rocks, electric scooters
and fireworks at California Highway Patrol officers and their vehicles
parked on the closed southbound 101 Freeway. Officers ran under an
overpass to take cover.
Sunday’s protests in Los Angeles, a sprawling city of 4 million people,
were centered in several blocks of downtown. It was the third and most
intense day of demonstrations against Trump’s immigration crackdown in
the region, as the arrival of around 300 Guard troops spurred anger and
fear among many residents.
The Guard was deployed specifically to protect federal buildings,
including the downtown detention center where protesters concentrated.
Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said officers were “overwhelmed”
by the remaining protesters. He said they included regular agitators who
show up at demonstrations to cause trouble.
Several dozen people were arrested throughout the weekend of protest.
One was detained Sunday for throwing a Molotov cocktail at police, and
another for ramming a motorcycle into a line of officers.
Trump responded to McDonnell on Truth Social, telling him to arrest
protesters in face masks.
“Looking really bad in L.A. BRING IN THE TROOPS!!!” he wrote.
Clashes escalate as National Guard troops arrive
Starting in the morning, the troops stood shoulder to shoulder, carrying
long guns and riot shields as protesters shouted “shame” and “go home."
After some closely approached the guard members, another set of
uniformed officers advanced on the group, shooting smoke-filled
canisters into the street.
Minutes later, the Los Angeles Police Department fired rounds of
crowd-control munitions to disperse the protesters, who they said were
assembled unlawfully. Much of the group then moved to block traffic on
the 101 freeway until state patrol officers cleared them from the
roadway by late afternoon.
Nearby, at least four self-driving Waymo cars were set on fire, sending
large plumes of black smoke into the sky and exploding intermittently as
the electric vehicles burned. By evening, police had issued an unlawful
assembly order shutting down several blocks of downtown Los Angeles.
Flash bangs echoed out every few seconds into the evening.
Governor says Guard not needed
Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom requested Trump remove the guard members in
a letter Sunday afternoon, calling their deployment a “serious breach of
state sovereignty.” He was in Los Angeles meeting with local law
enforcement and officials.
The deployment appeared to be the first time in decades that a state’s
national guard was activated without a request from its governor, a
significant escalation against those who have sought to hinder the
administration’s mass deportation efforts.
Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass blamed the increasingly
aggressive protests on Trump's decision to deploy the Guard, calling it
a move designed to enflame tensions. They've both urged protesters to
remain peaceful.
“What we’re seeing in Los Angeles is chaos that is provoked by the
administration," she said in an afternoon press conference. “This is
about another agenda, this isn’t about public safety.”
But McDonnell, the LAPD chief, said the protests were following a
similar pattern for episodes of civil unrest, with things ramping up in
the second and third days.
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Multiple Waymo taxis burn near the Metropolitan Detention Center of
downtown Los Angeles, Sunday, June 8, 2025, following last night's
immigration raid protest. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)
He pushed back against claims by the Trump administration that the
LAPD had failed to help federal authorities when protests broke out
Friday after a series of immigration raids. His department responded
as quickly as it could, and had not been notified in advance of the
raids and therefore was not pre-positioned for protests, he said.
Newsom, meanwhile, has repeatedly said that California authorities
had the situation under control. He mocked Trump for posting a
congratulatory message to the Guard on social media before troops
had even arrived in Los Angeles, and said on MSNBC that Trump never
floated deploying the Guard during a Friday phone call. He called
Trump a “stone cold liar.”
The admonishments did not deter the administration.
“It’s a bald-faced lie for Newsom to claim there was no problem in
Los Angeles before President Trump got involved,” White House
spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement.
Deployment follows days of protest
The arrival of the National Guard followed two days of protests that
began Friday in downtown Los Angeles before spreading on Saturday to
Paramount, a heavily Latino city south of the city, and neighboring
Compton.
Federal agents arrested immigrants in LA's fashion district, in a
Home Depot parking lot and at several other locations on Friday. The
next day, they were staging at a Department of Homeland Security
office near another Home Depot in Paramount, which drew out
protesters who suspected another raid. Federal authorities later
said there was no enforcement activity at that Home Depot.
The weeklong tally of immigrant arrests in the LA area climbed above
100, federal authorities said. Many more were arrested while
protesting, including a prominent union leader who was accused of
impeding law enforcement.
The protests did not reach the size of past demonstrations that
brought the National Guard to Los Angeles, including the Watts and
Rodney King riots, and the 2020 protests against police violence, in
which Newsom requested the assistance of federal troops.
The last time the National Guard was activated without a governor's
permission was in 1965, when President Lyndon B. Johnson sent troops
to protect a civil rights march in Alabama, according to the Brennan
Center for Justice.
Trump says there will be ‘very strong law and order’
In a directive Saturday, Trump invoked a legal provision allowing
him to deploy federal service members when there is ”a rebellion or
danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the
United States.”
He said he had authorized the deployment of 2,000 members of the
National Guard.
Trump told reporters as he prepared to board Air Force One in
Morristown, New Jersey, Sunday that there were “violent people” in
Los Angeles “and they’re not gonna get away with it.”
Asked if he planned to send U.S. troops to Los Angeles, Trump
replied: “We’re gonna have troops everywhere. We’re not going to let
this happen to our country.” He didn’t elaborate.
About 500 Marines stationed at Twentynine Palms, about 125 miles
(200 kilometers) east of Los Angeles were in a “prepared to deploy
status” Sunday afternoon, according to the U.S. Northern Command.
___
Offenhartz reported from New York. Associated Press writer Michelle
Price contributed to this report from Bridgewater, New Jersey.
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