2,000 LA anti-ICE rioters takeover 101 Freeway downtown as self-driving cars lit on fire in chaotic scene
Around 2,000 anti-ICE protesters took over a major highway in downtown Los Angeles while rioters lit self-driving cars on fire Sunday as the third day of demonstrations erupted in more chaos and destruction.
The massive crowd moved onto the 101 Freeway, blocking traffic around 4 p.m. local time, according to the LAPD.
3 California Highway Patrol (CHP) officers clear protestors who were blocking the 101 freeway on June 08, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.
Getty Images
3 California Highway Patrol (CHP) officers stand in a cloud of tear gas during a protest against federal immigration sweeps, in downtown Los Angeles, California, June 8, 2025.
REUTERS
The protesters blocked both lanes of the freeway, bringing traffic to a standstill as authorities in riot gear created a line beneath a bridge to prevent them from moving forward, the LAPD Central Division wrote on X.
California Highway Patrol officers in riot gear responded and corralled the crowd onto an exit ramp, forcing the protesters off the freeway. Gas canisters were seen being dispersed by officers, according to NBC Los Angeles.
3 A demonstrator gestures while posing for a photo in front of a burning car during a protest against federal immigration sweeps in downtown Los Angeles, California, June 8, 2025.
REUTERS
The freeway was reopened to car traffic a little more than an hour later.
This is a breaking story. Please check back for updates.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
12 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Downtown LA is a scene of pandemonium and lawlessness
A shirtless man waving a Mexican flag stands atop a burning car in the heart of Los Angeles, as another man throws a traffic cone into the flames and some play drums and shout chants in opposition to immigration officials. In the background, city hall can be glimpsed through a haze of thick black smoke. The downtown district of one of America's biggest cities was a scene of pandemonium and lawlessness as protests, which had previously been mainly peaceful, turned ugly. Critics of Donald Trump said the president's extraordinary decision to deploy National Guard troops, defying the wishes of the state's governor, had inflamed tensions and stoked emotions. The 101 Freeway, the main highway cutting through the downtown area, was also closed down for much of the day as police and protesters faced off, with flash bang devices sending some people scattering. Bottles and other projectiles were hurled towards police, who responded by using tear gas and rubber bullets. It was this chaos, his critics say, that Donald Trump wanted to provoke. Trump's decision to call in 2,000 National Guard troops, several hundred of whom were on the streets of LA on Sunday, was taken without consultation with the California governor and LA mayor, and marked an extraordinary escalation by the president. The military arrived on Sunday morning and was ordered to guard federal buildings, after two days of protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers. As part of Trump's closed border policy, ICE has been ordered to find, detain and deport as many illegal immigrants as possible, and it was these raids that stoked the first signs of protest on Friday into the weekend. By midday Sunday, the military was surrounded by protesters outside the Metropolitan Detention Centre in downtown LA. It was here that many immigrants had been held before being shipped off to detention facilities. The walls and floors are covered in expletive-ridden graffiti, reading f*** ICE. The Los Angeles police soon split the crowd and drove a wedge between the National Guard and the crowd. California Governor Gavin Newsom has called Donald Trump's acts those of a "dictator, not a president". He's formally requested that the Trump administration withdraw the National Guard. The White House say the military will remain there until order is restored. Five hundred marines are still on standby. Los Angeles Police Department police chief Jim McDonnell, asked whether the National Guard was needed, said: "This thing has gotten out of control." He said that although the LAPD would not initially have requested assistance from the National Guard, the disorder had caused him to reevaluate his assessment. Several people were arrested. Sky News witnessed a young woman, who called herself Gabriella, riding her motorbike at speed towards a line of police officers. Read more from Sky News:Analysis: Trump deploys federal force in LATrump claims CA officials 'can't do their jobs' One of the police officers used his arm to push her off the bike. She said she was protesting because her "people were being rounded up." Politicians on both sides of the aisle condemned the violence, but some vehemently disagreed about what actions led to the escalation.
Yahoo
13 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Insurrection Act not off the table for LA protests, Trump says
The Brief Speaking to reporters Sunday, Trump did not rule out invoking the Insurrection Act in response to the Los Angeles ICE protests. "We're not going to let them get away with it. We're going to have troops everywhere," Trump said. President Donald Trump said he won't rule out invoking the Insurrection Act as violent protests against federal immigration officers continue in Los Angeles for a third day. National Guard troops clashed with protesters Sunday, firing tear gas at crowds as protesters moved onto the freeways surrounding downtown and blocked traffic. Police said two LAPD officers were injured after they were hit by motorcyclists who tried to breach a skirmish line. Trump deployed hundreds of National Guard troops to California after confrontations between federal immigration officers and protesters who tried to stop them from carrying out immigration sweeps. THE LATEST: LA ICE protests, Day 3: National Guard arrives, as directed by Trump The backstory The Insurrection Act allows presidents to call on reserve or active-duty military units to respond to unrest in the states, an authority that is not reviewable by the courts. One of its few guardrails requires the president to request that the participants disperse. Congress passed the act in 1792, just four years after the Constitution was ratified. Joseph Nunn, a national security expert with the Brennan Center for Justice, told The Associated Press it's an amalgamation of different statutes enacted between then and the 1870s, a time when there was little in the way of local law enforcement. "It is a law that in many ways was created for a country that doesn't exist anymore," he added. READ MORE: Torrance 9-year-old detained by ICE faces potential deportation to Honduras It also is one of the most substantial exceptions to the Posse Comitatus Act, which generally prohibits using the military for law enforcement purposes. What they're saying Speaking to reporters Sunday, Trump did not rule out invoking the Insurrection Act in response to the Los Angeles ICE protests. "Depends on whether or not there's an insurrection," Trump said. "We're not going to let them get away with it. We're going to have troops everywhere, we're not going to let this happen to our country. We're not going to let our country be torn apart." Trump said he did not believe the protests constituted an insurrection as of Sunday afternoon, but he said, "you have violent people, and we're not going to let them get away with that." Dig deeper Presidents have issued a total of 40 proclamations invoking the law, some of those done multiple times for the same crisis, Nunn said. Lyndon Johnson invoked it three times — in Baltimore, Chicago and Washington — in response to the unrest in cities after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968. During the Civil Rights era, Presidents Johnson, John F. Kennedy and Dwight Eisenhower used the law to protect activists and students desegregating schools. Eisenhower sent the 101st Airborne to Little Rock, Arkansas, to protect Black students integrating Central High School after that state's governor activated the National Guard to keep the students out. George H.W. Bush was the last president to use the Insurrection Act, a response to riots in Los Angeles in 1992 after the acquittal of the white police officers who beat Black motorist Rodney King in an incident that was videotaped. The Source This report includes information from President Donald Trump's comments to reporters Sunday and previous reporting from FOX TV Stations. FOX's Catherine Stoddard contributed.
Yahoo
13 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Ukraine's drone attack halts work at electronic plant in Chuvashia, Russia says
(Reuters) -Production was temporarily suspended at an electronics company in Russia's Volga river region of Chuvashia, some 1,300 km (800 miles) from the border with Ukraine, after two drones fell on the plant's territory, the head of the region said on Monday. The strike - among the deepest into Russia by a Ukrainian drone in more than three years of the war - caused no casualties, Chuvashia Governor Oleg Nikolayev said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app. But "the responsible decision was made to temporarily suspend production to ensure the safety of employees" of the VNIIR enterprise where the drones fell, Nikolayev said. It was not immediately clear whether the drones caused any damage. Nikolayev said that another drone fell onto some fields in the area of the capital of the region, Cheboksary. The Russian defence ministry - which reports only how many drones were destroyed not how many Ukraine launched - said on Telegram that its units downed two drones over Chuvashia. In total, it said, air defence systems destroyed 49 Ukrainian drones overnight over Russia. According to photos and videos on unofficial Russian and Telegram news channels, the drones sparked a fire at the VNIIR plant that they said produces components for electronic warfare. Reuters could not independently verify the reports. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine. Kyiv has often said that its attacks inside Russia are aimed at destroying infrastructure key to Moscow's war efforts and are in response to the continued Russian strikes on Ukraine. The VNIIR Russian Scientific Research Design and Technological Institute of Relay Engineering with experimental production in Chuvashia is on the U.S. sanctions list, according to the U.S. Treasury website. A Ukrainian drone attack on the Voronezh region that borders Ukraine damaged a gas pipeline, cutting off gas supplies to 22 clients, the region's governor, Alexander Gusev, said on the Telegram.
