Trump wants to ‘liberate' Los Angeles, residents say ‘No thanks'

Straits Times

a day ago

A neighbourhood known as Little Tokyo has been hit hardest by the unrest rocking Los Angeles. PHOTO: AFP
LOS ANGELES – US President Donald Trump has said he sent in the National Guard and Marines to 'liberate' Los Angeles from the violence of protesters, but some residents of Little Tokyo, a neighbourhood hit hardest by the unrest, are saying: No thanks, Mr President.
A dozen people who live, work or frequent the neighbourhood, where Japanese is heard spoken as frequently as English in shops and restaurants, told Reuters Mr Trump's use of the military was inflaming the protests against recent immigration raids in Los Angeles.
'The president sending in the National Guard and Marines has only made things worse. It's made the protesters go crazy,' said Ms Sulieti Havili, who lives nearby and helps run a Pokemon club with over 6,000 members that routinely plays in Little Tokyo. 'They are doing nothing to protect this community.'
Ms Havili, 25, who was out picking up rubbish in Little Tokyo with her Pokemon club partner Nolberto Aguilar, 42, said it was clear to her that Mr Trump sending in thousands of military personnel 'brought out the worst in the protesters' and only served to aggravate the situation.
Mr Aguilar added that Mr Trump's deployment of troops was thwarting the will of most Los Angeles residents and their local leaders, fanning the flames created by ICE immigration raids that he said targeted law-abiding immigrants.
The Trump administration says its immigration raids are rounding up de facto criminals for lacking proper documents to stay in the United States.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has said the use of military personnel to combat the protests has 'inflamed a combustible situation' and warned that 'democracy is under assault'.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has said Mr Trump's use of troops was a deliberate effort to create 'chaos'.
The Trump administration strongly rejects the accusations and says their actions are needed in the face of local and state leaders' inability to get the situation under control.
'Instigating' action
Little Tokyo, a charming neighbourhood with shops selling Japanese goods and restaurants serving up some of the city's finest sushi, abuts the federal buildings where protesters have gathered for five nights in a row.
For the past two nights, when police and National Guard troops have forcibly dispersed protesters in the early evening, demonstrators scatter into smaller groups into Little Tokyo, which has been covered with anti-ICE and anti-Trump graffiti.
Running skirmishes well into the night in the neighbourhood has seen police use booming flash bangs and firing other 'less lethal' munitions at protesters.
Artists and social activists clean graffiti after days of protests in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Several of those interviewed in Little Tokyo asked that they not be named, saying they feared reprisals from the federal government. Many were immigrants themselves or have family members who were not born in the US, and feared making themselves or their loved ones targets of ICE.
One of those was Anthony, who works at a tea shop in the neighbourhood.
'There is no question that the president sending in thousands of National Guard and 700 Marines has done nothing but make the protesters more aggressive,' he said. 'It's instigating the protesters and making things worse.'
Ms Samantha Lopez, a descendant of Filipino immigrants who works at a Korean ice cream parlour in Little Tokyo, said she felt empathy for the demonstrators but rejected any acts of vandalism or violence they carry out.
Still, she blamed the use of military personnel for creating the unrest.
'It's just poor handling of protests that stay peaceful until they're confronted by officers,' Ms Lopez said. 'It's bad for business, and it's bad for this neighbourhood.' REUTERS
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