'I hate it': LA residents who surveyed vandalism fear more violence in future protests

USA Today

5 days ago

'I hate it': LA residents who surveyed vandalism fear more violence in future protests
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Families of Los Angeles workers detained by ICE want justice
Families of the people detained in ICE raids in Los Angeles are calling for for justice for their loved ones.
LOS ANGELES ‒ A day after downtown protests on the federal immigration crackdown turned fiery, a walk down the typically bustling Los Angeles Street showed the chaotic remnants.
A heavy police presence could be seen stretching for blocks as matching black and white police squad cars from neighboring cities, including Montebello, Campbell, and Alhambra, lined up. Profanity-laced graffiti was sprawled on several downtown buildings targeting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, spray-painted in many different colors.
They were mixed in with several "Return the Homies" messages, and a famous Thomas Jefferson quote: "When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty." Shards of glass were also scattered where windows had been shattered, including at the Los Angeles Police Department Metropolitan Detention Center and a nearby Federal Building.
And, not far from where the police fired tear gas and rubber bullets and where protesters hurled rocks and concrete, the remains of five self-driving WAYMO vehicles were charred as onlookers passed by and took photos with their smartphones.
The visual reminders were evident after tensions escalated in Los Angeles between law enforcement and protesters on June 8 as National Guard troops arrived to quell demonstrations against President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown. Residents who surveyed the damage and vandalism were disillusioned by what unfolded in their city and feared what might come next.
'A group of bad seeds'
Amid the aftermath on Los Angeles Street, local photographer Raymond Delgado stopped by again this time to take photos of the five destroyed Waymos that he compared to "skeletons."
Delgado said it's a rarity that so many of the driverless vehicles were parked down the street after police moved protesters away from the Federal Building as the activities turned chaotic.
"It kind of threw me off. Why were there so many Waymos in this area, on this street, parked like that," Delgado, 38, said. "I thought (the Waymos) would be ashes, I didn't think it would be bones. I'm surprised to see the skeletons still here."
He saw "a group of bad seeds" among the protesters who became violent. According to Delgado, they initially threw things at the police, then destroyed property, including spray painting, stomping on, and eventually setting ablaze the Waymos that were called to the scene.
"A couple of younger kids, just demolishing stuff, just looking for reasons to break stuff," Delgado said. "I don't see the point in that, I think it's frustration, a lot of hatred, just fighting back against the machine, against the system."
Delgado said he got hit with a rock during the skirmishes, "dodged a couple of rubber bullets," and missed getting tear-gassed as the rogue protesters were exploiting the protest's premise. He said a young woman who came to protest peacefully got struck with a rubber bullet and may have suffered a broken pinky finger.
"I think they were causing chaos and making us Angelenos look horrible, to be honest with you," Delgado explained. "And that's what we don't want, people getting hurt. I'm glad no one got shot last night, to be honest with you."
But he expects more violence to occur in future protests.
"I hate it," Delgado admitted. "I actually hate it."
'Pretty mesmerized at the level of destruction'
Kate Williams, an artist in town for work, was walking on the peaceful streets where the protests erupted the previous night to investigate the aftermath.
She said she approached the police officers by the ICE building and asked if she should be concerned and if they were expecting anything on June 9.
"And they said, 'I would order in actually. I would order two meals in. It's probably going to be bad tonight,'" Williams shared. "I saw they were putting up barricades for the roads around City Hall as I walked over here."
By here, near the intersection of Los Angeles and Arcadia Streets, Williams encountered the burned-out Waymos. All five cars were reduced to rubble and almost perfectly lined up, one after the other, as people took photos with their phones.
"I am pretty speechless," Williams said. "I, of course, saw the photos on the news of the car before it was set on fire, when it was all graffitied. And I don't know. I mean, it's crazy times. It's interesting times."
Williams said she is a photographer and came to document the aftermath, and that included the Waymos.
"So when I saw the heaps of rubble, I was pretty mesmerized at the level of destruction," she said. "I'm just reminded of that when I see something like this that took so much anger, so much passion to get to this point."
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'They just lit 'em all on fire'
Diana Doo, a nonprofit worker and activist, who lives just blocks from downtown Los Angeles, said she initially saw three Waymos before coming to take a closer look as the protesters headed north on Los Angeles Street.
"Then I saw there were five… and I was like, 'Oh, oh, they're vandalizing the cars,'" said Doo, pointing to a Waymo near her that protesters set on fire at about 4 p.m. local time. "I said, 'I hope they don't burn them up.' I was freaking out.
"And after they started with the first one," she continued. "And this one, this one, and they just lit all of 'em on fire."
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Museums vandalized during the protests
About 20 feet from the Waymos stood the Chinese American Museum, covered with graffiti and smashed windows. But it wasn't the only museum vandalized during the protests, said Mariana Gatto, the co-founder and executive director of the Italian American Museum of Los Angeles.
"We sustained significant damage," Gatto said. "The building is historic. It's listed on the National Registry of Historic Places. So the historic brick, our windows, the entry, are all seriously vandalized. This is the second time in six months."
Gatto said the museum is open to the public for free and serves marginalized communities.
"We appreciate people's right to express their First Amendment freedoms. But this is not peaceful demonstration," Gatto said. "It destroys our communities."
'My city don't play'
Others saw the defiant destruction as a direct message to Trump and ICE.
'My city don't play,' said Trinity Clay, 21, a Los Angeles native who now lives in Woodland Hills. "We didn't play during Rodney King, we went crazy after George Floyd, and now you're sending the National Guard against my people. That's a violation of our civil rights."
A second-year sociology major at L.A. Valley College, Clay said she's had to tell her 7-year-old daughter what's going on if some of her Latino classmates don't show up at school.
"I had to warn her about ICE and not to be scared if they may come to her school and take her friends away," Clay said. "It's that real."
But Clay said she doesn't want to see escalating violence if the protests persist "because they want us to hurt each other."
As a group of masked protesters waving combined Mexican and U.S. flags passed by Clay and the destroyed Waymos, Clay offered them a piece of advice.
"Hey y'all," Clay said. "Try to keep it peaceful, OK?"