
Cars On Fire, US National Guard On Roads: Los Angeles Protests Intensify
Los Angeles:
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 autonomous vehicles on fire as local law enforcement used tear gas, rubber bullets, and flash bangs to control the crowd.
Some police patrolled the streets on horseback while others with riot gear lined up behind Guard troops deployed to protect federal facilities including a detention center where some immigrants were taken in recent days.
The clashes came on the third day of demonstrations against Trump's immigration crackdown in the region, as the arrival of around 300 federal troops spurred anger and fear among some residents.
Got this the other side of the Waymo fires pic.twitter.com/HVOXKZtI3V
— Los Angeles Scanner (@LosAngeles_Scan) June 9, 2025
By midday, hundreds had gathered outside the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, where people were detained after earlier immigration raids. Protesters directed chants of "shame" and "go home" at members of the National Guard, who stood shoulder to shoulder, carrying long guns and riot shields.
After some protesters 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 California Highway Patrol officers cleared them from the roadway by late afternoon.
The presence of the Guard was "inflaming tensions" in the city, according to a letter sent to Trump by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sunday afternoon. He formerly requested Trump remove the guard members, which he called a "serious breach of state sovereignty."
"What we're seeing in Los Angeles is chaos that is provoked by the administration," said Mayor Karen Bass in an afternoon press conference. "This is about another agenda, this isn't about public safety."
Trump has said the National Guard was necessary because Newsom and other Democrats have failed to stanch recent protests targeting immigration agents.
Their 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.
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.
As federal agents set up a staging area Saturday near a Home Depot in Paramount, demonstrators attempted to block Border Patrol vehicles, with some hurling rocks and chunks of cement. In response, agents in riot gear unleashed tear gas, flash-bang explosives and pepper balls.
Tensions were high after a series of sweeps by immigration authorities the previous day, as the weeklong tally of immigrant arrests in the city climbed above 100. A prominent union leader was arrested while protesting and accused of impeding law enforcement.
The recent protests remain far smaller than past events that have 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. We're not going to let our country be torn apart like it was under Biden." He didn't elaborate.
Trump also said that California officials who stand in the way of the deportations could face charges. A Wisconsin judge was arrested last month on accusations she helped a man evade immigration authorities.
"If officials stay in the way of law and order, yeah, they will face charges," Trump said.
Newsom called Trump on Friday night and they spoke for about 40 minutes, according to the governor's office. It was not clear if they spoke Saturday or Sunday.
There was some confusion surrounding the exact timing of the guard's arrival. Shortly before midnight local time, Trump congratulated the National Guard on a "job well done." But less than an hour later, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said troops had yet to arrive in the city.
Defense secretary threatens to deploy active-duty Marines 'if violence continues'
In a statement Sunday, Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin accused California's politicians and protesters of "defending heinous illegal alien criminals at the expense of Americans' safety."
"Instead of rioting, they should be thanking ICE officers every single day who wake up and make our communities safer," McLaughlin added.
The troops included members of the California Army National Guard's 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, according to a social media post from the Department of Defense.
In a signal of the administration's aggressive approach, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also threatened to deploy active-duty Marines "if violence continues" in the region.
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.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said the order by Trump reflected "a president moving this country rapidly into authoritarianism" and "usurping the powers of the United States Congress."
Former Vice President Kamala Harris, who lives in Los Angeles, said the immigration arrests and Guard deployment were designed as part of a "cruel, calculated agenda to spread panic and division."
She said she supports those "standing up to protect our most fundamental rights and freedoms."
House Speaker Mike Johnson, a staunch Trump ally, endorsed the president's move, doubling down on Republicans' criticisms of California Democrats.
"Gavin Newsom has shown an inability or an unwillingness to do what is necessary, so the president stepped in," Johnson said.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Hindustan Times
14 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Donald Trump has many ways to hurt Elon Musk
THERE WAS a time, not long ago, when an important skill for journalists was translating the code in which powerful people spoke about each other. Carefully prepared speeches and other public remarks would be dissected for hints about the arguments happening in private. Among Donald Trump's many achievements is upending this system. In his administration people seem to say exactly what they think at any given moment. Wild threats are made—to end habeas corpus; to take Greenland by force—without any follow-through. Journalists must now try to guess what is real and what is for show. So it is with the break-up between Mr Trump and Elon Musk, the world's richest man and until last week a 'special government employee'. A few months ago Mr Musk posted on X, his social-media platform, that he loved the president 'as much as a straight man can love another man'. On May 30th, at a joint press conference in the Oval Office to announce Mr Musk's departure from government, Mr Trump called him 'an incredible patriot' and praised his work with the Department of Government Efficiency (known as DOGE). Yet by June 5th it had all broken down. On his Truth Social media platform the president posted that the billionaire was 'wearing thin' and 'went CRAZY'. Mr Trump then threatened to 'terminate' his government contracts. Mr Musk responded on X, claiming that Mr Trump's name appears in the government's files on Jeffrey Epstein, the late financier who was convicted of trafficking and having sex with underage girls. 'That is the real reason they have not been made public,' wrote Mr Musk. Later he agreed with a post saying that Mr Trump should be impeached. He also said he would begin decommissioning his Dragon spacecraft, which transports astronauts to the International Space Station. If carried out, the threats could be disastrous for both men. Mr Trump could lose a valuable donor and the supportive sway of X; Mr Musk's business interests could suffer enormously. But in response to a comment advising him to 'cool off', Mr Musk wrote 'good advice' and backtracked on his call to decommission the Dragon. Where things go from here is anyone's guess. The initial cause of the falling out between Mr Trump and his 'first buddy' was the president's so-called 'One Big Beautiful Bill'. Mr Musk was incensed that the measure would add enormously to the deficit, and so undermine the work of DOGE. On June 3rd he escalated his criticism, calling the bill a 'disgusting abomination'. On June 5th he added another complaint, saying that Mr Trump's tariffs are going to bring about a recession. Mr Trump has his own explanation for Mr Musk's sudden disloyalty. He says the Tesla CEO is unhappy because his bill would cancel a government subsidy for electric cars created by Joe Biden. If Mr Trump does decide to retaliate, the risks to Mr Musk and his businesses are extensive. The threats the president has already made, however, are the least credible. Cancelling the contracts of SpaceX, Mr Musk's space company, would be profoundly disruptive to the government. Without SpaceX rockets, it would struggle to put anything into space, including spy satellites. The Pentagon relies heavily on the firm's Starlink satellites. SpaceX itself could probably weather such moves. Though it has benefited greatly from government contracts, the firm's commercial revenues soared nearly three-fold last year, according to estimates by Quilty Space, a business-intelligence firm. Mr Musk has also wanted to cancel the Dragon spacecraft for some time. Steve Bannon, a former adviser to Mr Trump who is no fan of Mr Musk, has proposed even bigger penalties. He wants the South African-born billionaire to be stripped of his American citizenship—he says Mr Musk is an 'illegal alien'—and his companies nationalised under the Defence Production Act. Such actions also seem unrealistic. Stripping Mr Musk's citizenship would require a judge to rule he committed fraud. The Defence Production Act almost certainly does not permit sudden nationalisation, even if the country is at war. That does not mean Mr Musk can breathe easy, though. His interests are vulnerable to more routine measures. At the time he entered government in January, he and his companies were subject to 65 potential or actual regulatory actions by 11 federal agencies, according to the minority staff of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, an arm of the Senate. These include accusations that Tesla, Mr Musk's car company, lied about its self-driving technology; that Neuralink, his brain-implant company, violated the Animal Welfare Act with its experiments on monkeys; and that SpaceX repeatedly failed to follow the law when launching rockets. (As head of DOGE, Mr Musk was able to dismantle some of the agencies within the government investigating him, such as the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau.) One of the reasons why Silicon Valley magnates like Mr Musk rallied around Mr Trump last year was that he promised a more favourable regulatory environment. But 'there was always the risk that what they were buying instead were the conditions of oligarchy', says Donald Moynihan of the Gerald Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan. That is, business leaders who are loyal to the president get to operate as they like, while those who are critical get the full force of the law. Mr Musk may be about to discover what life is like outside the tent. Perhaps on feeling the cold he will find a way back inside. Get 360° coverage—from daily headlines to 100 year archives.


Time of India
19 minutes ago
- Time of India
‘Time for a wheelchair': Internet reacts after Donald Trump stumbles on Air Force One steps
(Source: X) US President Donald Trump stumbled while climbing the steps of Air Force One on Sunday, and the internet wasted no time poking fun. Trump was accompanied by US secretary of state Marco Rubio, who was boarding the plane en route to Camp David after speaking with reporters in Hagerstown, Maryland. The moment quickly went viral, drawing comparisons to the times Trump had mocked former US President Joe Biden for similar mishaps. 'Time to get Old Man Trump fitted for a wheelchair,' wrote political commentator Ron Filipkowski on X. Northwestern law lecturer Jason DeSanto added: 'More beta energy.' Political strategist Marco Frieri joked, 'Cannot wait for all the books and wall-to-wall coverage.' Journalist Aaron Rupar said, 'When Joe Biden did stuff like this, Fox would play the clips over and over like it was as significant as the moon landing.' RC Huffman quipped, 'I'm surprised he hasn't replaced those stairs with a portable escalator of some kind.' The stumble came shortly after Trump was asked whether he would invoke the Insurrection Act to respond to escalating protests in Los Angeles following a wave of immigration raids. 'Depends on whether or not there's an insurrection,' he told reporters. When pressed further on whether he believes such an insurrection is taking place, Trump replied, 'No, no, but you have violent people. And we're not going to let them get away with it.' Asked if he would consider deploying troops even without invoking the law, Trump doubled down. '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 like it was under Biden.' Trump, who frequently criticised Biden for falling during public appearances, once called Biden's 2023 fall at a graduation event 'not inspiring.' At a campaign stop in Iowa, he had also said: 'I hope he wasn't hurt. You don't want that.'


Mint
21 minutes ago
- Mint
How Trump's trade war is supercharging fast fashion industry
Sydney, When US President Donald Trump introduced sweeping new tariffs on Chinese imports the goal was to bring manufacturing back to American soil and protect local jobs. However, this process of re-shoring is complex and requires years of investment and planning – far too slow for the world of ultra-fast fashion, where brands are used to reacting in weeks, not years. Many clothing companies started to move production out of China during Trump's first term. They relocated to countries such as Vietnam and Cambodia when the initial China-specific tariffs hit. This trend accelerated with the newer 'reciprocal' tariffs. Instead of re-shoring production, many fashion brands are simply sourcing from whichever country offers the lowest total cost after tariffs. The result? The ultra-fast fashion machine adapted quickly and became even more exploitative. From Guangzhou to your wardrobe in days Platforms such as Shein and Temu built their success by offering trend-driven clothing at shockingly low prices. A USD 5 dress or USD 3 top might seem like a bargain, but those prices hide a lot. Much of Shein's production takes place in the so-called 'Shein village' in Guangzhou, China, where workers often sew for 12–14 hours a day under poor conditions to keep pace with the demand for new items. When the US cracked down on Chinese imports, the intention was to make American-made goods more competitive. This included raising the tariff on Chinese goods as high as 145 per cent , and closing the 'de minimis' loophole, which had allowed imports under USD 800 to enter tariff-free. But these tariffs did not halt ultra-fast fashion. They just rerouted production to countries with lower tariffs and even lower labour costs. The Philippines, with a comparatively low tariff rate of 17 per cent, emerged as a surprising alternative. However, the country can't provide the industrial scale and infrastructure to match what China can offer. So why does Australia matter? Much of the cheap fashion previously bound for the US is now flooding other markets, including Australia. Australia still allows most low-value imports to enter tax-free, and platforms such as Shein and Temu have taken full advantage. Australian consumers are among the most frequent Shein and Temu buyers per capita globally. Just 3 per cent of clothing is made in Australia and most labels rely on offshore manufacturing. This makes Australia an ideal target market for ultra-fast fashion imports. We have high purchasing power, lenient import rules and strong demand for low-cost style, especially due to the cost-of-living crisis. The hidden costs of cheap clothes The environmental impact of fast fashion is well known. However, amid the chaos of Trump's tariff announcements, far less attention has been paid to how these policies – together with the retreat from climate commitments – worsen environmental harms, including those linked to fast fashion. The irony is that the tariffs meant to protect American workers have, in some cases, worsened conditions for workers elsewhere. Meanwhile, consumers in Australia now benefit from faster delivery of even cheaper goods as Temu, Shein and others have improved their shipping capabilities to Australia. Australian consumers send more than 200,000 tonnes of clothing to landfill each year. But the deeper problem is structural. The entire business model is built on exploitation and environmental damage. Factory workers bear the brunt of cost-cutting. In the race to stay competitive, many manufacturers reduce wages and overlook hazardous working conditions. Will ethical fashion ever compete? Fixing these problems will require a global rethink of how fashion operates. Governments have a role in regulating disclosures about supply chains and enforcing labour standards. Brands need to take responsibility for the conditions in their factories, whether directly owned or outsourced. Transparency is essential. Alternatives to fast fashion are gaining traction. Clothing rentals are emerging as a promising business model that help build a more circular fashion economy. Charity-run op shops have long been a sustainable source of second-hand clothing. Australia's new Seamless scheme seeks to make fashion brands responsible for the full life of the clothes they sell. The aim is to help people buy, wear and recycle clothes in a more sustainable way. Consumers also matter. If we continue to expect clothes to cost less than a cup of coffee, change will be slow. Recognising that a USD 5 t-shirt has hidden costs, borne by people on the factory floor and the environment, is a first step. Some ethical brands are already showing a better way and offer clothes made under fairer conditions and with sustainable materials. These clothes are not as cheap or fast, but they represent a more conscious alternative especially for consumers concerned about synthetic fibres, toxic chemicals and environmental harm. Trump reshuffled the deck, but did not change the game Trump's trade rules aim to re-balance global trade in favour of American industry, yet have cost companies more than USD 34 billion in lost sales and higher costs. This cost will eventually fall on US consumers. In ultra-fast fashion, it mostly exposed how fragile and exploitative the system already was. Today, brands such as Shein and Temu are thriving in Australia. But unless we address the systemic inequalities in fashion production and rethink the incentives that drive this market, the true cost of cheap clothing will continue to be paid by those least able to afford it. PY PY This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.