'I was at LA protests - cops swarmed as terrified families fought for rights'

Daily Mirror

a day ago

Donald Trump ordered the deployment of National Guard troops into Los Angeles following anti-ICE protests where people unhappy with the aggressive immigration policy have taken to the streets
Arriving in Los Angeles after nearly a week of anti-ICE demonstrations in the city, the National Guard being called in and President Donald Trump threatening to arrest California Gov. Gavin Newsom, I had no idea what I was walking into.
Parking about two blocks away from Los Angeles City Hall, I made my way down Main Street to the now scattered protests near the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building, where much of the weekend protests took place. On my way, I saw the vandalism scrawled over signage, buildings, and sidewalks throughout downtown - but I did not see rioting, I did not see looting. I saw people fighting for their rights.
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Despite the pushed narrative, I saw a scared community on Tuesday. Afraid of having their families ripped apart, fearful of seeing their friends and neighbours taken away, and scared that this could only be the beginning. I saw what Americans have done since a group of colonists hurled tea into the Boston Harbor in 1773 to protest their government - use their rights.
To me, there's nothing more fundamentally American than the right to protest your government's actions. Engaging in protest honors the millions of lives sacrificed so that we may have the right to do so. As Abraham Lincoln said, "We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain-that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom-and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
Making my way past the Federal Building, I saw what appeared to be heavily armed National Guardsmen patrolling the entrance, with a handful of protesters lobbing insults and jeers at them as they stood stoic and at attention.
Large swaths of LAPD and California Highway Patrol officers lined the streets, blocking foot traffic to the Federal Detention Center, where many of the people swept up in Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids over the past several days were being held. As the day wore on, more and more heavily armed officers arrived on the scene, with some bystanders telling me they had already detained several people and set off canisters of tear gas and flash bangs, although I did not witness that myself.
The first demonstrator I spoke with told me he flew all the way from Wisconsin to attend the protest, saying these protests were history in the making and he couldn't watch from the sidelines.
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"I booked a one-way ticket here, brought my camera, and here I am, just here supporting a lot of different stuff mainly, but the fact is the system of capitalism has failed us," said Liam, who did not wish to provide his last name. "I'm very passionate about my country, and people like to say I'm not patriotic, but I think the most patriotic thing you can do is realize your country's flaws and work to change them."
A theme of many left-leaning protests I've attended over the years has been everyone bringing their own cause into the demonstration, regardless of whether it is the main cause being highlighted, and that was no different on Tuesday.
Many used the demonstration to air out every grievance they had with the Trump administration, whether it be cuts to the federal government, immigration, or the war in Gaza.
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For much of the day, I found myself bouncing back and forth between several scattered protests all over downtown, and the police, to their credit, were very much restrained from what I witnessed. Nearly everyone carried signs and engaged in traditional call-and-response chants such as "Who's streets? OUR STREETS" and "Show me what democracy looks like. THIS IS WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE."
One woman said she came out to set an example for her son that what the Trump administration is doing to immigrants is morally wrong.
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"I don't agree with what ICE is doing; I don't agree with illegal search and seizures just because the Trump administration thinks this is okay-mobilizing the military for domestic reasons? When we're not even doing anything. Some bad actors are causing violence and throwing things at the cops, and I don't stand for that. I stand for peaceful protesting and utilizing my First Amendment right to disagree with what they're doing," said Danielle Kahl.
"It's not okay, and I don't agree with it, and I'm not gonna teach my kid that it's okay. I'm gonna teach my kid that he needs to see for himself what's going on with his own eyes and then decide for himself."
Not all those present were there to support the immigrant community; some seemingly were there to antagonize the protesters and elicit a response. One man continued screaming about how ICE was deporting child sex traffickers and, when confronted by protesters, quickly backed off and attempted to play the victim.
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At one point, a man told a black woman arguing with the man to not even respond to his attempts to antagonize, to which the man replied to her, "Listen to your overseer," something that I, and many others, took as blatantly racist remarks, alluding to chattel slavery.
Even those who Trump's aggressive immigration policy may not directly affect turned out to support the Los Angeles community, saying they can't live their day-to-day lives knowing that innocent families are being torn apart.
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"I just can't sit by anymore, act like nothing is happening, and just live my day-to-day life. Okay, criminals, he [Trump] ran on that, that's what he's gonna do. I'm not okay with the children; there are no children that are criminals; they're getting taken out of our schools; we should all be affected, we're all affected," said Scottie Taylor while holding a sign that read, "Jesus was never brutal."
"I'm a 50-year-old white woman; I've had friends that have had their husbands deported. But the main reason I'm here today is because I'm tired of them trying to distort the narrative, and I'm here because, again, I'm a 50-year-old white woman in the middle of downtown LA, and I feel safe. There's no need for 4,000 National Guard troops," Taylor added.
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As more heavily armed police officers made their way downtown to contend with several groups of protesters blocking the 101 Freeway, something done during many protests in the city, I thought things might be winding down for the day. I decided to make my way back to the entrance of the Federal Building, where the same 15 or so National Guardsmen were guarding the door.
As I photographed them, I noticed what appeared to be the commanding officers bark out several orders, and the troops stepped forward. Looking up from my camera, I saw two of the largest groups of protesters I'd seen that day, converging in front of the building and marching uptown towards LA Live and Crypto.cm arena.
This was the main event of the day, and tired and sunburned as I was, I ran to the front of the pack and followed them as they marched through the greater Los Angeles area, all the way up to the 110 Freeway entrance and back down to City Hall.
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Thousands of people flooded the streets with many cars tailing behind them, honking their horns in support, hanging out the window waving Mexican and American flags, and chanting "ICE OUT OF LA" as they made their way down the street. And when I say down the street, I mean they were in the middle of the street, blocking traffic with little police presence around them.
However, drivers didn't seem annoyed by them; they honked their horns in support and leaned out the window to yell encouraging messages. As I approached the front of the protest, a man tapped me on the shoulder to show me something on his phone. A news alert said that Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass had imposed an 8 p.m. curfew for downtown LA. I thanked him and continued following the protestors.
This was when I saw with my own eyes blatant vandalism taking place, with some people jumping out of their cars to spray the side of highway onramps and buildings, some with completely irrelevant messages, making clear they were likely just opportunists, taking advantage of the situation. One of the people even accosted me to snap a photo of him spraying the graffiti, which struck me as odd, as many protesters throughout the day covered their faces when I pointed my camera at them, not wanting to be seen at the protest.
As my legs grew tired and my resolve weakened, I checked the time on my phone, which told me it was 7:30 pm, which was my signal to wrap it up as I did not want to be caught outside past the imposed curfew. Thirsty and tired, I found salvation at a local 7/11, where I refueled with a Mountain Dew. I called an Uber to take me back to my car and called it a night. Sitting in my Uber recounting the day's events to my driver Angel, we both look on in shock as several military vehicles carrying what I can only assume to be National Guard troops; I wondered whether what I saw that day warranted a full-blown military response.