2 days ago
LA police shot my photographer in the head
A pepper ball round thwacks my colleague in the side of the head as we run away from police.
A cloud of the irritant fills the air, coating my goggles, followed by a crackle and the glare of flash bangs.
'Go, go, go!' he shouts.
Police officers are firing into the crowd protesting against Donald Trump's immigration crackdown in downtown Los Angeles.
Once again, reporters appear to be in the crosshairs.
Jon Putman, The Telegraph's photographer, took a blow to the head, one of many journalists hit or detained since protests broke out on Friday.
Jon was struck in the ear, narrowly avoiding a serious injury.
'If it hit me right in the head it would have knocked me down and I would have been out of commission,' he said.
Los Angeles is being heavily militarised. Mr Trump sent in 1,700 of National Guard over the weekend, and a further 700 marines on Monday.
There are now more US soldiers here than in Syria.
We weren't the only journalists to come under fire amidst the protests on Monday night, which appear to be shrinking in scale but not intensity.
There have been more than two dozen attacks on reporters covering the Los Angeles riots in the past few days, with clearly identified members of the press having been shot at point-blank range by police officers.
An Australian broadcaster was shot in the leg, a New York Post photographer in the head and a CNN reporter was briefly detained live on air.
British photojournalist Nick Stern required emergency surgery after being shot by an explosive round on Saturday.
Sergio Olmos, an investigative reporter for the nonprofit news outlet CalMatters, told the Washington Post that he had never seen more non-lethal rounds used at a protest.
On Monday evening, the smell of paint lingered in the air in Los Angeles as teenagers spray painted the pavements, walls and bus stops with slogans such as 'fight hate with hate' and 'I'll be here till I decide not to be'.
Snipers stationed on the roof of the Federal Building watched through binoculars as protesters climbed traffic lights and revved their motorcycles.
A black Cybertruck graffitied with 'f--- ICE' [US Immigration and Customs Enforcement] was filmed driving around the protest with a Mexican flag attached to the back. On Sunday, demonstrators torched self-driving cars, threw Molotov cocktails, fireworks and scooters at police officers.
Officers have fired non-lethal rounds into crowds, and in at least one instance were filmed firing pepper ball rounds (small plastic bullets filled with irritant) point blank at a protester before hitting him with batons.
In another, ICE officers swept in on a man in a yellow jacket before tackling him to the ground and arresting him, while other protesters were detained, their hands zip-tied behind their backs, and put into police vans.
The protests erupted in the city on Friday in response to ICE officers conducting a string of raids as part of Mr Trump's aggressive immigration policies. More than 40 people – said to be day labourers – were targeted at a Home Depot car park and Ambiance Apparel, a clothing manufacturer, in LA's fashion district.
The crackdown is the Trump administration's latest test to the limits to his presidential authority to force Democrat-run states to adhere to federal decree, while also attempting to show its might by ordering troops onto the streets.
US Marines have been deployed domestically for major disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and the September 11 attacks in 2001, but it is extremely rare for the military to be used for domestic policing.
When all the deployed officers arrive, it will mean there are more than 4,000 troops in Los Angeles, more than double the number of US troops in Syria.
The news of yet more reinforcements further inflamed tensions between Gavin Newsom, the California governor, and Mr Trump, who continued to publicly attack each other on Monday.
Mr Newsom, who has sued the administration to try and block the deployment of marines and troops, accused the Trump administration of mistreating those already in the city, of which only 300 have so far have been deployed.
Sharing a picture of troops dressed in fatigues sleeping on the floor, Mr Newsom wrote: 'If anyone is treating our troops disrespectfully, it is you.'
He urged the US president to 'grow up' and urged him 'get it over with, arrest me, move on, if you need some head to scalp do it with me'.
Justifying the decision to deploy troops to Los Angeles, Kristi Noem, secretary of homeland security, claimed ICE agents were targeting the 'worst of the worst' – criminal illegal immigrants hiding among law-abiding communities.
But advocates for immigrants' rights have argued that day labourers being detained outside Home Depot stores suggests otherwise.
Julie Flores, 21, wrapped herself in a Mexican flag as she stood on the bonnet of a black car sprayed with the words 'f--- ICE'.
The student told The Telegraph the protests 'hit close to home' because her father Jerry Flores, 39, who is originally from Guerrero in Mexico was detained by agents when she was at middle school.
'My grandma would probably not like me being out here... we're out here showing our support, doing the best we can do,' she said.
On Monday, Karen Bass, the Los Angeles mayor, condemned the ICE raids, claiming they had brought 'fear and terror' to the streets of Los Angeles and were to blame for the unrest.
Yurien, 20, found out ICE agents were targeting her father Mario's work at Ambiance Apparel when he messaged her to tell her he was hiding.
'I said 'OK dad, I love you, don't make any noise… I told him I loved him again. He said 'me too, I love you guys…' and since then, I haven't had communication with him,' she told The Telegraph.
Yurien, who did not want to give her last name, said she raced to the workplace in downtown Los Angeles and saw her father, who is from Mexico and has lived in the US for decades, being escorted to a van and driven away.
'I felt devastated, mad, angry... because there was nothing I could do to stop it,' she said, clutching a poster which read 'dad, come back home'.
University student Montserrat Arrazola, 22, also saw her father being detained by ICE agents on Friday after she rushed to Ambiance Apparel when she saw the raid was happening on TikTok.
Speaking to The Telegraph after a press conference outside the clothing manufacturer on Monday morning, she said: 'I felt powerless. I felt like I had my hands tied because I couldn't do anything.'
She has managed to speak to her father, Jorge, who moved to the US from Mexico 'many years ago' on the phone once since then. He said he was okay.
'I have a lot of emotions running through me. I can't really explain,' she said, adding that she had not been to any of the protests that have broken out in response.
Joanna Lopez, 17, discovered three of her uncles, who had all moved to the US from Mexico as teenagers, had been detained on Friday after she also saw it unfold on social media.
'I just feel for everybody whose families are being taken away right now,' she said.
Ms Lopez, who attended the protest later that day, said she was 'very disappointed' in the people who had turned to violence and vandalism, adding that it portrays the scores of peaceful protesters in a bad light.
