Protesters clash with National Guard troops in Los Angeles

Los Angeles: More than 200 protesters clashed with National Guard troops in downtown Los Angeles during the latest demonstrations against immigration raids that swept across California over the weekend.

Xinhua reporters at the scene observed National Guard soldiers, along with agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security, repeatedly firing tear gas and smoke grenades to disperse the crowd. Some protesters and journalists were hit during the confrontation.

“We want to protest peacefully. However, the Trump administration just sent soldiers to fight against us. Is it necessary?” one protester said.

Shortly after the clash, California Governor Gavin Newsom urged protesters to remain peaceful.

“California — Don’t give Donald Trump what he wants. Speak up. Stay peaceful. Stay calm,” Newsom wrote in an online post. “Do not use violence and respect the law enforcement officers that are trying their best to keep the peace.”

Earlier National guard troops sent by the Trump administration arrived in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday, footage broadcast by local news channel ABC 7 showed.

It is the first time since 1965 that a president has activated a state’s National Guard force without a request from that state’s governor, Elizabeth Goitein, senior director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, an independent law and policy organisation, told The New York Times.

The ABC 7’s footage showed the troops were deployed in the downtown area near City Hall, City of Paramount and Compton, where protesters have been clashing with federal agents and local policemen since Friday noon.

The clashes came after agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal law enforcement agencies raided several locations in southern California from Friday, which sparked mass protests. But Washington vowed Saturday to continue the raids despite opposition from local communities and officials.

The two-days raids resulted in more than 100 arrests, drawing angry protesters who confronted agents with tear gas, flash-bang grenades and rocks.

President Donald Trump took extraordinary action on Saturday by calling up 2,000 National Guard troops to quell immigration protests in Los Angeles region, making rare use of federal powers and bypassing the authority of the state’s governor, Gavin Newsom.

The governor and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass were leading the opposition Sunday to Trump’s decision.

Newsom blasted the move in a fund-raising email sent out Sunday morning, according to media reports.

“Last night, President Trump ordered the deployment of 2,000 National Guard troops in Los Angeles, using the excuse of protests against his immigration raids… The president is attempting to inflame passions and provoke a response,” Newsom wrote.

Newsom said Trump just wanted show of force, warning this move and the Pentagon’s threat to deploy United States Marines on American soil would escalate tensions and incite violence.

Bass echoed some of those thoughts in an interview, saying she felt very disappointed that Trump chose to deploy the National Guard troops since it was totally unnecessary.

“There were protests last night in Los Angeles — my understanding is that there were about 120 protesters. Several of them did commit acts of vandalism, but there was nothing that was happening in downtown Los Angeles that the Los Angeles Police Department could not manage to deal with, so to me, this is completely unnecessary,” she said.

IANS