US President Donald Trump has accused protesters in Los Angeles of insurrection and threatened they would be “hit harder” than ever if they disrespect security forces during clashes triggered by anger over immigration raids.
Demonstrators in a small part of the second biggest US city’s downtown area torched cars andlooted stores in ugly scenes on Monday that saw law enforcement responding with tear gas and rubber bullets.
Trump posted he had deployed National Guard troops “to deal with the violent, instigated riots” and “if we had not done so, Los Angeles would have been completely obliterated”.
“The people are causing the problems are professional agitators and insurrectionists,” he told reporters in Washington.
On social media, he said protesters spat at troops and if they continued to do so, “I promise you they will be hit harder than they have ever been hit before. Such disrespect will not be tolerated!”
California Governor Gavin Newsom accused the President of deliberately stoking tensions by using the National Guard, a reserve military force usually controlled by state governors.
California Governor Gavin Newsom and US President Donald Trump don't see eye-to-eye about the National Guard being deployed to protests in LA. Photo / AFP
“This is exactly what Donald Trump wanted. He flamed the fires,” Newsom said, adding California would be suing the federal government over the deployment.
Trump shot back, saying “I would do it” when asked if Newsom should be arrested.
The protests in Los Angeles, home to a large Latino population, were triggered by dozens of arrests of what authorities say are illegal migrants and gang members.
Trump’s border tsar Tom Homan said Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was targeting members of cartels in Mexico and Colombia.
Many locals painted a different picture.
They are “people who are here earnestly trying to improve their lives [and] deserve a chance and don’t deserve to be treated as criminals”, Deborah McCurdy, 64, told AFP at a rally where hundreds had gathered.
‘Isolated’
A heavy police presence continues to stand watch in Downtown LA, where vandals have set fires and smashed windows, adding to the scenes of damage left after five Waymo self-driving cars were torched. Obscene graffiti has been daubed over many surfaces.
Despite isolated and eye-catching acts of violence, officials and local law enforcement stressed the majority of protesters over the weekend had been peaceful.
Schools across Los Angeles expected to operate normally on Tuesday, while the rhythms of life in the sprawling city appeared largely unchanged.
Mayor Karen Bass told CNN that in contrast to Trump’s rhetoric, “this is isolated to a few streets. This is not citywide civil unrest”.
Immigration arrests were designed to stir tensions, she said, while the troop deployment was “a recipe for pandemonium”.
The United Nations warned against “further militarisation” of the situation, in remarks likely to anger the White House.
After initial confrontations between demonstrators and federal forces, local law enforcement took the lead, using what they called “less lethal weapons” to disperse crowds.
Viral footage showed one rubber bullet being fired at an Australian TV reporter, who was hit in the leg on live television.
At least 56 people were arrested over two days and five officers suffered minor injuries, Los Angeles Police Department officials said, while about 60 people were arrested in protests in San Francisco.
The National Guard is frequently used in natural disasters, and occasionally in civil unrest, but almost always with the consent of local authorities.
Trump’s deployment of the force – the first over the head of a state governor since 1965 at the height of the civil rights movement – was criticised by Democrats, including Kamala Harris.
The former Vice-President and Trump’s opponent in the 2024 election called it “a dangerous escalation meant to provoke chaos”.
