LIVE: Immigration protest underway in LA
that is the order that has been given and these officers are making sure that they do it as quickly and uh cleanly as possible but one after another bottles are being thrown from that crowd towards the officers who are effectively moving this crowd back and we will see uh what comes of this it looks like a demonstrator got behind the lines have now been taken to the ground we’ll see if they’re taken into custody or whether they are uh pushed back it looks like they had taken the helmet away from one of the officers and so that person now being dragged they are they are not going to take this person into custody just dragging him back into the crowd but that person had breached the line and had apparently taken the helmet from one of those officers the officer yanked it back put it back on his head and a fellow officer dragged that person back into the crowd um again you talk about restraint someone who had breached the line there not being taken into custody being allowed to rejoin the demonstration um that is I guess what you want to see in this situation some restraint being shown by these officers they are not taking those people into custody they just want them back on the line including those who were in a in a point in a position where they should not have been and being brought back to join the crowd on the right you can see officers continue to move in this is the ground live view of what’s happening here on the left is a live view from Air7 Alama and Aliso at this point um again we saw the 101 freeway has been shut down through downtown Los Angeles the southbound side was completely empty the northbound side cars were still stopped there i imagine at this point it is shut down in both directions i don’t know why they would just stop the southbound and not the northbound so until we have a chance to break away we assume that neither side is making its way through downtown at this point and let’s take a quick peek as things look like they are a little calm right now so it’s a little nope traffic moving both directions so that’s good news no one has uh made their way onto the roadway um as we have seen in the past and that is good news there let’s head back to the demonstration and see uh what is happening more flashbangs and that person is now in custody it looks like the exact same person now taking his bag away and putting him into cuffs into some zip tie cuffs or some Yeah and he is now in custody so uh you can see these officers dodging batting away bottles being thrown at them this person I don’t know whether they um this person re-engaged something back in the crowd and did something else or whether this is just a continuation of what they saw before but this is the person lying on the ground now had breached the line had taken an officer’s helmet and then it seemed was going to be dragged back into the crowd but is now once again in custody lying on the ground looks like they are on stilts as well so the officers are likely going to work to get those stilts off of this person and um now taking they’re cutting his pants off now cutting his pants as the confrontation continues on the front line of this uh this line between demonstrators and officers and again things remain very tense the push is constant for these demonstrators to go backwards and anytime you see a crowd start to um be forced into a situation where they are uh bunched up like this you have the potential for some very dangerous situation if something were to happen and this crowd were to panic and take off then you’re then you’re talking about a potential trampling situation very dangerous you can see on the right this person in stilts now being taken into custody on the ground and um in handcuffs so we will continue to keep an eye on that and projectiles continue to be thrown at these officers just one after another water bottles some of them full some of them open we have seen water we’ve seen confetti we’ve seen silly string be thrown at these officers who are maintaining their composure slowly but surely putting these demonstrators uh where they want them to be on the sidewalk around the cars into the street and again you can’t help but uh be struck by the the number of bottles of projectiles being thrown at these officers of course they are in tactical gear it’s not going to do a whole lot of damage but when tensions are high and you’re trying to deal with a crowd and you’re hit in the head in the face with any kind of projectile with weight like that um it it’s not going to lead to a good outcome so they’re doing a great job of maintaining composure trying to deescalate doing their best getting this crowd back away from the detention facility and uh that crowd continues to bunch up here in the middle of Alama uh at least at least a thousand people could could be several thousand gathered in this area again we had two demonstrations today one that began in Boil Heights made its way here to the Royal Detention Federal Facility here the other was set to begin at 2:00 at City Hall just a couple blocks away it looks like these two crowds have now converged into one massive demonstration uh but until we have our eyes back on city hall I’m not sure whether anyone’s left over there or whether this is it the the bulk of the crowd is in this one location now which has been the center point of unrest for the last 3 days in Los Angeles it began Friday arrests were made at a local Home Depot people were not happy about that they gathered here downtown at the federal building and uh there were there were discussions about whether there were inhumane treatment uh the inhumane treatment of detainees inside this facility reports that women children babies were being held without beds without meals just snacks and and not proper sanitary uh accommodations four local members of Congress attempted to tour that facility as is their legal right as members of Congress they were denied entry into this facility to see what is going on that is against the law uh Trump’s administration this is twice now we have seen them deny members of Congress access to federal detention facilities they are permitted by law to show up intentionally unannounced so that if there are any violations happening inside they don’t have time to clean those up those have to be on display and these members of Congress have to be allowed access it happened back in May in New Jersey members of Congress were not allowed access they were denied the mayor of of New York was placed under arrest he was later uh set free and charges were dismissed but the Trump administration then filing charges against a sitting member of Congress saying she had assaulted members of ICE video appears to show the exact opposite but that will be played out in court and then again yesterday Jimmy Gomez leading uh and Norma Torres leading a delegation of local Congress people to enter this facility and they were denied access they are now asking the Department of Homeland Security Christine Gnome to initiate an investigation into why that would happen but again you have an administration and Christine Gnome and a Department of Homeland Security that has been combative uh to any checks on their authority in this situation and so uh once again we will see how this plays out but when the higher power is the authority you’re trying to check that makes it a little difficult and we saw those four members of Congress um denied access against L again Lu Korea was one from Orange County two members of Congress from the Inland Empire and Jimmy Gomez who represents downtown LA including this very detention center that he was trying to gain access to so things appear to be a little calmer now it looks like the line has now been gained of where they wanted to back this crowd up to it looks like the intersection of Temple and Alamita is completely filled with people demonstrators out on the streets today for the third straight day angry with the Trump administration amid more ICE raids around Los Angeles the detention the administration again says they are picking up gang members violent criminals but as we have seen with those sweeps also pick up just members of society who are not members of gangs who are not violent criminals whose only crime has been a misdemeanor to enter this country illegally or overstay illegal means of coming here and so um there is a lot of concern that uh there’s a lot of manpower and a lot of firepower being implemented to pick up people of this uh of Los Angeles day laborers workers members of the garment district just factory workers who we saw this last week picked up through violent uh unmarked uh raids in these situations and so that has people questioning whether um it can be believed when the Trump administration says they are only picking up gang members and violent criminals when you see the garment district raided or you see Home Depot day laborers taken into custody as we did this weekend um in LA as well so it looks like things have stabilized as of now we are getting ready for our 3:30 edition of Eyewitness News and we will continue our coverage here but um as we get ready for the news I think we’re going to gather our reporters and gather our resources continue to stream this coverage but if anything breaks out we will break back into live streaming coverage of what is happening now day three of unrest and protest in Los Angeles amid continuing ICE raids across LA County for now we will sign off and join you again at 3:30 for Eyewitness News at 3 this is Eyewitness News with live breaking news good afternoon now on Eyewitness News at 3 breaking news day three of unrest in downtown Los Angeles another large protest underway right now with National Guard soldiers on the front lines i’m Jury Rand more than a thousand people have gathered across two locations in downtown LA one outside city hall the other outside the Royal Federal Building Detention Center which you are seeing right now it’s been the center of protest beginning on Friday night within the last few minutes we have seen chaos break out that line of LAPD officers now I believe has moved in to move this group back away from the entrance to this facility as we see a vehicle moving through this has been a problem ever since these um and the back window now broken out any vehicle trying to make their way through these crowds is being met with a lot of anger from these crowds and again we’ve seen a lot of broken glass that back windshield shattered out as this angry crowd did allow them to make their way through at first and then um it was happening quick and we see another skirmish here on the front lines this has been happening throughout the last 20 to 30 minutes as the LAPD and the National Guard decided to back these folks away from the entrance to the detention center and push them back we believe that that large gathering outside city hall made its way here to the federal building and these two crowds converged right outside the entrance to the detention center that was too much for law enforcement to handle the call went out to move these folks back and slowly they have pushed them back down Alama Street to the intersection with Temple throughout the way we have we have seen people on the front lines on the demonstrator’s side step up and fight back against the police that has led to batons being waved struck flashbangs and g pepper balls being sprayed and shot into this crowd we see one person in custody on the right side of your screen another person being taken away in handcuffs we saw a person earlier break through breach that police line get into a skirmish with an officer steal his helmet and then be dragged back into the crowd on stilts moments later he was once again back behind the police line he too was taken into custody we have a camera angle on the right side of your screen and this is a live picture back at the federal detention center where it looks like some people still remain there but the the large bulk of this crowd is now in the intersection of Temple and Alama bottles projectiles have been thrown at these officers at a near constant pace and the officers have responded at times swinging their batons at other times firing those gas bombs flashbangs trying to get this crowd to move back get them under control they have shown incredible restraint at at times some um incredible provocation by this crowd getting in their face and very few people have been taken into custody when it could be a large number of people who have been uh very antagonistic against this line and here we see one woman it looks like limping injured or just uh putting putting no weight on themselves making themselves more difficult to take back into custody as they are dragged away now in handcuffs away from this line uh that’s on the right side of your screen behind the police line on the left side from Air 7 you can see what is happening from above that police line now blocking Alama Street not allowing access and uh this crowd is uh it looks like it’s a little thinner than it was just about 10 20 minutes ago which makes me curious about where the large bulk of this crowd has now gone if they’ve made their way back around towards city hall if they’re just backing off in this general area yeah they are spreading out a little bit in this area but there it looks like they’re making their way back up Temple possibly back towards city hall this is a volatile situation it has been for about 72 hours now it began on Friday with several ICE movements raids they pulled off this is on the other side of Alama back towards the 101 which for a short time was completely shut down so this area um around the entrance to the facility is now blocked off by the LAPD and had been guarded by National Guard troops that is another uh topic of discussion which we’ll get to momentarily but it began Friday night there were ICE raids some of them at Home Depot taking day laborers into custody the Trump administration says they were targeting gang members they have not offered proof of how they uh determined who w who was a gang member if the people they took into custody were indeed gang members we have seen in the past mistaken identities the Trump administration mistakenly taking people into custody at one point mistakenly sending them out of country to max prisons in other nations we saw several people sent mistakenly to a supermax prison in El Salvador with the Trump administration promising they would never make it back to the United States in one case Kilmargo Garcia was now brought back he is on US soil once again but he is still in detention now the Justice Department manufacturing some charges to press against him that date back to actions from 2014 so we’ll see how that plays out in the court of law which is something a lot of these people were not afforded the right to uh no due process habius Corpus had been uh suspended as well and so uh here we see more people gathered at uh different points of downtown this is a large group that has now been broken up splintered into separate factions in different locations blocking several streets and again as we say this is a tense tenuous situation playing out and we’ll see how this goes as day will turn into tonight we saw last night more problems on the streets of Los Angeles now the federal agents the uh federal troops who are here the National Guard they were federalized yesterday by President Trump 2,000 soldiers from the California National Guard were taken over by the federal government this is not an uncommon thing this happens in past has happened in the past we saw National Guards troops helping out with the response to the wildfires we saw them help out with the civil unrest in 2020 the difference in this instance is those were initiated by the governor of California it is very rare and very controversial to see it happen without the request of the governor in fact in direct opposition to what the governor wanted to see happen here governor Nuome said last night this was not the right mission this was not the right move and said it was intentionally provocative to send National Guards members as federal agents onto the streets of Los Angeles we have seen civil unrest um play out since then uh we saw the National Guards uh soldiers on scene here guarding this building today they have not largely been involved in much of the confrontation although earlier today we did see them form a line with riot shields pushing those protesters back and um uh initiating some confrontations there as we have seen that line approach recede and then approach the federal building throughout the afternoon we do want to welcome in our law enforcement expert Bill Thomas who has helped us out so many times in situations like this uh sorry Bruce Thomas on the phone and Bruce uh what can you tell us about what you’re seeing uh play out here it looks like they have cleared out Alama Street and are now gathering this crowd in the middle of Temple and Alama yeah from Air 7 HD what we’re seeing is that they have created a operational area or a safe zone in front of the Metropolitan Detention Center and the federal building on Alamita you know maybe a temple on the south end and you know first street moving upwards um we are seeing the use of less lethal weaponry on the crowd uh paintball rounds uh stun bags that kind of thing uh maybe even some Arwin rounds um you know it’s a huge crowd it’s just getting bigger yeah and when we see these officers firing projectiles at the feet of those demonstrators what is that pepper spray or those flashbangs what are they firing into this crowd can you tell yeah year Yeah years ago um you know paintball rounds uh they have what’s called a pepper ball round and basically what it is is it’s pepper pepper spray basically oolio capsicon resin mixed in with talcum powder if you can believe that and then when they hit the ground it it disperses into a cloud of basic pepper spray it’s a very effective tool and then they also have paintball rounds that they can mark individuals with um we saw some footage yesterday of a guy who was hit with a green round they’ll look for this person later on and then take them into custody interesting um that is a that’s a very interesting tactic and and um we’ll see if that’s being used today is this is this live on the right this is video that’s what I thought okay so this is some of the video we have seen of those confrontations the batons being swung uh it’s it’s pretty incredible and surprising to me Bruce we see people take several blows from these batons and they don’t seem really too much worse for wear uh they’re these officers are swinging as hard as they can and they are under attack and very few people are really going down it’s a it’s a little surprising to me at least to see them take such abuse and still kind of remain there on the front lines yeah sometimes protesters will wear multi-layered clothing to absorb the actual shock of the baton um what we’re seeing is a lot of the federal protective police officers use what’s called long sticks um LAPD sheriffs other agencies use what’s known as a PR24 it’s a a nagnock type of weapon where you could swing it hook people up with it so the but the long stick is I don’t think as effective but a lot of the agencies like it right and and by abuse of course I do not mean that uh it is unjustified as we see people trying to block the path of LAPD cruisers we have seen this play out several times in the last couple days there was video from Friday of a demonstrator being knocked over in the path of a federal vehicle we saw yesterday folks trying to stop the path of a US Marshall’s bus and um that was a dangerous situation and people standing now in the path of LAPD vehicles getting pushed back intentionally provoking this officer to run them over or at least push them back and now shielded by the trees we can’t see exactly what is happening there uh but this officer is not being deterred by people in their path trying to stop their um ingress to this to this area and so this is now over the 101 uh this is now back around um on the top side I believe of that federal building up the hill from Royal as we look down and still see traffic flowing on the 101 and they are Yeah so we are live on the ground here as that cruiser is continuing to try and make their way slowly through this crowd um again this is a situation we’ve seen a lot of people come and and break windows shatter the windshield we saw a large vehicle have their back windshield broken shattered out just a little bit ago that person knocked down by LAPD officers as these cruisers just continue to face constant harassment from these demonstrators who are on the scene for the third straight day um Bruce I’m not sure how much you’ve been watching today but I I have seen a lot of restraint shown by these officers who could take a lot of people into custody um but but haven’t really seen seemed to at this point you know at some point you do have to declare an unlawful assembly you go in with a huge amount of resources and take everybody you can to jail at some point um this is just growing and it’s going to get worse as we come down into the sundown uh type of night um you’re going to see a whole other different crowd that comes out mostly a lot of agitators who uh don’t respect the free speech amendments that these protesters are obviously trying to do yeah we can see one person run off there they were trying to block the path of that cruiser as soon as officers on foot moved in he took off and ran back into the crowd so we see a lot of vehicles that look at that one that one has a cone stuck in the lights of that police cruiser someone had chucked that at the car and it got wedged there at the roof still driving away with that cone on top so it is a dangerous thing to try and move through here if you’re an officer i guess the next shift might be be coming in reinforcements being called in um and they are under assault as they make their way through this crowd trying to take their position um uh amidst this very angry and animated crowd that is now making their way to different points this is not one large crowd it is several that has been now broken into uh several groups in and around the federal building and city hall here in downtown Los Angeles and so now they’re making their way and some Go ahead Bruce oh I’m sorry Jory i was just going to I was just going to interject you know you’ve declared a citywide tactical alert with LAPD there’s only so many officers that are on duty they have stripped all stations and they’re not handling any routine calls priority calls only crimes in progress and at some point I believe LAPD is going to be overwhelmed and you’re going to see the National Guard standing shouldertosh shoulder with them and I’m sure maybe chief of LAPD um he has maybe reached out to the sheriff and asked for mutual aid yeah uh we we’ve been waiting to see if unified command was going to be initiated here especially with the National Guard um I I I have not heard that that has happened as of yet we do know that unlawful assembly has been declared and so the LAPD is moving these folks out but there are a lot of jurisdictions that could be in here um working together Bruce uh under command we could talk about the uh California Highway Patrol the sheriff’s the police department and now the feds the National Guard who have been here i’m not sure if you’ve heard about it um it it seems to be a lot of different organizations working um under separate leadership i don’t know how what the coordination is like at this point maybe throughout the afternoon it has uh gotten a little a little better but I have not seen anything or heard anything um to that extent about uh unified command and direct cooperation coordination right Jory like we talked about earlier today you have federal property that’s governed by the federal protective police um then you have ICE Homeland Security officers that will basically muster that then you have the street surrounding it which is LAPD then you have the freeway on and off ramps which they trying to get on that’s CHP so then you still have the LA County Sheriff’s and the National Guard kind of in reserve waiting for them to be called yeah there there’s a lot going on a lot of coordination and uh it is it is tough and we want to see this end peacefully uh with no destruction of property no injury and hopefully uh no more arrests um Governor Nuomoe has just tweeted 7 minutes ago writing “I have formally requested the Trump administration resend their unlawful deployment of troops in LA County and return them to my command we didn’t have a problem until Trump got involved.” This is a serious breach of state sovereignty inflaming tensions while pulling resources from where they’re actually needed resin the order return control to California so now we have uh a state California officially at odds with the federal government as if we didn’t know that before but this is now uh a movement a formal document the governor has asked the federal government to resend their deployment of California National Guard troops under federal command the governor is asking for them to be returned to his command and this is now a showdown uh the likes of which I’m not sure this country has really ever seen before i I think back to the civil rights era and problems in the south and John F kennedy ordering the federalization of troops to go against um governors there who were not following the laws of the United States how this how this compares to that there are some similarities there are also some very distinct differences is Bruce I’m not sure if you can weigh in on the history of this but your your reaction to hearing that the governor is asking for control back of his own California National Guard yeah Jory you’re 100% correct uh that’s what Robert Kennedy did i’m sorry John F kennedy did with the civil rights when they were trying to integrate white black students into white schools and the states were saying no and he said “Okay fine i’ll have the National Guard escort them.” So we haven’t seen anything like this and now to have the governor of California saying “You know what i want my troops back i want my control even though they’ve been federalized is is a huge quagmire yeah we’ll see how this how this plays out i know that the governor had uh he he has been busy on social media today um responding to the speaker of the house Mike Johnson he also tweeted to the citizens of California said “Don’t give Donald Trump what he wants speak up stay peaceful stay calm do not use violence and respect the law enforcement officers that are trying their best to keep the peace.” So we have some activity here live on the left from Air 7 officers moving in and anytime you see people scattering in a large crowd at this speed it can be very uh dangerous you see one person there just toppled over in the middle of the intersection i don’t know are they chasing one person are they just looking to get a line across this intersection uh two more people hitting the ground again uh the danger in a in a crowd when panic sets in uh it cannot be overstated how dangerous these kinds of things can be it looks like they are looking to take over this intersection um this is back at Royal I believe is this down the hill from Temple and Alamina we’re back at Royal and so uh these this crowd Yep this crowd being pushed back once again further on the right side is where we were before the intersection and now we’ve kind of spun around our angle and now they are uh the LAPD officers are trying to cordon off and um and push this crowd away from the facility i don’t know where they want them to go the unlawful assembly order has been given so this crowd is in direct uh violation of that order obviously too many to start taking them into custody but something will happen we see a detainee there on the right someone who has several of them i believe that’s the woman who was being dragged down the street uh trying to use her body as dead weight to make it difficult to take her away uh we we um have seen a bit of a back and forth too throughout all this with the president of the United States posting to his social media outlet Truth Social where he um rather oddly last night thanked the the National Guard for maintaining the peace and order in Los Angeles those troops had not been deployed at that point so there was some question as to what exactly he was talking about because that uh did not happen last night we have seen them on the ground today but uh Donald Trump the president of the United States posting about an hour ago to his social media uh outlet Truth Social writing “A once great American city Los Angeles has been invaded and occupied by illegal aliens and criminals now violent insurrectionist mobs are swarming and attacking our federal agents to try and stop our deportation operations but these lawless riots only strengthen our resolve.” The president continuing “I am directing Secretary of Homeland Security Christy Noom Secretary of Defense Pete Hgsth and Attorney General Pam Bondi in coordination with all other relevant departments and agencies to take all such action necessary to liberate Los Angeles from the migrant invasion and put an end to these migrant riots order will be restored.” The president writing “The illegals will be expelled and Los Angeles will be set free.” Thank you for your attention to this matter so obviously some provocation here from the president uh in several facets as we see here we go uh those demonstrators are making their way down the ramp and onto the 101 freeway this is I think a concern that we had seen a little earlier the freeway had been shut down by law enforcement and it is now being shut down by the other side demonstrators are on the surface of the southbound 101 freeway and blocking traffic uh you know Jory uh go ahead Bruce um what I was going to say is look at the drain on the law enforcement resources chp has maybe three or four vehicles with personnel now they’re going to have to call the troops in from all the outlining areas and maybe even Orange County Kern County wherever they have other officers and we the people are not going to have the services of law enforcement that we would expect lapd is on tactical alert there are no extra officers chp will be on tactical alert there are none and and that’s the sad part of this yeah i don’t want to I don’t want to alarm anybody but the way you describe it people should maybe lock their doors at this point because if something happens and you want a police officer to come to your rescue it’s going to be very difficult to get them to your location because there are such a concentration of forces here in downtown Los Angeles bruce yeah i mean and we’re not put we’re not fear-mongering we’re just basically saying unless it’s a matter of life or death the police are not going to respond right and we heard a complaint you know there have been complaints around town for years about the time it takes for the LAPD uh 911 calls to be answered and officers to be uh deployed and responded to calls well the the federal government had a similar complaint last night saying they requested backup from the LAPD it took they say it took 3 hours the LAPD says it took less than an hour because it’s not an easy thing to gather troops for a situation like this at the drop of a hat you don’t have people sitting around in riot gear ready for a large crowd demonstrating on the streets like this it takes some time it also takes some time to come up with a plan and again that’s what we were talking about Bruce the lack of unified command the lack of coordination between the federal government and um local law enforcement this takes time and it took the LAPD a bit of time last night to to coordinate and get things uh into place yeah and as we seized from Air 7HD they’re allowing them to walk on the freeway chp does not have the manpower to stop them from doing this so now we’re going to block the freeway for a couple hours time to amass the personnel to even open up the freeway is a is a huge uh waiting game yeah i always feel for those people first in line they were so close to making it through and now they’re stuck there uh you hope it’s not an urgent situation anyone needs to get home obviously people have lives people have families they need to get home to their kids they need to get to work they need to get home um perhaps someone’s having some kind of an emergency of some sort and we see some of the drivers now exiting their vehicles um we we have seen times uh people trying to plead with demonstrators to let them through they need to get through it it’s a tough cell once the the the crowd the mob has um kind of set themselves in place uh so here here we are the I believe that’s the southbound 101 freeway is shut down demonstrators are on the roadway surface the northbound still seems to be making its way through though certainly not at speed and as we pan up we see large crowds gathered at the top of that off-ramp this started back at the Royal Detention Center people have been gathered there since this morning there was a separate second demonstration that began at 2:00 outside city hall that was um an entirely different operation a different demonstration but at some point it looked like the two demonstrations merged i think the thousand or so people that were gathered at city hall made their way down to the federal building and have now joined this crowd and there has been unrest ever since authorities have since um shut down Alamita that is where all those cars those police cars are parked outside the entrance to the federal building here we are at the 101 freeway it’s the actually the opposite side of where that large group at Temple and Alamita had been cordoned off and they may have made their way back around up the other side of Royal and made their way here to the 101 freeway again this is not a new thing for Los Angeles pretty much anytime we see a large demonstration in downtown LA um it makes its way onto the freeway uh for those large large gatherings um I believe maybe you know like things like the women’s march excluded that has not happened from that from any of those but these large demonstrations more people making their way down to the down the on-ramp here and and law enforcement hands on hips Bruce there’s not a whole lot they can do they are outnumbered they don’t want to start a riot when they’re facing these kind of numbers and at this point just kind of watching and letting things play out yeah that’s all you can do you can hold your skirmish line protect the areas the geographic area that you want to protect in this case the federal building the metropolitan detention center but for the most part you can’t go into the crowd and push them back any further you’re just outnumbered by so much the other thing too is if you’ll notice in some of the shots you’ll see people with green hats those are ACLU lawyers andor personnel and they’re monitoring everything that’s happening uh for everyone’s rights yeah and and we we certainly know that this city is facing a massive budget shortfall a lot of that has been from payouts for situations where city officials have not been handling themselves correctly be it police or otherwise and um again that is uh that’s something that has to be thought about as these law enforcement officers play out the execution of their duties here um again you have lawyers you have cameras you have people watching and if something goes south um people will make sure that they are held accountable for actions here i do know that ABC’s Matt Gutman is on the ground has and has been covering this we have been waiting to go to a a report from him uh and I uh Okay that is the ABC News camera on the right that we are watching right now do we want to go to that Gutman piece right now okay all right so we will hold off on that and continue to watch uh what is playing out here that large crowd you can see the overpass of the 101 is lined with people watching the roadway the northbound is side is now shut down as well uh demonstrators hopped the barrier and have now breached the northbound side which is uh left passage through downtown Los Angeles on both in both directions uh impassible the 101 is now shut down we can see Matt Gutman reporting there on the right side here is another ground level camera and you see that cameraman um the same with our cameraman uh as well camera operators they are in the thick of things to bring us these shots it is not an easy job and we thank them for putting themselves in this situation is because it is not easy the gas filled air that the demonstrators are breathing they are breathing as well that photographer is now down i can’t imagine they’re going to let Yeah that is just uh too close and they got that person out of there but again this this line is being held outside the detention facility this line now on the freeway has now stopped traffic in both directions on the 101 bottles and other projectiles are continuing to be thrown at these officers as they continue to send non-lethal rounds into this crowd to try and break it up back it up and calm things down uh that is uh not happening at this hour we will see how this plays out again day three of demonstration and unrest in downtown Los Angeles this is the third day we’ve seen it happen at the Royal Detention Facility the federal building in downtown LA yesterday we saw unrest in the cities of Paramount and Compton that began outside a Home Depot and a DHS facility where a crowd had gathered protesting actions of DHS and the Trump administration that bled over across the river across the 710 freeway into Compton where a car was lit on fire windows were broken out uh law enforcement and uh fire officials were under assault from thrown projectiles as well and that finally uh was was broken up throughout the night but it was not an easy task and it was a a long and and violent night in in certain situations here come two LAPD I believe cruisers down the ramp two three cruisers now down the ramp and we will see their reception it is not going to be pleasant projectiles being thrown at their their vehicles as they pass are they are they getting onto the freeway let’s see if we can see from air 7 do can we pick up those three cruisers that just made their way onto the freeway which side did that happen on i believe it was coming down that ramp right there uh they would be to the left they should be towards the left onto the road surface do we see on the other side of this overpass maybe they’re under Maybe they’re underneath uh I’m not sure where they have gone but at some point Bruce they are going to look to take control again of the 101 freeway and it is going to be um a difficult task to do that those might be those could be those cruisers i’m not sure those look a little larger but Bruce how do you regain control of the 101 freeway after a scene like this is playing out well Jory you got you got a huge problem those were three CHV cruisers that were at the top of the ramp but you’ve got hundreds of vehicles that are just stuck there so to get resources to the problem is going to be a whole another matter you’re going to see CHP mustering miles and miles away and then they’re going to have to come on the wrong side of the freeway and they’re going to have to take control of this but it’s going to take hundreds of officers and that takes time and meanwhile you’ve got the freeway shut down yeah at least in the south end yeah and probably the north end and here we go we see some officers on foot now making their way through the cars that have been backed up and they are headed towards the front line of this to try and get people you see one person clapping uh I thought for a moment they might have been clapping at the officers moving in to clear this up but it is uh they are I think they might be clapping with the demonstrators and uh was that bottle just thrown from the car okay so I think the northbound side is back open again cars seem to be moving at speed i’m not sure how that cleared off like that but the 101 north is open at least at least a lane or two um the southbound side is completely shut down and we’ll see once those officers on foot reach the front of these cars and now they are allowing cars to go through single file here is that an officer directing traffic or is that a a demonstrator that just I think that might just be a demonstrator who are now trying to get these cars out of there i think they want to free people up and just take over the entire freeway maybe on foot and clear out these cars um that’s an interesting one Bruce i’ve never seen that before i have not seen that before too but I’m sure there are leaders in the group who don’t want to inconvenience motorists and they’re like “Hey at least open up one lane let’s get these cars out of here and then we can shut down the freeway.” Yeah oftentimes the point of this is civil unrest to block the everyday execution of life in a city like this uh that doesn’t seem to be the case it looks like they are going to allow these cars to clear out uh and police are now going to stop those cars they probably want some space to to deal with here Bruce i’m guessing just to let the cars in front of them move out and then give them some some free space to to move in on these demonstrators yeah they’re formulating a plan on what to do if they can keep one lane at least two lanes open push the demonstrators off to the side it’s a win-win for everybody they get their civil unrest notifications lapd gets the freeway open as CHV does and the motorists are moving on their way yeah once again once again we feel sorry for that front line that those last cars who thought they were going to make it out of here and now once again have to stop i think if we if we can pan over to the left are the are these cars that are backed up they’re all making their way out of there yeah okay so they’re siphoning down to a single No they’ve been stopped once again so whoever’s idea it was to let them through has been overruled it looks like and now they are being stopped uh by more demonstrators who are not allowing these cars to get through and out of there and now there there is a discussion between the demonstrators and they are once again being allowed to to move through and out so um it’s never uh it’s never a single mindset in a crowd like this uh but these folks are being allowed to move out and off of the 101 freeway get out of this little log jam that is not everybody who is stuck that is just the front maybe 20 or 30 cars who are some of them are being allowed and some of them are not looks like some decision-making to go in the in the crowd there we will see how this plays out there is a group of of officers just behind uh these cars who are going to I think wait until the cars that are being allowed to clear off clear the way off the freeway and then we will see how they plan to get these demonstrators off the surface of the 101 freeway um because they have uh now shut down traffic for some time now and those officers now headed the other way curious to see what the plan is going to be Bruce uh we’ll see how it goes yeah you know Jory one of the things that always is mindboggling to me is with the advent of social media i’m hoping they’re putting out things stay away from the Hollywood Freeway stay away from Alama stay away from downtown LA i would hope this is happening but yet we see hundreds of cars driving down the street yeah hopefully uh traffic apps can help people as well that uh you do not want to go through this area if you can avoid downtown surface streets and the freeway avoid it if you can because it is um it is going to be a slog to get through and it’s going to take some time back at the Royal this is the intersection of Temple and Alamita the crowd continues to be in the midst of this uh in the middle of this intersection we do see that bike i think there were two motorcycles down on the line that one remains down on the ground i think they tried to drag one away i did not see how these these vehicles made their way into this position uh but that is a a motorcycle Bruce i I don’t think that’s a law enforcement motorcycle right that’s not CHP no it was somebody’s personal bike and they uh Yeah they took the driver into custody and the bike was left there right so now we see Alama is blocked off if you’re coming towards the view of this camera temple is blocked off to the left and then if you travel up Alamita is where the view from Air7 is now looking the overpass of the 101 freeway i don’t see those officers on foot on the freeway as of right now but it looks like traffic is still being held up so the last few cars the last few vehicles who were stuck in that little group are now making their way through and we will see what happens we do want to bring into this discussion Gabe Santos who is in Air7 overhead we now have uh two eyes in the sky on either side of your screen here looking at two different locations one at the 101 freeway one back of the at the federal building gabe what are you seeing right now well Dre uh we’re just getting overhead back on the freeway side and I’ve been watching the pictures from our second air 7 along with you guys but also monitoring the radio traffic from LAPD and CHP we have uh quite a multi-pronged situation here you have uh the skirmish line near the federal building that LAPD has been working and you have this situation on the freeway which now CHP is getting involved in and CHP is uh helping out with because you have this crowd on the freeway on the uh I believe those are the southbound uh no I think those are the northbound uh correction southbound lanes of the 101 and uh you have this large crowd now on the freeway in total LAPD is saying that at least the immediate size of the crowd here is about 3,000 people so you have that situation and if Rob wits out the shot and goes to Alamita and Temple a little further down uh that’s where our other news uh Air7 was looking at where we saw those motorcycles we heard reports earlier that someone uh not law enforcement uh actually drove that motorcycle that we saw on the ground and a second motorcycle into the skirmish line there are reports of officers that were injured in that we did hear that those officers are in stable condition have been stabilized and they are uh being uh stabilized by EMTs at the scene here uh so that’s that situation that uh LAPD is working on and then you have this situation that keeps uh kind of ebbing and flowing here with CHP figuring out what to do with these protesters now on the southbound lanes on the freeway uh you have a couple of cars that were able to go through and uh we’ll see what happens from this point on because uh there was that group of law enforcement that made their way onto the freeway uh and a lot of protesters cleared out when they saw that first flow of uh of uh CHP officers come through and approach them and then we’ve kind of lost sight of them i’m not sure if they’re under the bridge or uh if they have uh we’re going to do a orbit here in Air 7 HD and actually look for where that crowd of uh that initial first push of CHP officers went uh to see where they have ended up now or if they’ve actually retreated uh but so we’re going to look for them and uh we’re going to monitor what happens here now that this protest has made its way onto the 101 freeway near Alama yeah I saw those officers clearing the motorcycles i wonder if we can go back and check our tapes to see if we got the incident itself of how those bikes made their way into that situation because again as Gabe just said there are reports that officers were injured in that incident driving those motorcycles into the skirmish lines with those uh LAPD uh law enforcement officers and so we’ll wait and work to see if we have that uh again this is all playing out as there is a battle brewing between the state governor of California and the president of the United States last night President Trump federalized 2,000 members of the California National Guard today the governor sent official notice that he wants to regain control of those soldiers so there is now a direct confrontation between the state and the federal government that I think is rather unusual i’m not sure something like that has ever played out although our history is deep here in America and it certainly could have happened we we referenced the civil rights era when John F kennedy had to federalize troops to go into the south with governors there George Wallace and others who were not following federal law uh but I don’t know if it’s played out exactly in the way that we have seen here at the um at the direct opposition of a governor we will see what happens with that request as we approach the top of the hour we want to reset here you’re watching Eyewitness News here on ABC7 we were scheduled to finish our broadcast at 4:00 but situation on the ground in down lo downtown downtown Los Angeles has warranted our continuing coverage of unrest in downtown LA this is day number three of civil unrest protest demonstration and confrontation between those demonstrators and members of the federal government and local law enforcement who have taken to the streets in direct opposition to ICE raids and the handling of immigrants by the Trump administration uh we are going to stay with you on air here for uh the time being to see how this plays out but demonstrators are now on the 101 freeway that’s the the shot from Air7 on the left side of your screen is the southbound side of the 101 taken over by demonstrators on the road surface the right side is the 101 northbound excuse me which is once again flowing it had been shut down several times this afternoon but the northbound side is moving again it looks like at the top there might be some cars who were working to turn around i saw some vehicles facing kind of sideways on the 101 a little further this is an overpass overlooking all of this where a large crowd has gathered there have been several focal points today one outside the federal building where we have seen confrontation and unrest for the last two days here in LA at the Royal Federal Detention Facility there was confrontation yet again today this time for the first time with National Guard soldiers guarding the entrance to the facility at one point in with riot shields in place pushing that crowd back lapd officers were called in and they have now cleared that section of Alama from the opening uh the entrance to the detention facility a large crowd is has been cordoned off to the intersection of Temple and Alama this is another large crowd that is on the overpass looking over the 101 freeway um as they see demonstrators down on the road surface below things have been tense we saw large demonstrations yesterday as well in the cities of Paramount and Compton and again last night at the detention facility at the entrance though things were a bit calmer for a time period on the right we see more people making their way down the on-ramp and onto the surface of the 101 freeway we’ve been waiting to see how the LAPD how the CHP plans to handle this situation as of right now it looks like the demonstrators pretty much have free rain on the southbound side being left unchecked and gathering their numbers now growing on the surface and we see a large crowd up above and around watching what happens this is not a first for downtown Los Angeles this happens actually rather frequently when we see a large demonstration of this size and intensity they often make their way onto the 101 and it has happened yet again today at the bottom of your screen you can see the roof of city hall that is where another demonstration began at 2:00 today we saw a thousand people gathered in Gloria Molina Grand Park and the street passing through there they made their way down the street two blocks to the federal center where they joined the other crowd demonstrating their focal point you can use that building under construction as a reference point this is Temple and Alamita here the crowd has still uh maintained their presence going face to face with that line of officers who have now blocked off both Temple and Alamita heading back up towards the federal building we will see how this plays out we have cameras on the ground as well as two in the air there is the motorcycle in question uh Gabe Santos who is in Air 7 which we’ll go back to in just momentarily has said that he heard that two officers were injured uh due to that that motorcycle and a second which has uh subsequently been dragged from the scene it might still be somewhere out there and Gabe I’m not sure if you can have eyes on it if that is the bike in question but uh there were two and officers were injured yeah Jory it was those two uh bikes that we were just looking at uh that are on the ground and we did hear uh from earlier reports from uh LAPD that those two bikes actually uh drove towards the skirmish line and then fell down and those and those bikes uh you know hit uh officers officers were uh trying to uh make careful use of my words here but uh the uh LAPD radio traffic uh did allude to the fact that those officers were injured and they were treated at the scene by EMTs who are part of LAPD that were already here so they were treated and they remain at the scene uh and they have been stabilized at this time so uh we don’t have an exact number uh exactly of how many officers were hit but we do know that a few of them actually were hit by two motorcycles uh from the outside so not law enforcement motorcycles these were uh we can go out on a limb here and say uh protester motorcycles drove into the skirmish line of LAPD uh and caused injury to a couple at least uh officers here in the downtown area yeah and uh again I I don’t think this was you know people have in their mind of someone driving a motorcycle into a crowd i don’t think that’s what happened here i think the motorcycle uh again we’re looking for tape because we saw the aftermath of those motorcycles being dragged away from the scene but I’m not sure if we have actual video of the incident itself this was not I I believe a high-speed movement with those motorcycles as we see those officers now moving in on the 101 we see some cruisers that is highway patrol and some officers in tactical gear moving in to try and retake control of the freeway there were cars that were allowed to be um made make their way through and exit the area there are still some vehicles who are stuck now behind all of this as those officers now make their way through uh to a a rallying point a gathering point to um figure out what their plan is and cars are now traveling backwards it looks like up the 101 southbound the wrong direction uh this might just be a someone tending to their child in the back seat yep getting back in their vehicle and trying to get out of there uh again people who do who have no intention of being part of this situation being um forced to deal with it because they are just simply driving down the 101 freeway and dragged into this situation again you see someone with a small child in the back seat this can be a really scary situation you don’t know how these are going to play out i don’t know if we have Bruce Thomas still on the line but these can be very scary situations when you’re talking about civilians stuck in these situations that was a woman with a small child in the back seat now stuck on the 101 with an angry group of demonstrators on the overpass and the surface itself and uh law enforcement trying to regain control bruce yeah Jory it it creates a huge problem you have innocent people in vehicles some with kids maybe a medical emergency with child of some sort and then they want to get out of there but they can’t so that’s what law enforcement’s going to do they’re going to open up this freeway basically shut down the area get everybody out of there and then retake this freeway i think they’re I think CHP just by the sheer numbers has said you know what this is not acceptable anymore yeah and it looks like they are now going to move in but a a decent number of people have now gathered on the freeway those officers are going to be outnumbered we’ll see it looks like some of the leaders of this group are out front kind of rallying their troops as the officers are going to emerge at some point from beneath this uh we see some already in tactical gear lining the kind of the entrance to this underpass here and the with some reinforcements coming in from behind them we’ll see what they plan to do whether they’re going to form a skirmish line here and start backing these people up and back them up the the on-ramp the way we’ve seen them uh be pushed back from the entrance to the federal building today uh again we have several locations around downtown Los Angeles that have been taken over by demonstrators some of them peaceful some of them not peaceful we have seen skirmish lines we have seen projectiles a lot of bottles a lot of objects and again two motorcycles driven into that skirmish line and we’ve heard two officers were injured as well we’re awaiting word on their status and how they are doing and what happened to those who drove those motorcycles or pushed or somehow got those bikes into this situation how that happened and what uh what ensued on the right side of your screen we have a live look from the ground of what is playing out on the surface of the 101 freeway we can see those officers in shadow we know they are under the overpass there uh they have a view that we cannot get from Air 7 and so this is a really good look from two different angles of what is happening on the 101 a lot of police vehicles in the background CHP gathering we have officers in the surrounding streets um as well as they try to maintain order in what has been a day filled with disorder from citizens of Los Angeles and around who once again have brought themselves out to the streets and mass to protest against the actions of President Trump and his departments homeland Security and ICE um we are uh at a bit of an impass here we’re waiting movement from one of these two sides the the uh California Highway Patrol those officers gathered there we will see what they attempt to do for the most part the demonstrators have just been allowed to to remain on the 101 freeway and shut down traffic the northbound side had been interrupted several times that is now flowing although a little bit slower as you can imagine when you’re driving through downtown and you see people standing on the freeway on the other side it’s going to slow you down a bit um but there are no uh looks like no people walking on the northbound side that is now entirely relegated to the southbound side and um a lot of people watching what’s happening here again as we said this is not the only location where people are gathering there is another group outside the federal building just a short ways away from this gathering at Temple in Alama national Guard soldiers had been guarding that building this morning they had been um aided by some LAPD officers who had uh joined the line there and then it was the LAPD in fact that began moving those people back once a tactical alert was initiated in the city of Los Angeles the LAPD moved in and wanted to get them away from the federal building and that has now happened but people still remain on the streets again as we mentioned this is all playing out with a battle going on between the federal government and now the state of California uh Governor Nuome said last night that President Trump against his wishes federalized 2,000 members of the California National Guard well he has now officially sent notice to the federal government that he wants to regain control of his soldiers from the National Guard in fact there is a group now of Democratic governors 22 governors from uh United from the United States have now put out a statement and I’ll read it now if we if if nothing else happens while we’re waiting movement on the on the 101 uh it reads “President Trump’s move to deploy California’s National Guard is an alarming abuse of power governors are the commanders and chief of their national guard and the federal government activating them in their own borders without consulting or working with the state’s governor is ineffective and dangerous further threatening to send the US Marines into American neighborhoods undermines the mission of our service members erodess public trust and shows the Trump administration does not trust local law enforcement is the statement continues it’s important we respect the executive authority of our country’s governors to manage their national guards and we stand with Governor Nuome who has made it clear that violence is unacceptable and that local authorities should be able to do their jobs without the chaos of this federal interference and intimidation again that is from a group of Democratic governors from 22 states backing Governor Nuomo from California uh when it comes to President Trump taking over the California National Guard 2,000 troops who were federalized last night we see some movement here on the 101 freeway it looks like people are beginning to move uh away from those officers i don’t know if they are beginning to make their way in gabe Santos is overhead watching this all play out from Air 7 gabe what are you seeing from up there well you have these uh very dynamic ends of this protest and this crowd you have this uh bridge here i believe that’s the Alama bridge at the top of your screen uh over the 101 freeway and you have a lot of CHP a contingent of CHP that keeps on piling up and uh adding to the reinforcements or bringing in reinforcements to that skirmish line that’s under that uh bridge that’s actually the Los Angeles street bridge uh to have a uh correction for you there and I’m seeing about maybe 20 CHP cars lined up on the southbound 101 uh also a little side note here we have a Blackhawk helicopter from Department of Homeland Security also orbiting the area we saw uh a similar helicopter if not the same one working the scene yesterday in Paramount so that hel uh helicopter may be being brought in to bring in additional resources here uh in any event back on the freeway uh you have a number of CHP resources pouring in a lot of uh calls for uh help being made initially by LAPD uh LAPD was initially requested to help with the uh freeway situation here as they saw the crowd move towards the freeway and uh LAPD uh noted that they don’t have anybody to spare they’ve already asked all additional resources to report to the scene in front of the federal building where uh Alamita and Temple cross uh and that’s where we saw that situation with the uh with the motorcycles we’re still waiting a little more detail on what happened there but uh the the the word at least from officers on the ground is that those motorcycles uh were driven into that skirmish line as you mentioned we don’t know what speed we don’t know if they if they whether or not they plowed into the skirmish line or anything like that it doesn’t appear to be so because it appears that whatever injuries uh were suffered by those officers in the scrimmage line they appeared to be mild if not moderate at most they were treated at the scene and they are uh what we’ve heard as uh in stable condition now and we don’t know a specific number of officers but uh it does appear to be more than two uh so that’s the situation there back on the freeway you have a different department so you have LAPD working the surface streets and now CHP working uh the freeway now and they are bringing in a lot of additional resources as I mentioned about 20 cars uh 20 CHP cars already backed up behind the traffic that had initially been stuck here you have some people being lucky enough to turn around and get and go the wrong way on the freeway and get off that way uh but looking out the window of air 7 I can see that the 101 South is shut down at the 110 and they’re forcing everybody uh onto the interchange uh to get onto the 110 either in the north or the southbound lanes you can see that CHP blockade there uh they even have cones down now which uh you know gives the indication that this is going to be a long-term closure which uh I think uh considering everything that we’ve seen here today that’s probably safe to be assumed and there you can see uh the number of CHP units that have kind of uh made camp there under the Main Street Bridge here and now you have that contingent of CHP units uh CHP special enforcement units under the Los Angeles street bridge uh at least uh making themselves known to these protesters probably making verbal commands out uh giving the order to get off the freeway and obviously you could see here by uh the static situation that we’re starting to see and now another flow or so of uh of people making their way down the street that looks to be a sign with a that a couple of other protesters are holding there and uh uh just from what we’ve seen here in the past few minutes it appears to be kind of a a eb and flow of people that kind of flow onto the freeway and then another influx of CHP officers will come in kind of scare a few people off the freeway and then things will calm down for a little bit and uh in those calm moments more people will kind of flood back into the freeway but at least at this point you just have the southbound lanes of the 101 closed right now due to this protest and the northbound lanes are still open right now but a lot of CHP units making their way into the area uh and LAPD units as well as Rob our photographer uh swings the camera over to the right so you can see this uh Blackhawk helicopter that we believe belongs to Department of Homeland Security that is here now to assist in the operations uh that uh a lot of government agencies are involved in here in the downtown area yeah we actually saw Blackhawk unloading materials to their DHS facility in Paramount yesterday weaponry ammunition we saw rifle boxes and canisters of flammable materials being unloaded off of a Blackhawk yesterday uh down in Paramount um this is going to come to a head at some point th those CHP officers on the freeway are going to make a move it’s just a matter of when once they have the the proper number of reinforcements in place and we will see what uh what happens um whether these people decide to go without a fight or whether there’s going to be a a problem that plays out on the surface of the 101 we surely hope that that is not the case we do know that the LAPD central division put out a post they said two people riding motorcycles attempted to breach a skirmish line at Alama and Temple two officers were injured after being hit by the motorcyclists both riders have been detained officers are being treated at scene by medical personnel so if they’re being treated on scene they likely weren’t injured too badly as Gabe reported and that will um continue to play out we also are expected to hear from LA Mayor Karen Bass in just about 12 minutes i think at about 4:30 the mayor is expected to hold a press conference we spoke to her live on the air last night at 11 o’clock and she said um she disagrees with the federalization of California troops although she did say she was willing and ready to work with people like the border zar Tom Holman who um has said some inflammatory things in the past he went on Fox News yesterday saying that LA Mayor Karen Bass should thank him for making her city safer with these ICE raids uh okay on the ground covering this all in the thick of it has been ABC News’s Matt Gutman we want to go to him right now who has been outside the detention facility the federal building all afternoon matt what can you tell us hey Jory I mean I we just heard that mention of that that skirmish here and at least one motorcycle possibly a second and we saw we actually physically saw it breaking through that skirmish line it’s unclear if that motorcyclist was just trying to do a wheelie like turning around uh and lost control of the motorcycle or if it was intentional um but several of those people who have been detained uh are right there behind us um unclear what and whether they will be charged with any crime but you can see this is what it’s looked like for the past uh I’d say an hour or so that line of officers from the LAPD pushing everybody back um and using a tremendous amount of non-lethal force um you can see those flashbang canisters uh the sponges 40mm like this that they’ve fired at people just to continue to push them back i don’t think I’ve seen this much use of non-lethal in a very long time we’ve also seen significant number of rocks bottles uh projectiles that are very dangerous being hurled at uh the LAPD on this side of the skirmish line right now it’s that stalemate um juror but there is something I just want to show you is like that police skirmish line you saw behind me started probably 400 yards back almost at the 101 and I don’t know if you can see but the amount of debris and how far it goes back all of what you’re seeing was either thrown by protesters or fired by the LAPD so a really a significant interaction here and obviously as you saw from the hundreds of protesters that are still here it’s probably not going to end anytime soon jury yeah we watched that we watched that line be pushed back down Alamita and saw a near constant volley of those non-lethals at protesters we watched all afternoon those uh federalized National Guardsmen and women guarding the entrance to the federal building are they still there can you tell if they’re still on scene from your vantage point i believe that they are the last time when we got pushed back they were here um I would be shocked if they left um so you know it was federal uh law enforcement plus California National Guard i would say a pretty fair mix one of the things that surprised me Jury that I hadn’t seen in a while was was right front and center uh on the second story near the shrubbery was uh a sniper looked like a a federal uh law enforcement officer um but a sniper was right there uh so far I mean at that point it seemed like a very peaceful demonstration um law enforcement had deployed some sort of less than lethal uh perhaps some pepper spray uh and certainly some flashbangs but what happened here was a step above that was different um we saw some really significant physical interactions between the LAPD and these protesters uh the size of the rocks and projectiles i’m going to see if I can try to find another one for you uh that were thrown were significant um this is a is a piece of concrete or uh road that was picked up and chucked um you can see some of the sharper end stones over here much larger ones than that that were holder police so this is something that I haven’t seen quite some time in downtown LA it was very intense much more calm at the moment but what’s unclear right now Dory is how this thing ends yeah back to you you Thanks you’ve you’ve covered a lot of these you you know him pretty well when you say that it’s something that you haven’t seen before that is certainly saying something and we have said that these officers and these vehicles have been under assault i don’t know if I just lost you yeah that that is not overstating the case matt Gutman from ABC News on the ground and we appreciate his reports and we’ll continue to check in with with what he is seeing down there on the ground as much as we can again we say these officers are under assault under attack that is accurate every time we see a vehicle move in reinforcements be moved in they are assaulted they are have projectiles thrown at them we saw the back window of a Chevy Suburban shattered on live television as they were moving in uh to that scene back to the 101 freeway just a short distance from where Matt is doing that reporting we see that crowd continues to m uh maintain their position on the southbound 101 freeway it looks like there are some people now on the northbound side one or two people have jumped the the barrier and are now on the northbound side which I think has now been shut down let’s go to Gabe Santos in Air 7 gabe we see no vehicular traffic on the northbound it looks like those officers CHP might be moving in right now on the southbound side as well yeah well it it looks like two things happened here you had CHP move in on the other side you have flashbang grenades going off uh possible uh other less than lethal fire going off right now it looks like uh tear gas canisters as well but as far as the freeway is concerned I’m not sure what happened first if there were uh individuals that made their way onto the northbound lanes of the 101 or if CHP actually blocks traffic on the 101 first because I see a little further back we don’t have to zoom in on it right now but a little further back on the uh 101’s uh on the uh if we go a little south from here uh there’s a CHP unit that’s actually blocking traffic right near uh an exit so it’s directing traffic to get off the freeway uh a little bit further back and then turned around photographer swung the camera back and going the other way you also saw Yeah you also saw under the Los Angeles Street Bridge those CHP units are spanning now both sides of the freeway so you have CHP officers uh in SWAT gear on on both sides of the freeway and you had for a time some protesters uh climb the barrier there and get on those other lanes but then it looks like they have now cleared and kept themselves to one side of traffic so I’m not sure if that was an intentional decision on CHP to shut down both lanes of traffic uh going out on a limb here I would I would imagine that’s because CHP uh eventually uh when they do decide to make a move and possibly uh move forward on these protesters and get them to get off the freeway they don’t want the danger of anybody jumping onto the other side and getting hit by a car so that may be the tactic that CHP is using uh in terms of blocking both sides of the freeway now uh to get their officers on both sides of the freeway and maybe make a move here to uh clear the freeway yeah 100% you don’t want your officers at risk of vehicular traffic when you make your move i if we still have Bruce Thomas on the line I do want to ask him we see this group of CHP uh officers gathered beneath the o overpass i I I obviously think it’s um I think I know why but if Bruce could just talk about whether that’s they are under there gathering u to protect themselves from the crowd that is watching from above and the side so they don’t get hit by anything from above yeah you’re 100% right they’re uh they’re seeking shelter underneath the freeway until they decide they want to move forward uh because one of the biggest concerns is you have people on the overpass which have se we’ve seen them throwing objects at law enforcement so they do want to protect themselves because all they have to protect themselves is a riot helmet with a face shield so I’m sure there are some people on an overwatch situation yeah so here we have two groups uh and you think about as we see this confrontation set to take place the the backgrounds of both of these groups you have demonstrators who feel like law enforcement has invaded their community and taken away members of their community sometimes members of their family and on the other side you have law enforcement who likely got into this profession to help people keep them safe and suddenly find themselves at odds and doing their job with the people they are tasked with protecting it’s a tough situation you you understand the motivations from both sides but again um you hope we’re not uh pitting citizens of our city against each other but here we are the LAPD CHP local law enforcement is tasked with maintaining peace and order and here once again on the streets of Los Angeles and the freeways moving through Los Angeles we have disorder and unrest as demonstrations have now stretched into day three in Los Angeles um all of it against the movements of ICE and DHS and the Trump administration against the immigrant community here in Los Angeles and Southern California we saw unrest in San Diego this weekend we saw unrest in Washington DC in New York City this is happening across the country as President Trump is trying to fulfill his promise to go after those in this country illegally some in his administration say they are going after the dangerous elements those who have committed crimes those who pose a threat who are violent who are members of gangs i think it’s safe to say everyone in society wants to see those people gone not on the streets in any whether they’re immigrants or not we don’t want violent gang members nobody does um the the uh criticisms that have come is that people who are not violent have been swept up in this there are people who are residents legal residents of the United States who have been swept up in this there are citizens of the United States who have been swept up in this some of them sent out of the country to max supermax prisons overseas and struggling to get back and so there is this pushpull there are people in the administration Steven Miller uh chief among them who have said they want to see every single person in this country uh without permission to be taken out and they do so with uh violent warlike tactics moving in with weapons of war against people we saw in the garment district this weekend in Los Angeles from day laborers at Home Depot and so there are are you know it’s not it’s never as um clear-cut as just simply people are committing crimes and we we take them out of this country it’s the methods it’s who you’re targeting and that is where a lot of this eyeire has been drawn by some of these demonstrators um but again e even in California and Los Angeles elected officials are saying we we do not condone violence we heard that from Mayor Bass we hear that now from Governor Nuome we hear that from members of of Congress and elected officials and law enforcement nobody is condoning the violence or the um assaults on uh officials be it local or federal um and that is where some of these problems have been arising over the last three days as this is now again day three of unrest in Los Angeles ice through a spokesperson has put out a statement today i’m going to read it to you here it is long but I’ll read you the initial statement it says quote “Irresponsible politicians continue to push dangerous and misleading rhetoric that puts communities and law enforcement at risk even the LAPD referred to violent riots yesterday as quote peaceful protests it continues “Americans can look at the videos and images and see with their own eyes that they are dangerous not peaceful.” It continues “ICE and its federal partners are doing their job enforcing immigration law and removing criminal aliens from Los Angeles communities we have arrested a domestic abuser who assaulted someone with a firearm and a child rapist in defense of these heinous criminals masked riers have made it their mission to injure and maim federal law enforcement officials make no mistake riers committing crimes will be arrested and held accountable let’s go back to the situation on the 101 freeway it looks like the scooter that one person had been using to ride up and down kind of taunting that line of CHP officers and tactical gear has now been taken into custody the scooter was just dragged out of the way and that person is now face down on the pavement being placed into handcuffs the rest of the crowd this is on the northbound side this is where this group of officers is lining up and and moving their way down um and you can see some folks on the other side the demonstrators lining up in front of the Jersey barrier uh confronting them as well there there’s a large crowd behind them and vehicular traffic does appear to be uh moving on uh no that is the side street my my apologies that is uh up above um I believe Aliso uh overlooking the 101 freeway but uh here we go so officers from the CHP are now moving in there is now officially a skirmish line on the southbound 101 freeway and they want to get these demonstrators off the freeway surface it appears as if they don’t have to exert much pressure on these officers uh on these demonstrators as they are backing up unhappily it seems we see one gentleman there in black who is shouting at them or or woman demonstrator in black who is shouting at them going back and forth very agitated very animated uh but that group is now slowly backing up they are going to be have they are going to have to be turned around backed up and turned around to go back up the on-ramp to get them off the surface of the 101 gabe Santos is viewing all this from Air 7 let’s go back up to Air 7 and see what you’re seeing from up there Gabe yeah having the luxury of having uh this airborne view of this situation you can really kind of see what CHP is trying to do uh they have uh made a coordinated attempt of shutting down both sides of the freeway and as more resources got onto the scene they have a call out to all of CHP basically so they’re sending uh anybody and everybody uh that is available to uh come to the downtown area and help uh quell the scene here now that it has spilled onto the freeway so CHP now uh they have closed both sides of the 101 freeway at Los Angeles Street uh and we saw that line of officers start to make their way down the southbound lanes of the 101 and it looks as if they are trying to make a circle or at least a semicircle around some of these protesters so that they are not just pushing them back and pushing them further up uh up down the freeway they’re trying to get these people off of the freeway and you even saw somebody on a scooter that was uh possibly taunting officers uh that eventually uh maybe got a little too close to an officer or or maybe came close to striking an officer with that scooter uh they were immediately taken into custody so CHP not taking any chances with anybody and they are slowly and methodically pushing these protesters uh the idea is off the freeway as more resources get to the scene here and we’re going to see that uh start to de uh develop as you see right there uh groups of about 10 or so CHP officers in full riot gear moving down those are going to be the northbound lanes of the 101 freeway and they’re making the uh this line around the group of protesters that we see there and then slowly and methodically you see this line of officers on the northbound side uh excuse me those are the southbound lanes but those protesters are facing north uh you see those officers there very slowly and methodically pushing uh that line of protesters uh hopefully off the freeway and onto surface streets yeah thank you Gabe let’s bring back in Bruce Thomas our law enforcement expert it seems like they are just taking one step at a time bruce slowly pushing back on this group of demonstrators i don’t think they want to start anything um you know get too violent go too fast they are slowly methodically making their way to clear the surface we saw yet another flashbang go off above this crowd but talk to me about what the the mindset is of these CHP officers as they are now face to face with these demonstrators they want to get them off the surface but they don’t want to start any violent confrontation you’re 100% correct Jory uh what they’re doing is they’re negotiating look at you made your point we’ve got to open this freeway up we’re going to use a skirmish line to slowly very slowly push you back off the freeway we don’t want to use force we don’t want to take anybody to jail but we want you to comply with our request yeah and and it does seem to be effective right now we have not seen the necessity for um batons we see some push back here it looks like some folks are just kind of dead weighting their bodies up against this crowd forcing those officers to to push them back uh but they they are moving back they are locked arms now arm in arm and don’t want to be removed but they are slowly pushing back so the officers will take a couple steps gain that line reset move forward again and hopefully they don’t want to start any major confrontation here again all of this is playing out on the streets of Los Angeles we are awaiting word from the mayor of this city karen Bass is set to address her city any moment now we were told around 4:30 was the time to get ready for her to speak uh we have not heard from her as of yet but we are awaiting word from the mayor again excuse me in direct confrontation with the federal government uh President Trump kind of name checked her personally last night on his uh truth social um outlet his uh social media outlet writing this is last night if Governor Gavin Nuskum that’s a favorite of the president uh to write it that way of California and Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles can’t do their jobs which everyone knows they can’t then the federal government will step in and solve the problem riots and lutters the way it should be solved so he’s saying the problem was riots and lutters said it will be solved the way it should be solved he was also um recorded on camera today at a press briefing being asked about a a couple things with what’s playing out here uh rules of engagement for the National Guards members who are now federalized under his control on the streets of Los Angeles what their rules of engagement they’re carrying around the these uh soldiers can be inserted into war and so they’re carrying the weaponry as such um against citizens of Los Angeles what the rules would be for them to employ those deadly means um the the president just said we want to keep peace he was asked about the proclamation that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegth put onto social media saying if the violence continued then members of the US Marines would be deployed against US citizens that can only happen under use of the Insurrection Act and the president today was asked what would be deemed an insurrection and he neglected to answer specifically so here we go it looks like a smoke bomb thrown on the surface of the 101 and uh that um let’s go back up to Gabe those demonstrators now kicking that smoke bomb back towards the officers it’s like a a Macob game of soccer with this thing right now um but they are making a move trying to get these folks off the freeway yeah that’s I can honestly say I’ve never seen a soccer game between protesters and oh that is one protester being taken into custody one of those CHP officers got behind him as he was uh going in for that kick and uh just pretty much tackled him and that’s what CHP is doing here uh with that soccer game going on with this uh tear gas canister going back and forth as those CHP officers try and kick it back into the crowd and then the crowd kicks it back uh you’re seeing CHP kind of slowly pick off some of these protesters that get a little too close or get a little too uh aggressive in their movements uh and there you see another CHP officer again kicking that canister into the crowd uh and a protester now throwing it back towards the CHP officer so this is this is kind of a of a dangerous situation here because you basically have projectiles being thrown back and forth as these protesters now at least with that tear gas canister that has put a little bit of distance between that uh that skirmish line you could see that person being taken into custody earlier uh kind of wrangling with those CHP officers uh they are just out of frame uh CHP with that tear gas obviously uh it’s it’s not something you want to breathe in it causes uh your eyes to burn it it uh causes you to cough so that pushed back the protesters just a little bit uh those CHP officers wearing uh full gas masks so they’re able to kind of tolerate it a little better if you don’t have a gas mask if you just have uh you know any other kind of mask you’re going to be getting the full effects of that tear gas can canister so that’s what’s creating a little bit of that buffer as you could see that CHP officer in the middle he’s trying to as Bruce Thomas was saying he’s trying to negotiate with some of those protesters in a very you know kind of matter-of-act way saying “Get back get back uh uh put some distance here and continue moving off of the freeway.” As you can see this one individual uh waving an American flag uh continuing to yell at some of the officers i have a feeling if he gets too close uh some of those CHP officers might pick him off as well and that’s going to be the process the you saw that skirmish line that was on the opposite line of the freeway it has now crossed over the center median and they are doing this very coordinated approach to pin these protesters off the freeway and uh oh you see someone else being uh yep it’s someone else being taken into custody right there and very quickly and there’s someone okay it looks like uh another CHP officer grabbing uh his uh another fellow officer there probably got a little too close for comfort but uh you could see just how uh different the picture looks than uh what it did 10 minutes ago uh earlier you had a very wide semicircle of these CHP officers and now they are narrowing in they are pushing uh all of the protesters off of the freeway which is the goal and they are doing this in pretty quick order uh and anybody who is getting a little bit too close or a little too aggressive they’re just picking them off and arresting them right then and there and this is all uh part of the plan one by one gabe thank you i want to bring in Sergeant Daniel Keane with the California Highway Patrol who joins us on the phone watching uh the CHP execute this clearing of the 101 freeway sergeant thank you for joining us can we talk about what’s uh happening right now on the 101 yes sir uh right now we currently have our CHP special response team that responded to the area to assist with getting the protesters off the freeway uh accessing state highways it’s it’s dangerous it’s not the right spot for a protest and it puts the the protesters the motorists and our officers at risk and we are going to move to to get them off the freeway and and make arrests if officers start to take objects and and are getting hurt or other people are getting hurt it’s it’s not going to be tolerated yeah and we have seen that uh several times now these officers coming under attack and taking several people into custody can can you tell us a little bit about the training in situations like this we have seen tremendous restraint from a lot of these officers who have been under attack for much of this day facing these people off um who are screaming at them throwing things at them and yet maintaining control and trying to deescalate how important that is and what you’re seeing in terms of execution of that training yes our special response team goes through additional training and we are put through situations like this and this is where what separates us is the professionalism we’re going to stay calm in these situations and use the appropriate amor amount of force when necessary to affect an arrest if we have to but we fully support everyone being able to voice their their first amendment rights in the right location and we will support that but on the freeway is not the spot for it and we’re seeing it play out once again another person taken into custody um a lot of times in these situations we see unifying command go into effect h have have has that happened and how does the the presence of National Guard troops who have been federalized kind of change that um that as it plays out here today the CHP has always prepared for mutual aid to other law enforcement when it needed and that’s just what we go based off we are the state police so if there’s other areas that need help we are going to send resources if it is requested through the proper channels to do that uh Sergeant can you tell me how it it uh it’s going to play out tonight once these protesters these demonstrators are taken off the freeway um how it’s going to be ensured that they won’t make their way back onto the freeway tonight will that be CHP will that be local once you get off the freeway it turns back to city’s jurisdiction it’s going to be both it’s a fluid situation chp is there we are going to protect any state facilities and our roadways and our highways and if anyone attempts to take over the freeway we are going to take swift action to get those roadways back open and keep everyone safe to continue on with our mission of providing safety services and security yeah I know this operation has only been happening for a little bit do you have any reports of injuries from any of your officers from anything today i don’t have those numbers right now if there was any but there’s always that possibility that officers may get injured and we hope to prevent that we hope that people do not throw items at our officers and that it’s just done peacefully and they go to areas that they can voice their opinions in the in the right spots okay sergeant Daniel Keane with California Highway Patrol thank you so much for helping us out here thank you i know it’s a busy day for CHP law enforcement in general as uh once again we are seeing people take to the streets of downtown Los Angeles this is now day three of unrest in our city we are awaiting word from LA Mayor Karen Bass she is set to hold a press briefing at any moment we were told it was set to happen at the bottom of the hour and we are approaching 15 minutes um past that point uh and we will see what she has to say but you know anytime the mayor at this point is now going to step in front of a camera um we will likely see her side by side with um you know smoke bombs and unrest and flashbangs and arrests and and officers under attack so no matter what the mayor says this is all playing out under her watch which has been um a point of focus for the president and uh those who work in his administration saying she is unable to maintain control in this city um I’m sure she will be asked about that tonight when she uh speaks to the media if it’s opened up to questions about why and how this was able to happen in her city these are thousands of people so obviously only so much can be done and demonstrations are uh a vital part of our country protest is protected by our constitution and um it should happen uh but obviously it should not turn to violence and um and that has happened several times in several different locations here today so as we await word from the mayor we are watching the California Highway Patrol slowly push these demonstrators back up the on-ramp from the surface of the 101 freeway southbound and they are being hit with um pepper spray and smoke bombs and flashbangs as they want to get these people back off uh of the the roadway the 101 and the on-ramp gabe Santos gabe Santos has been watching this from overhead from Air 7 and has an eagle eye of what is playing out because that crowd is now gathering pretty thick on the on-ramp Gabe yeah Jory and that’s that’s kind of uh what CHP was intending on doing this is the uh CHP special response team and they are trained in these SWAT tactics and uh tactics on dealing with uh civil unrest uh and the like and you know we’ve all seen uh protests through the years that uh involve people blocking freeways and they often last a lot longer than what we’ve seen here today we’ve seen a very quick response from this CHP uh again specifically the special uh response team uh they arrived here quickly and they very quickly as we saw made that uh half circle around these protesters and slowly and methodically kept uh walking forward and pushing these protesters using uh smoke canisters uh further and further up this uh off-ramp and back onto surface streets uh so ideally CHP will get the freeway open in a pretty short order because uh there’s uh you know this is this is Los Angeles a lot of people are on these uh freeways on a Sunday afternoon uh so that is the goal to get these freeways open uh and uh you know take on the protesters from there because LAPD is also dealing with the other side of these protests near the federal building hey Gabe uh I do want to alert everybody as we wait to hear from LA Mayor Karen Bass that I know a lot of people are turning on channel 7 on this Sunday waiting for game two of the NBA finals between the Pacers and the Thunder that is going to happen at the top of the hour we are going to turn to national programming and you will be able to watch the game we will continue our coverage of what’s happening in Los Angeles streaming on our uh ABC7 Los Angeles app you can stream on our website abc7.com and you can find us on social media and and make your way to our stream as well so again abc7.com/live will get you coverage of what is happening in downtown Los Angeles as we continue to follow the unrest and the uh demonstrations that has been playing out here for the last three days thousands of people converging on downtown Los Angeles it began as several different demonstrations all gathering into one large mass which has once again broken up into several locations both at the federal building which is where the bulk of the activity we have seen this weekend three straight days happening at that federal building at Alama and Temple this however is happening at uh I believe it’s it says Spring Street and the 101 freeway and the uh LA Los Angeles street overpass is one overpass down so there are people on both uh looks like three different overpasses watching what has played out here demonstrators taking over the 101 freeway we see CHP CHP officers right there on the right side of your screen in tactical gear they are continuing to face attacks from above projectiles continue to be thrown at them and they are responding with flashbangs trying to disperse that crowd a large plume of smoke emerging from that crowd as these officers are doing their best to get these folks off of the road surface on the left side of your screen is a live look from Air 7 it looks like things might have stalled a little bit uh the CHP officers have slowly marched these people off the roadway up the on-ramp and uh it looks like they have slowed to a crawl here as the large crowd is gathered um behind that skirmish line uh it’s tough to get that many people to move in a direction which they don’t want to go and the officers don’t want to start any kind of panic by bull rushing through that crowd which could be uh catastrophic uh people getting trampled and the like and they do not want to see that play out but the crowd is continuing look another group here has splintered off and they are making their way uh down is that Alama Pass Union Station i’m just trying to get my bearings um yeah we that’s Los Angeles Street down the hill is Union Station so there’s Union right there gabe Santos how many different groups can you spot from up above Gabe uh about three I would say you have a group that’s making their way up north on Los Angeles Street i think they’ve caught wind of the situation going on on the 101 freeway and uh this is a group that is uh on the north side of the 101 freeway on the uh Chinatown side of things and it appears uh Rob I don’t know if you could zoom zoom back in on that it appears that they are uh starting to move uh well at least uh it looked like a group of them was uh moving in in in one direction or another earlier i’m not sure if there are people on the back of that truck uh making announcements trying to rally the crowd that might have caused some movement in a direction towards the truck uh you also have all those people that were on the freeway that are uh now a lot of them off the freeway and now have to move in various different directions so you have uh a crowd of people uh north of the 101 in the Chinatown area you have the crowd of people right here on the uh Aliso and Los Angeles Street intersection most of those people were on the 101 freeway earlier and you have this crowd of people south of the Federal Building near Temple and Alamita uh this is where that uh motorcycle incident that we’ve been talking about a couple hours ago that’s where that happened where we had reports of uh of uh a couple of motorcycles you could see there one of them uh still lying on the ground uh a couple of motorcycles apparently made their way towards the skirmish line uh the words that we were hearing from CHP is that they or from those LAPD officers in the scrimmage line is that those motorcycles crashed into the skirmish line unknown how fast they were going but we do know that at least two people uh were taken into custody with uh charges of assault with a deadly weapon on an officer so those are pretty serious charges and uh two people again taken into custody for those do know that the officers that were hit by those motorcycles uh a couple of them were injured but they were treated at the scene and are now stable so that’s uh some uh good news in terms of the conditions of uh anybody injured here at the scene and now back on the 101 freeway and you can see this is the uh Los Angeles Street Bridge yeah Jory uh the Los Angeles Street Bridge on that Aliso uh ramp uh to the uh let’s see those are the southbound lanes of the 101 freeway and this giant crowd has kind of come to a halt right there i would say that’s probably a couple hundred people and CHP has indeed kind of stalled there for now chp in effect has succeeded at their goal they they closed both sides of the 101 freeway made this very coordinated approach to pinch off the protesters and get them back onto Surface Street so that’s the goal of CHP at least and it’ll be interesting to see if CHP gets them fully off the uh uh ramp and get them onto Los Angeles Street and then they just stop there or what uh further role CHP may have in this entire situation they may be content with just blocking off the ramp and then sending the rest of their crews home they have a lot of uh CHP officers from the CHP special response team that are here at the scene now those are those uh special CHP officers that are specially trained in these SWAT tactics and uh they have the right gear they have the gas masks and they have the tools to deal with large crowds as you can see there 1 2 3 4 five six people so uh there you can see six people currently in CHP custody uh we saw these people kind of being uh plucked from that uh skirmish line as some of them got a little too close got a little too uh maybe the uh CHP officers thought they were getting too rowdy uh and then those people were immediately taken into custody uh CHP will probably have a uh a patty wagon or another large vehicle to put uh put these folks in for processing and then taken to jail after that yeah we saw those people being marched down the ramp and likely being taken to the CHP vehicles which are either under the overpass uh protected under there and they’ll load them up and then drive them off the surface of the the 101 but um some order is being restored here to the freeway and um excuse me and um we will see how this plays out but there is a log jam there on the on-ramp at the bottom of your screen as the CHP is continuing to slowly press this crowd back to the top up to Los Angeles Street and or Main Street and make their way uh back and clear the entire roadway uh again we are waiting word from LA Mayor Karen Bass we expect to hear from her in some kind of press briefing here in the little in the next little bit i do in the meantime want to read a post from former Vice President Kamala Harris who many are thinking might be the next governor of the state of California she posted to social media quote Los Angeles is my home and like so many Americans I’m appalled at what we are witnessing on the streets of our city deploying the National Guard is a dangerous escalation meant to provoke chaos in addition to the recent ICE raids in Southern California and across our nation it is part of the Trump administration’s cruel calculated agenda to spread panic and division the former vice president continuing “This administration’s actions are not about public safety they’re about stoking fear fear of a community demanding dignity and due process protest is a powerful tool essential in the fight for justice and as the LAPD mayor and governor have noted demonstrations in defense of our immigrant neighbors have been overwhelmingly peaceful i continue to support the millions of Americans who are standing up to protect our most fundamental rights and freedoms uh a mention there of being mostly peaceful that’s I guess that’s an unmentioned um condemnation of violence but not a a direct condemnation of of violent and uh tactics that we have seen from these demonstrators many of them today we have started to see many taken into custody a lot of projectiles bottles and as we saw from ABC News’s Matt Gutman rocks and chunks of concrete being hurled at these officers who are trying to clear the situation uh we did see rocks and and projectiles thrown at vehicles law enforcement vehicles that have been making their way through the back window of a Suburban of a we believe a federal vehicle was shattered as we were covering this live today um by people who were uh simply throwing things at any vehicle that passed on the right side of your screen is a confrontation we saw on the the surface of the 101 this is the southbound 101 uh a sad game of kick the can between CHP officers and those demonstrators um with that tear gas canister in fact you’re going to see one of those if we play this out the last person to touch this winds up being arrested here taken down by an officer who was trying to kick that canister back towards those officers um so that was one of I’d say at least a dozen people from this particular group has who has been arrested taken into custody and removed from the situation and uh this has continued uh face to face up this on-ramp the CHP slowly marching these people back and away from the 101 they want to regain control of the the roadway the officers are still in tactical de gear down on the surface itself getting ready for containment so they can hopefully open this back up to vehicle traffic which has been stopped now for at least an hour as we have been on the air here um the northbound side was open for a time as the southbound side was overtaken but now both sides have been shut down for some time as the CHP is trying to regain control all of this is happening as large crowds gather in other portions of downtown including outside the federal building the Royal Detention Facility where detainees have been brought throughout this weekend and we have seen three days of unrest there demonstrations and confrontations and that is where we are looking right now gabe Santos uh in Air 7 really quick before we hit the top of the hour one last check with you on what we’re seeing at the at the federal building there yeah Jury uh we’re keeping an eye on the scene at the federal building and the scene on the freeway the scene at the federal building appears to be pretty static and it has been since that uh motorcycle situation that we saw where two motorcycles breached the skirmish line uh two people were taken into custody there uh the the motorcycles may have hit uh a couple of officers there and uh caused minor injuries to officers who were treated at the scene and uh those officers are in stable condition there we believe those were uh LAPD officers so we’re keeping an eye on the scene at the federal building and we’re keeping an eye on this large scene on the Aliso ramp to the 101 uh large crowd there it looks to be a couple hundred people but CHP has been successful in their efforts to clear the protesters off the 101 freeway so unknown how much longer the 101 free will be closed probably for another few minutes as CHP maybe gets these people uh further up the off-ramp and completely onto the ramp and oh this may uh you see another person taken into custody there as a couple things are thrown at uh at officers and that person may be getting a little too pushy with the officers that’s that person earlier with the uh with the green cap with the American flag uh so one person being taken into custody there a little scuffle happening a little further up the uh ramp here and in situations like these where you see projectiles being thrown at officers and things uh being thrown around sometimes you see those uh smoke grenades being thrown out uh by these CHP officers because they have those at the ready uh to uh uh you know forcefully push these crowds back as you see things get a little bit pushy a little bit tense okay here we have LA Mayor Karen Bass again NBA finals will continue on ABC7 we’ll continue to cover this on streaming to protest that’s their first amendment right but people should also exercise that right peacefully we do not want to play into the administration’s hands we’re working with officials we’re organizing resources but what we’re seeing in Los Angeles is chaos that is provoked by the administration when you raid Home Depot and workplaces when you tear parents and children apart and when you run armored caravans through our streets you cause fear and you cause panic and deploying federalized troops is a dangerous escalation but we need to be real about this this is about another agenda it’s not about public safety there’s clearly no plan and there is clearly no policy i want the people of Los Angeles to know that we stand with all Angelinos no matter where you were born the First Amendment right gives you the ability again to protest peacefully but it does not give you the right to be violent to create chaos or to vandalize property and that will not be tolerated so I call on all Angelinos to continue expressing your right your anger your outrage but to do it peacefully and I just have to say that all of you were there Friday everybody knows what happened Friday a workplace several workplaces were uh targeted and raids took place now in the beginning the administration said they were just looking for dangerous uh felons violent people it’s hard to say that that’s what they found at a workplace or in a Home Depot parking lot when this happens it terrifies people it sends a sense of fear and chaos in our city and you well remember a few years ago in the last administration that kids were afraid to go to school parents were afraid to go to work this impacts all of our city you can’t terrify the workplace workforce and then expect for people to get the jobs done so if you think about a father that went into a factory and now his family doesn’t know where he is they the detainees have not been allowed to speak to legal counsel that is a market departure from what has happened in the past when you think of a mother that might be working in a household taking care of children on another side of town that impacts that family as well as her family and so this is something that I think should not be happening in our city and I join with the governor in appealing to the administration to resend the order to federalize the National Guard and allow the National Guard to come back under the control of the governor so with that uh we can open it up for uh questions yes we’re going to start with Lolita and then we’ll go to Mayor these protests that or demonstrations I should say did start out peaceful you’ve been here since the morning but then it’s they scattered and people move around where is the LAPD in terms of being here to be able to deal with that and maybe stop them before they get on the freeway sure well I think that basically they were overrun but what is happening now is is that the freeway is cleared the California Highway Patrol as you know is in charge of the freeways so they have moved all of the protesters back they still might be there but they are uh beginning to be dispersed but LAPD is on the perimeter so LAPD is actively involved you know that there were hundreds of protesters on the freeway and thousands of protesters off the freeway so there is a joint uh collaboration going with the CHP the LAPD and then frankly the National Guard but you also know that the National Guard is deployed to protect federal property so there is a National Guard uh troops uh in Westwood at the federal building and also here downtown mayor B is have you reached out directly to the federal government or is this you doing so right now with the media here you tried to No my disappointment is I’ve been talking to uh the federal government for days i was hoping to prevent this situation from happening i was trying to encourage the uh administration that if they deployed the National Guard in Los Angeles it would create a sense of chaos it’s the last thing our city needs our city is still trying to recover from the wildfires and you just think about how so many people were impacted by that and that’s an example of where the administration was helpful and to go from that situation to where we are now is just really tragic and I think is so unfortunate it’s the last thing Los Angeles needs when you say you reach out to We are We are listening to LA Mayor Karen Bass address her city amidst unrest in Los Angeles if you’re continuing on ABC7 on air we will switch things over to the NBA Finals game two between Indiana and Oklahoma City we will continue to cover this what is going on in Los Angeles and continue listening to this press conference from Mayor uh Karen Bass streaming on abc7.com and the ABC7 Los Angeles app well I’m worried about everybody i’m worried about members of law enforcement i’m worried about the safety of the people who are peacefully protesting i’m worried about the businesses that might get vandalized i’m worried about the vandalism that took place around the federal building all of that we do not need to see our city torn apart and uh the idea that the federal government that should be assisting us is a contributing factor I I think is very tragic when I see the protesters I know that so many people are affected by this their families are affected by this people are terrified how do you think that vandalism impacts the overall message of the protest well I mean I I first of all I think protests need to be peaceful period and anytime it deteriorates into violence that is a problem and it absolutely messes with the overall message next question right here yeah hi Mayor um George my question is um can you share a little bit about the conversations you’ve had with the uh with the governor and how long you expect for the National Guard to actually be in You know what thanks for uh asking me that because we’re hearing all of all of sorts of information we’re hearing that that raids could continue we’re hearing that the National Guard is going to be here so it’s uncertain but that’s exactly the problem because we don’t need in this city to go to sleep tonight and wake up in the morning and find out about people running through Home Depot uh parking lots being chased by ICE officers or people going to work or children at school uh so we don’t need any of that in our city right now our city is trying to heal our city is trying to rebuild our city does not need to be torn apart with a provocative measure from the federal government the reality is people seem to still be getting violent plan to deal with that as we move forward if people get violent if people break the law they will be subject to arrest and they will be held accountable it’s as simple as that so peaceful protest is what is needed peaceful protest is a part of our American tradition mayor last night the US attorney seemed resolute that these raids would continue regardless of what’s happened over the last two or three days in your conversations with him has there been any kind of attempted compromise or somehow lowering the temperature at least when things cool off locally if they want to continue or are they just doing it regardless of how everyone else feels well I mean I think what we see now is they’re doing it regardless of how anyone else feels my conversation with the US attorney though was not focused on that uh yeah another question uh oh hi Frank uh it appears that the LAPD is cooperating with ICE in this operation outside the Metropolitan Detention Center they moved in they were they were a peaceful protest the LAPD moved the people back using uh flashbang and less lethal munitions comment on that because LAPD is not supposed to be cooperating with us sure well first of all I’m not sure that LAPD was involved with the flashbangs but anyway let me just say that what happened there is that when one branch of law enforcement says they need help another branch of law enforcement is going to respond and is obligated to respond and so the minute that protest left the federal building uh then that’s when LAPD uh were involved so the cooperation that you’re referring to uh I believe is the co cooperation around coordinating with ICE in terms of raiding workplaces or arresting people who are undocumented what’s your exact understanding of the timeline for how long the National Guard is going to be here how long the rails for i have no exact timeline i cannot tell you that that’s part of the problem right we do not know i have heard a variety of days and weeks uh I certainly hope that this is over the last thing this city needs is civil unrest and the last thing this city needs is civil unrest that’s provoked follow so I’ve seen LAPD fire point blank bullets over bullets um into the ground but at some cases directly at protesters can you speak about what kind of orders they’re under in terms of handling i can’t in terms of the specific orders that are being given by the uh chief or the other commanding officers so mayor will you be speaking then to Chief McDonald i’m going to speak to him in the next few minutes okay great yes i’m leaving from here to meet with him great what has been the plan for tomorrow because let’s say presumably this does not end right right right well you know I think one thing is is that because our city has always had a very robust immigrant rights movement and infrastructure and institutions that have been around for several decades there is a history of having peaceful protests here now you know like any crowd if we’re talking about after an athletic event everybody celebrates there’s always a handful of people that tend to be at the end and tend to hang around and might get into mischief and violence but that’s not the people who are putting on the protests i tell you that to say that when those protests have been uh organized they’ve been organized in a proper way the problem is what happens at the end and that’s one thing that is difficult with crowd control whether it is a political protest or whether it is a football game did you say you talked to Tom Holman yes I did talk to Tom Holmes what did he tell you uh well he just listened i mean the main thing he said was he appreciated he appreciated that there was a call for no violence i’m not exactly sure what what was expected but um you know I was encouraging him not to deploy the National Guard i knew that the order had been given the president had signed the uh order to the governor that he was federalizing the National Guard that 2,000 troops were going to be deployed but that didn’t mean that they would actually be deployed onto our streets so my conversation with him my conversation with him was trying to encourage to prevent the deployment obviously that did not work mayor with the police chief and anybody else or just the police chief the the police chief the sheriff and the governor quickly mayor may talk about peaceful protest we’re hearing the noises outside as this crowd is getting closer and presumably more violent as they’re coming up through the streets here i know it’s nice to talk about peaceful protest that’s not peaceful what was happening it’s not peaceful for people to be on the highways it’s not peaceful for people to throw rocks or bottles that’s not peaceful so then how do we reconcile the difference obviously there’s frustration with the Trump administration and the feds but as LAPD and the sheriff’s department try to distance themselves from the actions of these immigration uh you know actions and work being done they’re against authority in a lot of ways they’re standing outside city hall this is your office it’s not necessarily against you how do you distance yourself but also kind of try to keep it peaceful at a time where it’s it’s anti and and let me just tell you that I don’t think there’s any equivocating on nonviolence and if you are going to entertain violence if you are going to try to take over a freeway then you are going to suffer the consequences of doing that i don’t think that LAPD the sheriff and certainly not myself are not shying away from statements like that i’m sorry any details about what the National Guard mission is going to be within LA well all what I know right now is that the mission of the National Guard is to protect federal property and the federal building which is why you have only see them there you have not seen them out in the community or anything like that and just in terms of you know to close to wrap up um I I just have to say that again our city has been through a lot since the beginning of the year and now thinking that there is a large percentage of our city that is terrified that is not going to know if they go to sleep tonight and they go to work or they go to school will that be the last day they do that will that be the last day they see their family we can’t have this in our city los Angeles is a city of immigrants where 50% of the population is Latino uh percentage of the populations are from Asian countries and from all over the world and we embrace all Angelenos it doesn’t matter where you came from or when you got here but the most important thing right now is that our city be peaceful and so protests and expressing your you know uh fears your beliefs is appropriate to do but it is just not appropriate for there to be violence and I don’t want people to fall into the chaos that I believe is being created by the administration completely unnecessarily thank you very much thank you so much you have been listening to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass address the situation playing out in her city as she has been speaking we heard our reporter Tim Caputo who ask some fantastic questions of the mayor during that as that was playing out outside of the city hall and uh the down surrounding downtown area we have seen some things happening at the bottom of your screen from air 7 that is a Whimo car now on fire it looks like a lot of those cars have been targeted by the demonstrators tagged and um destroyed damaged and again that one is now on fire um never a great situation i believe all of those fleet are electric vehicles and we don’t want to see um you know those batteries are once they’re exposed to air you can have a a really violent explosion um Gabe Santos has been watching what has been playing out here for some time uh during the mayor’s press briefing gabe what have you seen well Jory we’ve seen a very rapid escalation of things here uh we have both Air7s over the scene here one of them on a couple of Whimos one of them that’s on fire i’m personally working to get eyes on where that Whimo is because my attention has been focused on the scene at Alama and Temple where we had a number of mount uh mounted units from LAPD try and make a move towards city hall on Temple and they were met with uh a lot of uh fireworks activity one officer reporting Molotov cocktails unknown if that if those were actually Molotov cocktails or where or whether that officer was maybe confusing the uh the fireworks with something else uh so those mounted units from LAPD were trying to make a move towards uh city hall on Temple and they were met with uh a lot of protesters that were uh reacting with aggressive behavior so those LAPD units actually backed away uh on Temple and backed up uh from those protesters as you can see those mounted units right there just trying to regroup and reassess the uh situation because as soon as they started coming uh towards city hall on Temple uh near this very intersection this is going to be Los Angeles Street and Temple Street uh they were met by some aggressive behavior by some uh uh uh protesters and you can see that uh mall area on the bottom left corner of your screen this open park space uh a lot of the surfaces there have been tagged by uh protesters even when uh I got on the scene here a couple hours ago those walls were bare and now they uh have been tagged and a lot of graffiti has been applied to those walls so those protesters uh have been pretty busy on some of these other streets near the federal building while our eyes were focused on the situation on the 101 freeway both lanes on the 101 freeway are still closed right now but uh CHP has pushed the majority of those protesters off of the freeway and onto the Aliso uh on-ramp to the 101 south uh and uh CHP is continuing to very slowly and methodically push those protesters up the ramp they kind of hit a uh kind of a stalemate with some of those protesters on the ramp and we saw a couple of minutes ago uh some of those smoke bombs being launched uh and that created a lot of smoke and really kind of pushed the protesters further back and away from the freeway uh it’ll be interesting to see what role CHP will continue to play there and this is my first uh view of the Whimos these are going to be it looks like these are on the north side of the 101 freeway on Los Angeles Street and uh from our other angle from our other Air 7 we were seeing that uh one of them was actually on fire i don’t see flames at Oh uh I I do see the flames further to the right but we’re going to hold on this shot right now because we could see one individual breaking windows on those uh Whimos and there’s that other Whimo that’s on fire and all all three of these I think I counted four have been completely hit by uh graffiti a lot of paint a lot of uh words and statements being placed on these Whimos and this is quite an interesting scene something that uh you wouldn’t see uh maybe in the riots of 2020 and before that because we didn’t have these automated vehicles that are kind of easy to corner and easy to stop and protesters appear to be taking advantage of that and using these uh these uh uh uh automated vehicles as maybe billboards for their message and uh unknown what you know the the the Whimo’s response to this is going to be do they just kind of shut down and stay put obviously when they’re set on fire they’re they’re probably going to be uh you know completely destroyed uh but these are owned by a company they’re not owned by a specific uh uh individual so at least you know it’s not a sole individual that is now at a loss for a vehicle you have these uh corporate vehicles that are probably uh insured so that’s at least one bit of good news but uh that this is obviously not anything we like to see we don’t want to see things burning in the streets uh we don’t want to see all these acts of vandalism that we’re seeing now uh taking place on the Chinatown side of the 101 freeway and we’re seeing a lot of these protesters move northbound on Los Angeles Street i’m not sure if that was from the uh activity that we saw a little bit closer to uh Temple and uh Los Angeles Street where those uh mounted officers from LAPD kind of clashed a few minutes ago i’m not sure if that’s what’s spurring some of these protesters to continue northbound on Los Angeles Street or if they’re just kind of moving forward of their own will uh these this uh collection of Whimo vehicles i I I think this must have happened in the last 20 minutes or so because we were I had eyes on this section of street uh before Mayor Bass started talking and this was not here we were seeing a vehicle uh I think that truck is there a little further uh if Rob pants to the left there was a truck with some people uh on the back of the truck possibly speaking making announcements and I thought that was maybe one reason why people were continuing northbound on Los Angeles Street but now we see these Whimos that may have just gotten you know these these automated vehicles maybe don’t know that there’s a protest they don’t have that programmed into their software to uh be aware of that so they probably just drove into it and people you know they know that if you stand in front of it they just stop and people are obviously taking advantage of that right now and you can see one person leaning on the hood taking a selfie with that Whimo that’s on fire and a lot of messages from protesters uh being painted on these Whimos right now on a on a Sunday night yeah things devolving in some parts of downtown and you do not want to see this happen uh these again these are electric cars any car that is burning is going to send off some pretty bad toxins into the air but an electric car in particular once it hits that battery you’re talking about a very difficult job for firefighters this is going to continue to burn those lithium ion batteries and the the size of them and the amount of power they have in them once they catch fire this is going to be a bad situation you hope it’s not an explosion and people aren’t too close but um I know if I were near a burning electric car I would get away as quickly as I can as the uh destruction continues here um we’re hoping to to talk and here we go someone else starting a fire in one of these vehicles uh ran out of fuel thankfully before that one could ignite um and now hiding their identity uh but again this is something it’s a volatile situation i don’t know if police are able to move in to this scene and try and calm things down get these folks out the fire department at some point is going to have to be called in to put this car out and now a major conflration in this car we saw in uh Compton yesterday when that car was lit on fire in the middle of the intersection the firefighters had to come in and had to be protected by police you know you have a line of of officers be able to move in and uh get those fire firefighters safe and and even those firefighters had projectiles thrown at them so again this car is now fully engulfed people are trying to set the other Whimos on fire and as this is playing out again we want to try to get to Tim Caputo who just heard from Mayor Karen Bass i think I believed I just heard from Gabe Santos in Air 7 that there’s not a lot of time left are they out okay they are fully out they’re out of fuel and have to go back to the airport to refuel so we hope to check back in with Gabe Santos shortly and as we wait again we’re hoping to talk to Tim Caputo who just questioned the mayor of Los Angeles directly with some very pointed and and um very uh impressive line of questioning because it sounds at times that the mayor is trying to have it both ways she blamed all the chaos that has played out in Los Angeles this weekend on the Trump administration’s actions and at the uh at the same time on the other hand said that violence is not acceptable and so admitting that there is a lot of violence playing out amid these protests and so that is clearly the people who are committing the the violence are not Trump administration officials so they are to blame as well so um you know it sounds like she’s having it both ways let’s zoom in back on on that car because we’re starting to see some explosions emerge from that you see the the fuel now on the on the street now burning on the surface of Los Angeles Street and people still ma maintaining a really close proximity you see those flames coming out of there really fast and powerful uh something in there has caught where um we’re talking about a volatile dangerous situation and you hope that this is uh the only car that is uh set ablaze and you see still see some flames there on the roadway as that fuel uh whatever fuel source is now burning has now made its way onto the street itself and uh Jory sorry to interrupt but looking at the Whimo right there I was looking at what kind of fumes the Whimo sets out whenever it’s set on fire like this i’m not even sure if the protesters even realize that how just how toxic and dangerous these fumes can be hydrogen fluoride carbon monoxide um just these flammable gases that can potentially explode and we could possibly even see an explosion happening from this Whimo if it’s on fire long enough and just all these protesters in that area again this air it’s just so toxic and it just really makes you question why would they do something like this yeah it that’s just mob mentality at this point just watching things burn that’s Nico Kazori joining our coverage here i’m Jory Rand as we are um continuing our coverage of the unrest in downtown Los Angeles and we do see possibly some officers moving in now uh to try and gain control of this situation this is still is this I saw some smoke in the background so I’m not sure if that’s a flashbang smoke or whether these officers are moving in on this situation uh but a large crowd gathering here i think this is Los Angeles street five uh cars from the fleet of Whimos that now service Los Angeles have been uh attacked vandalized and destroyed this one on the right of of uh this window is now fully engulfed in flames and it just continues a day of unrest in Los Angeles that is in response to moves by the Department of Homeland Security and ICE under the Trump administration as they continue to um take it those in this country illegally out of the United States absolutely and we were talking about the National Guard a little bit earlier they’re deployed 2,000 troops are here and pretty much President Donald Trump basically bypassed Governor Nuome’s authority and he deployed the troops here and that makes you think that that’s another thing that these protesters are angry with and that’s another reason why these protests are getting a little out of control um tensions are high and earlier during that press conference Mayor Bast say she said Angelinos have the right to exercise their first amendment right but peacefully and not like this so this is what we are seeing here this is the scene in downtown LA again these protests they erupted amid the ICE raids and it’s the third day of civil unrest jory’s been talking about this for hours now you have been covering this since um one this afternoon is this Yeah it’s it’s been going for hours we know there was a demonstration this morning it stretched into the afternoon and then two large demonstrations converged into one governor Nuomo responding to the president uh today with a number of posts to social media and some of this is stuff we have never seen before in the United States so the governor responding to a video of President Trump speaking to reporters today saying there will be law and order in the streets of the United States the governor writing inciting and provoking violence creating mass chaos militarizing cities arresting opponents these are the acts of a dictator not a president the governor also writing officially to the Trump administration he said to resend their unlawful deployment of troops in Los Angeles County and return them to my command this is the governor posting to Twitter he writes “We didn’t have a problem until Trump got involved this is a serious breach of state sovereignty inflaming tensions while pulling resources from where they’re actually needed resin the order return control to California.” That is a message to the president of the United States attached is a letter written from the office of the governor to the Trump administration and defense secretary Pete Hgsth signed by David Sap legal affairs secretary in the office of Governor Nuome and it goes on to list ways where the the governor and the state believe it’s unlawful for the president to have federalized members of uh the National Guard writing uh this is done under section 10 of the legal code as how they federalize uh US troops but this uh this lawyer writing uh that section 12406 states that quote “The president may call into federal service members and units of the National Guard of any state in such numbers as he considers necessary to one repel an invasion of the United States by a foreign nation that has not happened two suppress a rebellion against the authority of the government of the United States.” There is an argument that I’m sure the president will make that that um stands here and three execute the laws of the United States when the president is unable to do so with regular forces that is not the case here as well uh so they will look to likely number two there of those three um three sight citations within the code uh but the office of the governor writing the the section further states that orders for these purposes shall be issued through the governors of the states and therein lies the problem this was not done at the request of the governor of California which is typically how the federalization of National Guards troops happens we’ve seen it happen quite often in fact Niku we saw it happen during the fires we we’ve visited these sites and seen National Guards members uh guarding uh entrances and exits we saw it during the 2020 civil unrest national Guards members were on the streets and we have seen it at in the past but it happens at the request of the governor not in opposition right and it’s it makes you think this is so hard to predict what can happen next because this is just um it’s not going in the right order so I mean just like you said so it’s really hard to think what are the next steps because things have happened out of order um and looking back at that Whimo you can see now an even larger crowd gathered around this Whimo now they’re standing on top of the car and a little bit earlier I think I saw someone with a skateboard trying to break into the Whimo not sure if they’re trying to set this one on fire too but that other Whimo has been on fire I’d say at least for the last 20 minutes probably it was It was in the trunk and now the car is just completely engulfed and these folks are just standing here one person with a hammer on the windshield we see that man on the roof with a skateboard trying to uh just basically break anything off this car that they are able to do and I don’t know if we can pull out and see if uh any officers are in this area but again this situation has devolved into chaos um when we have seen quite a bit of it this weekend play out in Los Angeles and you start to see the smoke rising in this wide shot it’s a disturbing sight to see a fire burning like this in the midst of a crowd um making their way through Los Angeles um again we just heard from LA Mayor there’s the explosion that we’ve been waiting for to see if it would happen mhm that car has now exploded as it likely is reaching the lithium battery that powers these electric cars i think typically they’re they’re found on the you know beneath the car along the frame of those vehicles and so once the fire reaches down there uh it is very difficult to put these fires out i think I remember a crash on a bridge recently where there was some kind of fuel a vehicle that could not be put out and they encased it and basically just dragged it off of the bridge um but here we have uh you know some knuckleheads trying to continue to damage this car do whatever they can to get involved in this and basically a mob party as they watch this car burn yeah and again these EV fires they’re absolutely no joke those fumes that are in the air again these protesters they’re so close to that fire they’re they’re breathing in um all of the toxic gases again we talked about carbon monoxide hydrogen fluoride those aren’t things that you should be breathing in and they are just feet away from that car that exploded and it makes you think is that the plan for the second Whimo i believe there’s three were there three or five Whimos five Whimos and it’s just a terrifying thought to think that they want to light all five Whimos on fire um and looking at this crowd you can see a few different flags within that crowd and they continue to move i believe this is Temple Street did we say this is Temple Street i think I think this is happening on Los Angeles just across the 101 um once the California Highway Patrol came in to clear the 101 freeway the the crowds kind of have scattered um all across downtown Los Angeles this uh we saw a large group Oh there’s two cars on fire now so they were able to light a second car and we’re gonna see this play out here on both ends of this string of five Whimo cars uh still burning here um and this is the group in Chinatown now we have a few different scenes so this is just one of the scenes i’m curious what the other um scenes look like at this time if they’ve calmed down a little bit or um this is because this is still a very large crowd i mean I’ve barely seen any improvement in the last few hours so it looks like these protesters they are not going anywhere and it seems like this protest is dragging into the evening hours it will continue i I you know it’s fair to say the sun will be down long before the this crowd uh breaks apart for the evening can we pan around and see if there’s still a group at the federal building i know our vantage point has kind of shifted here uh we’re on the west or south side of Okay we do have this is Temple and Alama so this crowd is still gathered are they sitting down it looked I’m not sure are they They are all They look like they’re sitting down okay so this is Temple and Alamita uh they are here for the long haul it looks like um not really doing anything to provoke anything from these LAPD officers but showing they are not planning to go anywhere this says Aliso so it’s backed up a little bit they have cleared the intersection of Temple and Alamina oh this is on the back side gotcha okay so this is the top of the hill here’s the bottom of the hill this is where the the focal point of much of the unrest has been this is Alama and Temple down here and there’s still a small group here but this is where we saw the large confrontation this morning as those cars continue to burn a few blocks away there is the motorcycle that remains on scene there was a time when there was a skirmish line lapd officers who had cleared the entrance to the federal building and pushed people down the hill into this intersection of Alama and Temple at that point two people on motorcycles approached the skirmish line and again there’s some uh we we’re not sure whether they intentionally drove those bikes into the officers or whether they were just doing a a U-turn or some kind of maneuver and lost control and hit the officers either way they hit the officers two of them suffering injuries both drivers have been taken into custody and will likely face uh several new charges in addition to just what the other protesters obstructing a a federal or local authority um once those officers were injured and as we pan back over to Los Angeles Street you can see the 101 freeway is now moving northbound the southbound so is uh it seems like Okay it’s still closed the southbound side is still closed but northbound is open yes you can see the officers CHP still on the surface mike what were you saying got it okay so we have uh again on the right side of your screen a live view from the ground from Los Angeles Street that is what you’re seeing right now at the top of your screen on the left from that aerial view from Air 7 so we have demonstrators spread out to at least three or four different locations the large uh the largest group I’d say is over by the 101 i’m sure many of these people were the folks who were on the 101 freeway just a short time ago they were slowly backed up the on-ramp by CHP officers and pushed up onto side streets surface streets once again um and then we saw um yeah was that a flashbang or officers moving into this area now i just saw another explosion and it looks like people might be moving out of here hopefully if they are moving in this area they have their respirators on because again this is toxic gas and there are just way too many people in this area um I remember I remember a little bit earlier we did talk about how many people have been charged with assault of a deadly weapon on officers so um many people have been facing that charge um and these these numbers are just um insane and just seeing the large crowds of people and they’re still gathered here around the five Whimos even though this one has exploded but hoping an officer or someone is moving in to try to at least disperse this crowd get them away from um this Whimo that’s now putting all that black smoke in the air i don’t know if we can if there’s any way we can see if there are officers um kind of gathering getting ready to put this out because uh the more that these cars are allowed to burn and the the the longer this goes without police intervention the more dangerous it becomes that’s the closest we can see I think is just two officers over on the far side of the 101 it is a dangerous situation for those officers to have to walk into an area like this um you know things things are volatile and two cars are now burning okay we do have Tim Caputo uh Eyewitness News reporter who was in that press conference with LA Mayor Karen Bast asked some very impressive questions before we get to the mayor Tim you are now on the ground can you tell us where you are and what you see yeah so we’re essentially on Los Angeles Street the the interesting thing is on this side of the 101 Los Angeles kind of turns and goes to Alama right at Union Station a lot of the protests uh in the past have ended up on this because you’re on either side of the 101 what you’re looking at here from you saw from uh above is the is the cars that are currently on fire the police line is on the opposite side of these car fires at the moment from where we’re standing part of the crowd have been moved back in this direction but you see they’re not exactly moving they’ve essentially just moved the line back and are standing in place at this point that thick black smoke obviously going right into the air where we’re standing and uh the crowd kind of mingling its way down tommy if you want to point down the street towards Union Station as well uh kind of working its way on Alamita and Los Angeles as well they’re essentially all in this area the federal building itself obviously the focus of these protests and these demonstrations is on the other side of the 101 but as often happens with these rallies and protest and demonstrations that are in this general vicinity they get on either side of the 101 and where this is is kind of on the near side opposite where the federal building is itself the crowd itself by and large a lot of bystanders taking video holding up signs kind of standing and mostly onlookers there are a handful a number of agitators within that crowd it doesn’t necessarily reflect the whole of the group itself you know Jory you were mentioning we were just up in the mayor’s office a short time ago talking with the mayor about everything that’s transpired over the last couple days as well obviously the mayor concerned about the violence that has erupted but she is obviously taking the stance of saying that the Trump administration’s immigration policies and these ice raids that have happened in greater Los Angeles is the reason that there has been a kind of uprising and resistance from the people here in Los Angeles angelenos taking to the streets for three straight days now and the crowd seems to be getting bigger as more and more people some coming from the train station itself are kind of descending on this area you know when we were in Compton yesterday when they set that car on fire it took a minute for the fire department to get there and put that car fire out I could tell you from either angle from where we’re standing it would be nearly impossible to get a fire truck in maybe from over here by Union Station but obviously uh this is burning strong with people standing by and that’s why police have backed off a little bit at this point obviously we’re keeping a fairly safe distance away from the kind of strong to the action you hear the explosions as well from those cars obviously um people standing close by there not necessarily a safe area to be when we were parked just underneath uh city hall by the mayor’s office the crowd rather was kind of moving their way up the street they’re all over this area as I’m sure you’ve seen from Mayor 7 but obviously at this point this is the main focus the smoke could be seen from all around as these folks converging around this part of the rally at this point yeah Tim uh now that we have you I do want to ask you more about what the mayor said you you asked her about the violence and if she’s she’s blaming the the riers the demonstrators who are turning to violence but she led her press conference directly blaming what has played out and the unrest in our city on what the Trump administration has done but also saying that if you’re if you’re causing violence and you’re attacking law enforcement you are to blame as well so it it almost seemed like she was trying to have it both ways to a degree right so this is it’s nuanced and it’s difficult right i mean there was an awkward moment where she’s talking about we want it to be peaceful and we could hear flashbangs and fireworks going off outside her office in city hall literally outside the windows of the mayor’s office we’re hearing these loud bangs as she’s saying “Folks keep it peaceful.” That point has come and gone that is clear to this point you see it behind me obviously the peaceful part of it is not happening but here’s the interesting juosition of course because the protest and the demonstrations are against those federal agents whether it’s ICE the FBI Homeland Security anyone federal agents assisting LAPD CHP and the sheriff’s department are all distancing themselves from the immigration operations that have been happening but here’s the interesting part and what makes it difficult when there’s violence against those federal officers when there’s graffiti on the street cars on fire in the street now it’s in the hands of LAPD now it’s in the hands of the sheriff’s department they can’t sit idly by and let this happen this is no longer setting a car on fire in the middle of the street about preventing an ICE raid from happening at a Home Depot in the fashion district so that’s the awkward juxtaposition where I think the mayor is kind of playing both sides but is also being responsive to the fact that while people are upset and they are emotional about how what’s happening with the federal government with immigration from the Trump administration and the feds going to businesses and homes in Los Angeles the LAPD the sheriff’s department CHP all the local agencies are towing that fine line where they’re saying “We’re obviously not part of immigration and anything going on there but we got to keep the peace on the streets in Los Angeles.” And so it’s tough because their presence alone is sometimes agitating the crowd the police presence the flashbangs the tear gas those are provoking the crowd to fire back but it’s tough because police are not being part are not part of immigration but now they’re part of these protest and these demonstrations it’s a nuanced issue that is playing out in the streets here in Los Angeles and I think it’s important to note uh folks are trying to be cognizant of the fact and the emotion that the people out here have but also realizing setting cars on fire throwing rocks at police officers assaulting people on the street is not okay regardless of what your cause is it’s a difficult job being mayor you have a lot of constituencies to to tend to and as she did also say the mayor said she’s for everyone she wants everyone to she’s not for one side or the other side or the other side she wants uh everyone to be okay she doesn’t want to see violence and she wants to see her uh citizens maintain their safety and uh and comfort living in Los Angeles u it looks like from air 7 Tim I’m not sure you can even see but it looks like at least three of those Whimos three of the five have now been lit on fire do you see any police moving anywhere in this area no i mean from our vantage point like I said we’re we’re a little bit removed right we’re not trying to get too close to that thick back black smoke but um I don’t see any police police officers on this side of the 101 of course we’re dipped down a little bit on the road here as it curves down into Alama i see a lot of bicycles and folks on the street and a lot of onlookers on this side essentially watching it from this angle i mean look at this there’s a there’s a city bus driving by i don’t think there’s any police anywhere close to this whether or not the fire department is coming and how quickly they’re coming remains to be seen they might let this burn out but obviously in the middle of the street here a raging fire cars that were set on fire during these demonstrations a sad sight to see obviously all around yeah indeed tim this is Niku um so you’re out there and you’re just like in the thick of it the smoke is behind you what does it smell like i’m just really curious with all the fumes in the air does does it have a distinct smell um what what is it like you you know it’s an it’s an interesting question too because on Friday night especially when those tear gas was shot from the feds outside the federal building that is a very distinct smell you get it up your nose it burns all the way through your nostrils and gets into your eyes as well some of those pepper spray balls that we felt in Compton as well those are kind of quick bangs you kind of get a little bit and then you move on your way this smells like an open dumpster fire i mean for better or worse we could smell it when we pulled up and walked up the street the thick black smoke is kind of emanating thankfully there’s not much of a wind at this point so it’s going straight up in the air but I think it’s a a true sense of what we’re feeling here is that smoke is kind of emblematic of the frustration this thick black smoke kind of billowing above these demonstrations uh everyone frustrated at this point and just a cloud of uncertainty hovering over all of Los Angeles these last three days yeah I don’t know how much you can tell you’re in one spot kind of separated from everything i’m just curious at this point whether things are truly escalating in downtown Los Angeles or just a group that splintered off happened to find five cars that they were able to light on fire and it makes it look like it’s a lot worse than the situation actually playing out of the ground it’s a great point Jory because that’s the quintessential question when you have uh rallies demonstrations riots if you will i wouldn’t go far as to call it that i know President Trump had tweeted about riots and looting i don’t know that I would characterize it that way but certainly when you have groups like this from what we’ve seen Tommy Pan over here to the left here it’s it’s the vast majority are people taking videos people waving flags people walking around people wanting to be part of the cause wanting to have their voices heard and wanting to show the power of numbers and the power of force certainly Friday night when we were out here it was two dozen maybe 30 agitators throwing rocks covered head to toe trying to instigate the police officers and the feds who were there the vast majority That’s another big explosion huh the vast majority of the folks here seem to be those who were walking around and you have these pockets of people who are intentionally causing some issues i’m pausing here for a second just to take a see if police are moving up any closer obviously the biggest concern anytime you have a car fire but especially when you have a car fire surrounded by people standing around as you have a gas tank full of gasoline and a fire and explosion here would not be ideal some of those explosions you know it’s interesting we’ve gotten used to over the last day and a half to tell the difference between a fireworks like that or flashbang being fired by authorities a subtle difference and frankly doesn’t really make a difference obviously one is sent by authorities and the other is fired by that’s another one that’s a firework but these are part of the crowd intermittent and a small part of the crowd so it’s tough to describe the crowd as a whole as agitators i wouldn’t even say that even close to that but because it only takes a handful of people to light a car on fire a handful of people to throw fireworks into a line of police officers a handful of people uh to vandalize vehicles to vandalize and graffiti walls those get the attention and rightfully so i mean obviously you have a huge burning fire in the middle of the street here uh but it doesn’t seem like this is necessarily encompasses the vast majority of the people here it’s just everyone gets caught up in the hoopla as they wanted to come out and kind of voice their have their voices heard yeah no doubt it’s a matter of a couple people kind of ruining things for everybody else what might have been a peaceful demonstration certainly is no longer that as those cars continue to burn and explode we’ve talked about those are Whimos so they are fully electric and once the air and the fire reaches those batteries it will go off like that it’s very difficult to put out tim you okay you you Okay okay we’ll get back to Tim in just a moment but again looks like three at least three i’m sure those guys are working on trying to set the other two on fire as well and you can see that that material just melting and burning and covering the surface and still continuing to burn on the surface of the street and we just heard that Tim Caputo was moving so we’ll have a different look different angle from the protest down but where Tim was standing and we heard those explosions in the background i think he said it was a combination of the uh car fire fireworks and um something else but um right well we did see those flashbangs going off so it looks like officers are somewhere unless that is uh those are just simple fireworks but we see those poofs of smoke and those typically are flashbangs trying to disrupt the crowd and we do see some movement coming now towards the 101 from the top of our screen so that would be north to south uh that would be coming directly from where Tim was standing i don’t know if there is any police activity pushing these folks this way or perhaps just the smoke it’s getting too hard to breathe uh more explosions here from those cars uh but we do have a a decent sized crowd watching these cars continue to burn otherwise as Tim said things do look relatively peaceful at this hour we saw the folks at Aliso and Alamita sitting down on the ground we saw the folks at Temple and Alamita just kind of waiting it out it’s um broken down to just a couple dozen people at that location and so things seem pretty It’s hard to say that with three cars burning but things do seem relatively calm minus these cars that have been set on fire exactly there are a few scenes and it looks like this scene is the worst one that we have been seeing because like you said the other um areas that we’ve seen we have seen people sitting down and um this is just the worst of it seeing these three Whimo cars on fire which hopefully um some someone can get a handle on them very soon but again it’s really dangerous for any kind of um police or the fire department to even move in on a situation like this so they have to really handle this gently it’s it’s difficult it’s hard especially with three is are there three on fire it looks like three are on fire but there are five Whimos in that area but three are on fire it’s a precarious situation you want to maintain control and get order back in the city but if you try and do so to uh in a certain way you’re going to devolve here into some really bad uh confrontations and so um you know there are discussions being had right now by law enforcement about how best to handle this situation once the demonstrators made their way onto the 101 it took CHP a little bit of time to come up with a plan and how they were able to do that and here we have the 101 back open again so same kind of situation here there’s a large group of people it could turn very volatile if you move law enforcement in there in the wrong way and turn what is just a bunch of people um having fun watching cars burn into um a massive confrontation and altercation between officers and and demonstrators so it looks like um next to that big um the car fire we have that wide angle is that the the one on the other side is that a closer look at the car fire and if so there’s people around it they’re taking pictures and it’s just they don’t even mind all the toxic fumes in the air but the scene is definitely look like um it’s less crowded than what it looked like about 30 minutes ago so at least people are moving away but still um really dangerous because again these EV batteries this can explode at any minute and just the air i mean Tim said it smelled like a dumpster fire behind him so um and poor Tommy his photographer was back at this location last night with Amy Powell dealing with that um they were hit with uh with um tear gas and so he’s back at it again we There’s another explosion coming out of that car we thank all of our photojournalists for uh being there and our reporters on the ground this is not easy stuff it’s a very precarious dangerous situation we saw one station in our in town um their reporter and photographer were basically kicked off of scene by demonstrators it was unsafe for them to be there they pushed them out of there uh that is why we’ve been we’re being very selective with where we put our reporters on the ground today uh because we don’t want to put them into harm’s way but simply being on the ground you can see how volatile it is tim was just a short ways away from this and had to move their situation because the crowd might have been moving their way and you as a reporter with a camera there you don’t want to put yourself in a situation where you can’t get out and put yourself in and it could be so tempting because you really want to show you want to get the message across and really show these images these videos of just what it looks like there but at the same time you really have to worry about yourself your well-being um and that’s also the case for the police officers that are out there too um I’m sure they’re caught in that um that kind of struggle as well so um it sounds like Tim Caputo has found a new location let’s see where he is and what is going on as we search really for the bulk of this crowd that’s the 101 South that is still shut down the 101 North is moving freely again and what a shot from Tim Caputo’s camera location tim uh tell us about what you’re seeing now well full disclosure we didn’t actually move locations since we were kind of double parked and had to move the van to let some people out because once we got to this location what’s ended up happening and no surprise here at Los Angeles Street cars cannot go down so they’re pulling this kind of U-turn to go back down to Alama Street here towards uh Union Station so we are in the same spot a pretty safe distance away i can tell you you know there are rowdy elements of this crowd that’s why I’m kind of keeping my head on a swivel as well because uh some of the anger pointed at the media some of the anger obviously pointed at law enforcement at the mayor’s office whomever uh they perceive as potentially a person of authority at this point so we’re just kind of uh watching our backs as well as we watch what’s going on ourselves but you know as you guys have mentioned too is this car trying to make a U-turn here this Range Rover red one in the middle of the street these cars are still burning and the vast majority of people standing on the sidewalk here and standing even in the street here mostly just getting video it does seem like some of the attention has moved away from the burning vehicles as this crowd is now moving back towards the federal building across the 101 uh back over to Los Angeles and even Alama Street essentially where the protests we’ve seen the last 48 72 hours have been focused obviously this is where it began but it eventually kind of bleeds out and filters out into the adjoining and adjacent streets around here and that’s what happened in this area when these cars were set on fire it does seem at least where we’re standing right now while it does seem from our angle there are a handful of people standing on the street the crowd is actually moving farther away across the 101 potentially back towards uh that federal building it’s tough to tell from here and frankly I’m not going to try to get any closer to show you a closer perspective from it but it does seem like just from the visuals here as the fireworks continue to go off the crowd is starting to move away from these burning vehicles hopefully maybe that gives the fire department the opportunity to get in here and try to douse these flames before any gas tank explodes or anything gets worse here it remains to be seen because we haven’t seen a whole lot of law enforcement or first responders in this immediate vicinity and understandably so obviously with folks so angry and things on fire and fireworks going off it is not exactly the safest place uh to be at the moment like how you said that you are keeping your head on a swivel um we saw someone pull up right behind you he was on a bike but what is the general feeling of the crowd there are they confrontational um are are they saying anything to you they’re angry they’re not necessarily angry at me they’re not necessarily angry at the media they’re angry they’re angry at what’s been going on the last couple days are angry at this immigration policy uh that the protested back in February remember back on February 2nd uh when protesters at the time got onto the 101 that was the kind of initial setoff point for a lot of these folks and now that what we’ve seen over the last 24 hours I feel like to a degree it’s embolden them you have the crowd you have numbers you have people that are upset that are frustrated that are scared and they want to have their voices heard and they feel as though the only way they could do it is be as loud and be as disruptive as possible and they are doing exactly that i can tell you the vast majority of people here just want to be part of the movement they want to be part of the resistance that doesn’t necessarily mean they want to be part of assaulting officers of vandalism of burning cars or of anything like that but being part of it often times means you get awfully close to it and I think that’s what happening with some folks here is that you might not want to be part of that car fire but guess what when you drive by on your motorcycle and do some um burnouts around it you’re part of the action as well and that’s what’s happening right now this is uh kind of a show of force a show of resistance uh and it’s still going strong yeah and as as the mayor alluded to and as we know there are legitimate demonstrators out there there are also people who after a sporting event you know just want to watch something burn and so there there is a distinction between uh what is happening right now whether these cars burning are truly along with the the you know it’s not a peaceful demonstration but whether they’re actually um out there to make their voices heard or whether they’re just out there to take pictures of themselves in front of a burning car uh once the crowd is out of the streets and Jory it’s an interesting point too because you mentioned the mayor talking about how she wants it to be peaceful and she doesn’t want things to go sideways or anyone to get hurt i think it’s an interesting point because a lot of folks out here have told me this is sad this is not sad because of what the people are doing they said it’s sad it’s come to this they’ve reached the boiling point they’re mad and they want to do something about it and I think that’s what the mayor kind of alluded to as well is the fact that she’s not necessarily blaming Angelinos for this she’s blaming what led up to make Angelinos do this and I think that’s a subtle but important difference of the folks out here as well and what the mayor was trying to convey in the sense that the Trump administration’s immigration policies the ICE raids that have been happening in the last couple days here in Los Angeles brought this city to its breaking point and that’s why Angelinos are doing exactly this and I think that’s the sentiment by and large i’ve only talked to a handful of people kind of on the outskirts here who said this is sad i hate to see it come to this in the city but something needs to be done and this is how they’re lashing out right we’ve seen um those ICE raids play out uh LA Mayor Karen Bass alluded to the fact that uh one of them took place at a Home Depot we saw some in the garment district and some factory workers were taken into custody you know it is it is said by the Trump administration that their focus is on the dangerous the violent those who have criminal records who are in this country illegally um but a lot of people in this crowd feel like that is not the focus of what uh is actually happening and while some dangerous and violent people are being taken off the streets there are also upstanding members of society that are being swept up in this as well and that was not supposed to be what this what what has happened in fact um I heard an affiliate in in our nation’s capital this weekend who was a Trump voter who is a US citizen who was swept up by ICE simply because he looked like he might be here illegally and once they saw his ID that it was a real ID and he was a citizen they let him go quickly but that is what is happening here under some of these ICE missions these stories that you’re hearing it’s just um insane and I think Tim really said it best this all of the what you just mentioned in stories like that it’s really brought this city to its breaking point so um this is the result of anger the um tension the frustration and we are seeing it um and you can see the city it’s uh city uh I forgot what that was but we saw there’s it’s just graffitied um all over the city we are seeing graffiti and uh not nice things either so um a lot of cleanup in downtown LA and Governor Gavin Newsome who is now at odds with President Trump and the federal government over the federalization of California National Guardmen and women uh keeping active on social media responding to actor James Woods who posted uh a video of two police cars on fire um with the quote “If I hear one more leftist shill in mainstream media utter the words peaceful protest I’ll throw up.” To which the governor responded “This video is from 2020.” Um and so there he is active going back and trying to prove his point that um the president was wrong to bring in the National Guard against his wishes which is something that typically we do not see happen the normal order of things is that um the governor of a state would request the federalization some help from the federal government and bring in the National Guard that did not happen here president Trump took it upon himself to federalize 2,000 members of the National Guard last night put them into use today the governor has made a move now to retake control of those National Guards members and again we talked about the history in our country of something like this happening um presidents have federalized National Guards members the last time I think it’s happened was the civil rights era when John F kennedy federalized National Guards members in the south to allow black students to attend schools who were being met with resistance by the governor George Wallace being chief among them and other local governments that weren’t allowing federal law to be executed and it was directly harming citizens this situation is not that right it’s so different and it’s so hard to see like okay usually history repeats itself let’s look back let’s see what happened we can’t really do that with this because this is uh again it’s not going in the right order uh 2,000 National Guard troops are deployed here and yeah President Donald Trump went over uh Governor Governor Nuome’s authority and he brought them here so um it’s just really difficult to see how this is going to turn out we can’t predict it and we’ve heard from ICE about their um ex the execution of some of their activity the last couple of days and some of the violent and dangerous criminals and uh people that they have taken into custody who now face deport our Tim Caputo who you’ve been talking with there on the ground there uh spoke with US attorney Billis this weekend about some of those movements let’s let’s hear more tim what what did the US attorney tell you he was resolute that these ICE operations will continue regardless of this regardless of what happened yesterday regardless of what happened on Friday as well it was an interesting take because we’ve heard a lot of people talking about how they want us to stop the US attorney said absolutely not this is their job and their duty they say they were going after criminals they say they were going after people who have immigration judges in their final warning to leave the country he also said “Full disclosure if we run across somebody who is here illegally we’re going to arrest them too.” Now how much of that is going after people with those warrants and how much is the other we don’t exactly know but he said regardless of what is going on those operations that happened in Paramount yesterday he said they carried them out even despite that entire protest happening for the better part of 12 15 hours and he said they will continue to happen here in Los Angeles he was undeterred by everything that’s going on in addition to the National Guard he says they’ve mobilized border patrol to protect the federal buildings here downtown an ob uh an obvious mobilization of federal officers and federal agents to protect the work that they are doing and protect the people who are doing that work i had asked him what he thought about this resistance about people being frustrated about people being sad that’s all that’s going on and he essentially said “It is what it is we’re enforcing the law.” And he said even more emphatically that if you try to resist those officers if you try to impede those officers if you try to assault or actually assault those federal agents you will get arrested and you will be prosecuted and we saw that yesterday we saw to a smaller degree on Friday and I could imagine that’s what we’re going to see here as well as these protests have continued all day today it was an interesting perspective uh from the US attorney as well because obviously he sees it from the other side is that they are federal agents carrying out these immigration um this immigration work and the protection of those officers and those agents who are not only carrying out the work like yesterday in Paramount who were mobilizing uh at their kind of joining where they were all meeting uh to start doing that work and he said there was an assault on officers and they won’t stand for that so it’s a it’s an interesting point of view that we maybe not not necessarily have heard as much over the course of the weekend because of the presence of so many people who are frustrated and fed up with these ICE raids he said “I wouldn’t even call them raids they are arresting people who have warrants out for their arrest.” He didn’t even like the description of calling it an ICE raid i think the vast majority of this crowd would disagree with that right and and that’s why we keep hearing from people like Governor Nuomo and the mayor for people begging them to be nonviolent because as we look at these scenes playing out and the scene we see behind you Tim who looks bad when you look at a city like this if you’re on the outside looking at Los Angeles tonight and you see that cars on fire in the middle of downtown who looks bad is it the federal government is it Donald Trump seeing this situation it looks like chaos it looks like violence he’s not looking bad when they see scenes like this the general public is looking at Los Angeles asking what is going on what is the mayor doing what is the governor doing and so they can almost use that response um a as a a positive in as they as the federal government continues their confrontation with local authorities here in in California and Los Angeles and Jory I’ve spoke with a lot of people over the course of the past three days from people protesting here on Friday night to Compton and Paramount yesterday to again people in this general vicinity today and I’ve had friends I’ve had family on the East Coast and across the country ask me “Is it as bad in Los Angeles as it sounds it is bad as the president is making it out to be.” And the answer is simply “It’s not as bad as that but it’s not great.” And they asked “What’s the temperature here?” People are fed up and that’s what I’ve told each and every one of my friends and family members of what it’s like here people are fed up and this is their way of getting out here and boiling over their frustration and putting it out in the streets and when you had those ice rays on Friday that happened in the fashion district that happened in Westlake that happened in South LA the people who live here Angelinos feel like it’s an affront and assault on them and they’re fighting back and this is the way they’re doing it not necessarily fighting back with punches although in some cases of course they’re throwing fireworks like you hear there they’re throwing rocks like they were yesterday in Paramount but they’re fighting back in a way that they know how which is getting out in the streets and letting people know that they don’t believe this is okay so while these ICE raids will continue you would have to believe this is going to continue as well because as I mentioned several times here frustration has boiled over and the folks out here say they’re sad they’re mad and they finally need to rise up and do something about it right and uh we have heard we heard from the mayor today directly blame President Trump and his administration for what has played out in Los Angeles these last 3 days um and it’s not just the mayor uh conservative writer Bill Crystal who obviously is a anti-Trump conservative but wrote on social media you know when things were pretty quiet in LA before ICE started arresting residents who were bothering no one and going to their jobs and before DHS and guard troops showed up and made the situation worse of course Trump and Steven Miller want the situation to get worse and that is what he’s alluding to what I was just talking about where who looks bad when you see scenes like this cars on fire and civil unrest all across Los Angeles is it the demonstrators who are doing this that look bad in the eyes of the nation if you’re trying from a PR perspective who’s going to look bad in a situation like this it’s the demonstrators it’s the leaders in Los Angeles who are in power as this is happening in their city and so as we see this play out I I see at least four of those I I’m I’m guessing all five of those Whimos have now been set ablaze and are now burning down literally burning to the ground melting into the pavement on Los Angeles Street this has been going on this unrest since this morning really since Friday this is day three of unrest and confrontation across Los Angeles and LA County it began on Friday with some of those ICE raids or as uh the US attorney wishes them to be um uh referred to as immigration enforcement um at a Home Depot taking some day laborers they the federal government says they’re they’re not just day laborers they are violent criminals that may be the case they did put out some of the people they have arrested and um not all of them were violent criminals with uh with um you know criminal records in their past saturday yesterday things began in Paramount we thought it was outside another Home Depot it actually was outside another Home Depot but that was not the purpose of this location why it was chosen across the street in Paramount there was a DHS facility where authorities were staging more actions to be taken yesterday that um demonstration grew violent it was pushed down the street into Compton where again things turned violent a car was lit on fire uh firefighters and law enforcement came under attack from thrown projectiles and then it continued last night here at the federal building in downtown the detention center where people were being held back to today another demonstration began in Boil Heights walked their way across the the river and the freeway over to downtown again gathering at the federal complex there there was a second demonstration today at 2 p.m outside City Hall more than a thousand people were gathered there they made their way and joined the group at the bottom of the hill down at Alama and Temple at the federal building and that’s where the bulk of the confrontation happened today at some point with federal troops those federalized National Guards members on hand the LAPD was called in to move in and back those people up and they did that clearing out Alama pushing them into the intersection um and gaining control of that situation as that was happening some of the crowd dispersed made their way around the facility back to the north side and onto the 101 freeway that took about an hour at least to clear that situation california Highway Patrol was brought in because once you’re on the on the freeway that is now state jurisdiction so the state patrol of the California Highway Patrol came in cleared off that uh freeway service spreading people out once again and now they have moved to Los Angeles Street where they their eyeire has been focused on a fleet of Whimo cars lighting all five of them on fire and that’s about where we stand here at the 6:00 hour with those cars now melting down to the pavement that was a really good way of summing everything up and that just really just goes to show day by day demonstration by demonstration and the longer that the National Guard is in town um protesters they’re just getting angrier and angrier and I actually saw a picture Governor Gavin Newsome shared it online he um it really just conveys like the tone and the message that the protesters are trying to convey they’re angry that the tensions are just at an all-time high he said Trump is trying to manufacture a crisis in LA County deploying troops not for order but to create chaos don’t take the bait never use violence or harm law enforcement i really wish that the last part of that um message um the demonstrators could have at least you know listened to that a little bit more but I mean they’re angry they’re just tensions are at an all-time high and like Tim said they’re they’re at their breaking point right and we have um we have seen this uh kind of escalate at times it es and it flows it waxes and waines and we have seen dangerous situations and things do seem to be calming down we can’t really find any kind of conf confrontation point throughout all the different locations right now um on either side of the federal facility we see a line here of officers blocking this roadway uh but no one really in their face have we as we have seen the cars continue to burn on Los Angeles Street but there are no skirmish lines as we see the 101 freeway is back open again at least northbound the southbound side has been cleared i think CHP units remain on the surface the roadway has not reopened to traffic um but things do seem to be calming down the question is will they remain that way tonight because we did see a kind of relaxing of tension yesterday about this point and then things picked back up again in the evening once the sun went down okay i believe we also have Bruce Thomas he’s on the phone too we can ask him a couple questions but I’d love to know Bruce’s take on just you know looking at the demonstrations the past few days and comparing it to what we’ve seen today does it look I mean just looking at these wide aerial views it looks like it is starting to calm down and I’d love to get Bruce’s take on that yeah definitely it’s calmed down now there’s kind of a lull in the fight if you will however what we have seen over the last three days is an escalation of the protests the taking over of the freeway the burning of the cars the graffitiing of the buildings and the freeway overpasses and what you’ve seen is a large police response not only just LAPD but the federal protective police and also mounted enforcement for LAPD which we have not seen before and Bruce have you seen So we’re zooming back into those Whimo cars have you seen something like this before and um what are the consequences of seeing these EV fires well you know was interesting i saw a line of the Whimo vehicles over by Ala Street and I was wondering what they were doing but then I remembered they’re driverless so they’re kind of stuck in confusion and then they became easy targets for some of the agitated protesters to burn and torch right and we talked to Tim a little bit earlier as well you said that the protesters they are agitated um and they have a lot of resentment toward I mean it’s not just um what’s going on right now but even toward the media as well what do you think um if you can put yourself in those protesters shoes um like the minds of them what do you think is going on right now and as we head into the evening hours you think that things are starting to calm down and they’re starting to cool off what’s your prediction on that you know like I said I believe this is a low in the fight i think once the sun goes down you’re going to see more protesters come back you’re going to see a takeover of the freeway again and you’re going to see more we’ll call it anarchism if you will for lack of a better word um these people are just not happy with the media with the police with anything and everybody’s being lumped into one large group right and right now we are looking at a live view um I I believe this is live i don’t think this is video from earlier this is earlier okay this is video from earlier on the right but on the left I see down there it says earlier on the left this is the live view and it looks like some um law enforcement they’re making their way toward an area i’m not sure which direction they’re going to which street this is exactly but we’re getting a wider view they’re heading down the street and interested to see what their next move is going to be we panned away from the Whimo i think that scene is kind of just playing out on its own the fire is just going to continue to um keep running but it’s interesting to see what is the next step right now yeah you know I think law enforcement is regrouping meaning they’re getting some additional personnel that are going off shift and those that are coming on they’re being fully briefed they’re being um suited up as you will with equipment and resources for the rest of the night and you’ll see them move into those areas to relieve some of those dayshift personnel hey hey Bruce we we are seeing uh we are seeing what looks like those flashbangs continue to go off uh I I we can’t spot where the officers would be have you have you been watching are you seeing flashbangs or are these uh fireworks being set off by members of the demonstration you know at this point I believe they’re fireworks because I’ve been looking at some different coverages and I don’t see the officers deploying those less than lethal weaponry so at this point I believe it’s fireworks possibly the same group that torched the Whimo vehicles and we are now looking at the mounted officers uh from the LAPD a lot of people at our station Bruce had the same reaction once the horses were being moved in to confront some of these demonstrators just worried about the horses themselves i’m not sure um the experience you have with these with with the mounted and we do see projectiles being thrown at these these officers here and they are firing back less than lethal uh projectiles but the training that goes into these mounted officers the horses to deal with these situations we wouldn’t think that they would be suited to go into a situation like this um as we’re watching this uh one person stick their head out of a car and uh there’s a group of people in that car too okay let’s see if we can swing the helicopter around because this is the first kind of action we’ve seen in in probably about an hour between people on the ground and and officers uh so I will get back to that question again the training of the horses Bruce in a little bit as we watch this play out but I guess we can answer it right now the just the fact that they’re able to handle loud situations like this with protesters in their face yeah the horses and the uh the mounted officers go over hundreds of hours of training the horses are accustomed to loud noises flashbangs light uh basically loud everything the horses are very well maintained on that the horses are also protected with their face uh with a mask of plexiglass and also the the mounted officers are protected but they’re also supported by officers on the ground too um the mounted units are an awesome tool to clear crowds i’ve used them and only second to motorcycle officers uh they’re very very effective bruce can you tell usually when do they make the call to bring the horses in like how bad does a situation have to be you know I was kind of surprised that we didn’t see them till just now meaning you know maybe an hour ago they’re a great tool to use with law enforcement and they do clear crowds people do not want to stand in front of a horse that you know outweighs them by a couple hundred pounds so I was kind of surprised we didn’t see them but now they’re being used and they’re being used very effectively so I’m just curious obviously I don’t have much training um when it comes to uh just knowing law enforcement and when they use the horses you explained that really well how it helps with clearing the crowds but I’m curious why haven’t they moved um further in toward the crowd right now that they are on the horses that if they can clear the crowds you know it seems like they they’re just trying to maintain an operational area um I’m surprised they haven’t been used to clear so that LA City Fire can move in and put these vehicles out but I think they’re very content in just letting them burn as they do have lithium batteries in them which presents a whole other problem for the fire department and for the safety of everybody involved but I can tell you um once the mounted units are called uh they respond and they respond very effectively as we’re watching this play out Bruce uh stand by for a moment there is reaction coming in from around the country and around the world uh there is a post from Ilana Garcia she is the co-founder of Latinas for Trump who writes uh I want to put myself on the record garcia writes says this is not what we voted for i have always supported Donald Trump through thick and thin however this is unacceptable and inhumane i understand the importance of deporting criminal aliens but what we are witnessing are arbitrary measures to hunt down people who are complying with their immigration hearings in many cases with credible fear of persecution claims all driven by a Steven Millerike desire to satisfy a self-fabricated deportation goal this undermines the sense of fairness and justice that the American people value again that is the co-founder of Latinas for Trump Ilana Garcia um and so uh as we continue to circle around downtown Los Angeles which has been uh the site of unrest for coming up on 72 hours now and we have seen the National Guard of California federalized 2,000 troops we see a fire crew moving through to put out five electric self-driving cars that have been burned and a line of officers that continue to fire non-lethal rounds to try and break up crowds that are throwing projectiles at them this tonight is the state of Los Angeles under siege uh from a lot of different fronts here um you talk about people upset that the federal government is getting involved and in occupying invading our city you have another side who says that illegal immigrants have invaded and occupied our city and uh it’s coming to a head on the streets of Los Angeles again tonight and it’s just um looking at these images it’s just so heartbreaking seeing that these people are so angry and this is what we are seeing the aftermath of the anger and the tensions and you understand both sides um you understand that people they have their right to their opinion but acting out in this way this is this was supposed to be a peaceful protest has turned um very just just not peaceful so um Mayor Bass said it best in her press conference i’m trying to find my notes from that she said “Angelenos have the right to exercise their First Amendment right but peacefully and not like this.” So we don’t like seeing scenes like this can we zoom in on the bottom of the screen that is that a barricade wall that these folks have set up okay oh Gab’s back okay great we’ve got Gabe Santos back in Air 7 it looks like they have taken some barricades here some uh are those chairs those might be chairs from Grand Park they might have dislodged those from Grand Park or somewhere wow um and put up a line a barricade here in the middle of the road and firing things throwing things at officers who are firing back gabe Santos what are you seeing yeah Jory Nico uh we keep talking about this multi-pronged situation here you have the Whimos that are burning to the north of the 101 freeway this is to the south of uh the uh 101 as it cuts through downtown near Maine and uh I think the other cross there is uh looks like that’s uh the Los Angeles no this is Maine and First Street I believe uh we’ll get the exact cross there for you shortly uh it is very near to City Hall and uh what happened is uh some of the protesters started building a bit of a kind of a fort if you will using those chairs as you said possibly from a nearby uh art installation uh we’re you know dealing with the trees and the buildings here trying to get you the best shot as possible but you can see a few of those protesters back there and uh LAPD actually got on their radios and reported that they were taking uh uh uh projectiles that were being thrown by the protesters towards officers so officers are trying to get more resources in this area and this is uh where about maybe 30 or 40 minutes ago there was that uh uh skirmish that erupted uh from the protesters after this freeway situation this is the Aliso ramp uh onto the 101 where a lot of protesters were pushed back up onto surface streets they were on the 101 earlier you could see there it looks like one side of the 101 is open uh there are those Whamos there that one that caught fire on f uh first is now that appears to be a complete loss no surprise there but it is probably going to completely burn to the ground la City Fire doesn’t want any part of this they uh they for just mere safety of their personnel they are not going to work their way into this area and LAPD they have their hands full they actually made a request uh earlier uh to see if uh federal units were available additional federal units were available to actually help LAPD deal with what was going on in this intersection here you could see a lot of debris on the ground things still being thrown uh and LAPD for obvious reasons being told that uh federal uh the uh federal forces don’t have anybody to spare really they are focused on guarding the federal building and making sure things are okay there so LAPD using their mounted units uh to maintain a blockade on this intersection and Rob as we tilt down uh they are now dealing with what is an apparent blockade by some protesters using these chairs like we said from a nearby art installation uh as uh you know building a fort if you will uh looks like some uh uh construction signs and various other signs and this is where things get uh pretty interesting it looks like some of them are backing up now i’m not sure uh okay okay yes so LAPD is now making a move forward they are uh using some of their less than lethal fire uh rubber bullets presumably and they are making a move forward so LAPD not letting this fort if you will uh become any more fortified and they are making a move and having these protesters disperse and hopefully preventing something a little more serious from happening uh further down so you can see those mounted units uh continuing down those units on foot continuing to fire that less than lethal uh fire towards those uh protesters you see that uh looks like that was I’m not sure if that was a smoke grenade or if that was a water bottle from some of the protesters being thrown at one of the horses and those horses are continuing to make their way uh down the street uh towards where that fort was you can now see it’s been completely uh destroyed and they are continuing to push protesters down and I’m not sure if that’s a bag rolling or if that’s uh Yeah or if it’s that’s person yeah okay yeah it’s actually a person that was just kind of continuing to roll down and that uh officer on horseback is uh you know forcefully suggesting that that person get up and continue moving down the street and you can see here these other protesters some of them were uh building that uh that barricade on the street a little to the uh top of the frame they are now being dispersed further down the street and those officers with those rubber bullets continuing to make headway here and as we watch this play out Gabe I want to go to Bruce Thomas real quick and and ask him about the sticks that we see those mounted officers using we saw batons earlier uh deployed on on guys on the on the skirmish line on the front lines but we are seeing these officers mounted using some kind of uh stick to to kind of beat back these demonstrators yeah Jory it’s a straight stick it’s a uh tool that some departments still have their patrol officers carry uh being on horseback the straight stick is longer you’re able to reach out you’re able to move people with it but what we’ve seen also is the officers intermixed with the horses and that’s part of the training the horses are not afraid of the flashbangs of the arrow rounds when they go off and assaulting a horse is a grade one felony and I can tell you if the we saw some people throw stuff at the horses those officers will make the point to take those people to jail bruce I’m curious uh you mentioned the straight stick um that’s what the weapon that they’re using is called what are the injuries like with a straight stick if you get hit by it with that the force that they’re showing today kind of like a baseball bat it’s made of wood uh it’s laminated so if you get hit with it you may have a welt or a bruise it’s not something that’s going to uh totally incapacitate you as it’s more for glancing blows to move people and then the horse and the uh mounted officer will move past the problem so to speak and we see those chairs and debris and barricade being carried away from this from this location and again another crowd once again gathering outside city hall in the middle of the street um blocking traffic and set trying to set up another looks like another barricade that is directly outside LA city hall once again we saw Molina Park there on the left city hall on the right and as we go down it’s uh down towards LAPD headquarters which is right across the street from city hall so at the bottom of your screen now that angled triangular building that is LAPD headquarters right there don’t have to travel far to kind of see the thick of where this is happening tonight and you can also kind of see just the juxtaposition how far away the earlier skirmishes were at Alama and Temple this is the federal complex where the detention center the courthouse and all of that um plays out across a little Yeah go ahead Bruce oh I’m sorry i didn’t mean to interrupt no by all means um one of the things we haven’t seen yet is any protests at the federal building property in Westwood which has always been a target for anti-war immigration protests and obviously this type of thing but we haven’t seen that yet and that would create a huge problem for law enforcement now you’re fighting a battle on two major parts right um wow let’s go back up to Gabe Santos in Air7 who continues to watch this uh this section subfleet of Whimos that drew the attention and the eyeire of those demonstrators nothing left but some burning embers and melting plastic there Gabe yeah those five Whimos a complete loss here uh luckily you know the these Whimos are owned by uh the Whimo company a subsidiary of uh Alphabet and uh Google is a major shareholder of that uh company so um at the very least we know that these aren’t owned by uh individuals that may you know struggle to get to work tomorrow uh but nonetheless we we never want to see this kind of uh vandalism and uh property uh destruction uh you know we have five vehicles on fire in the middle of a city street in the middle of downtown LA that’s not something that we want to see uh and uh as as we were mentioning before uh LA city fire they really have no reason to get uh involved here and get close to the scene here because uh LAPD doesn’t have anybody to spare to provide security for those uh uh firefighters and they don’t want to risk anything there so uh the Whimo fires are pretty much self-contained at this point and uh law enforcement officials are just content with letting those fires burn out and hoping that uh there’s no more fires in that regard but really we’ll just have to see what the night holds uh but we do have these multiple kind of skirmishes and multiple kind of fronts to this protest going on right now uh on Los Angeles Street where we have those uh Whamos on fire and now the new kind of hot bed of activity uh more towards City Hall as we continue to make uh an orbit on the west side of downtown and we get view of uh City Hall uh on uh I believe that’s going to be Main Street and Los Angeles Street um looks like this is going to be Temple in Main Street actually and that’s where uh we’re seeing a number of uh police officers uh reloading and uh we we actually heard some reports earlier that they were running low on less than uh lethal ammo so uh there is reports that LAPD is working to get more less thanlethal rounds on the scene here so that officers can continue uh maintaining the uh you know control of the area but as we widen out the shot uh Rob I want to see uh what the situation is on the left side of the city hall building because we saw a lot of uh protesters gathering there you see those officers on uh horseback on Temple and Spring Street and as we tilt down protesters have kind of made another barrier if you will uh and this is kind of a a cat-and- mouse game that officers are now playing with uh protesters they made uh a barricade if you will with those uh pink chairs and those uh plastic construction signs a little further down on First and Maine I believe and now it appears that another one is being uh set up but uh this is an area let’s see you have a a contingent of people on mini bikes and uh an ATV i wasn’t sure if those were law enforcement officers but it does not appear to be so and then you have somebody doing donuts here and falling over on their mini bike so uh a lot going on here there are a lot of protesters kind of uh going in a number of different directions here and you can imagine the uh the uh tactical challenge that LAPD has here trying to uh maintain control of such a large area and there’s multiple skirmish lines there’s multiple air units overhead we have that LAPD air unit going through the screen this is the intersection of Los Angeles and Temple Street you could see uh that’s a van from LAPD Hollywood Division so it just goes to show you that resources from all over the LA city area are coming in here to uh help LAPD kind of maintain control or what uh what control they can of the uh situation here uh and as we kind of just look around and uh pick and choose different areas we see these different uh spots that uh law enforcement is trying to uh just monitor we saw that LAPD air unit going through the uh the shot earlier and they were uh trying to guide officers into certain areas where uh individuals and protesters were maybe gathering and uh creating barricades uh we see here somebody uh looks like I’m not sure if they’re uh marking on the surface street or uh trying to crack the uh curb there we did see videos in previous days of uh protesters trying to hammer out pieces of the gathering projectiles they’re gathering all the stuff that’s been uh fired onto the street for something yeah we we we’ve definitely seen that before yeah whatever they’re doing it looks like it’s up to no good yeah I I think that’s uh certainly within reason to say Jory uh we we have seen videos earlier of protesters with hammers actually chipping away at some of the sidewalks to create uh concrete projectiles and that’s not what LAPD wants to see uh and they definitely don’t want uh more people coming here to uh gather and kind of uh sightsee or do anything of that nature uh because it’s it’s it’s a situation that’s not uh relatively safe uh and LAPD is is just trying to do their best to uh continue to control the situation and as you see here uh it looks like one side of the 101 freeway is open and a large CHP contingent is still set up on the southbound lanes of the 101 before it connects with the uh East LA interchange so that will probably take a little bit of a ways to clear but at least to one side of the 101 is open right now gabe it looks like that I’m not sure it looks like they might have just escorted that member of the media out of their not very uh it wasn’t a friendly escorting out of that situation yeah we saw them moving a little faster anytime you’re looking at a crowd like this right Nico that you see something moving a little faster than the rest something’s going on right that’s the action and then uh they kind of pushed a woman with a camera around her neck out of that group and had her walk away wow uh Gabe I had a question you you’ve shown us these different scenes we looked at the um the protesters that had the barriers up they kind of barricaded themselves next to them we saw um some protesters doing donuts you were talking about the ones that were chipping away at the concrete with a hammer just all these different random scenes it’s just so hard I can imagine for law enforcement to keep up with the different things that are going on but it just seems like from the aerial views that you’re showing us that the crowd has produced Oh you see more chairs they’re on the move if you if you look Yep just go right back on oh yeah yep they’re on the move again it It appears that more of these protesters are gathering these chairs they’re refortifying that barrier as you as as you said but uh LAPD has their air unit uh overhead and they are uh making a plan if you will to try and uh push back this this uh barrier they don’t want anybody to kind of dig their heels in and get set up or get too comfortable in any one particular area that’s why you saw those LAPD units on horseback you know within a matter of uh 10 or 15 minutes uh kind of move in very quickly start launching those rubber bullets and really break down that earlier barrier that we saw near First and Maine you see this new one going up uh near Spring and Temple uh and as we kind of pan around and look for where those mounted units are you see just a number of uh skirmish lines and a number of areas that uh LAPD is trying to maintain control over uh they are on Los Angeles Street they’re on uh Main Street uh it’s it’s it’s all kind of uh not that it’s spreading out but you have you had about 3,000 people here earlier and a lot of them are kind of spreading out over a few blocks right now whereas earlier they were kind of contained to maybe one city block or two they’re they’re spread out over a couple different blocks right now not that this is engulfing the entirety of all downtown but you do have a very large area and LAPD it appears is really uh kind of struggling to uh deal with the number of protesters and how kind of widespread they are right now definitely yeah it definitely makes it much harder when they are so widespread like that gabe thank you so much i believe we have Amy Powell joining us as well she is on the ground giving us a look as well and Amy what’s going on behind you where are you what are you seeing what’s happening uh Nico we are here right next to the 110 freeway along North Broadway and we’re overlooking the freeway of course we can see that the southbound side of the freeway is completely shut down we see nothing but LAPD vehicles and other emergency vehicles and official vehicles there because traffic cannot flow through this area right now however the south the northbound side is moving but beyond that you can see on every overpass in this area we’re looking towards Spring Street and you get a really good view of just how many people are out here it is amazing to me i was out here of course last night by the federal building when this was a relatively small protest now we’re seeing hundreds thousands of people out here uh many of the protesters have been on the move we were down by city hall earlier we saw large groups of protesters moving in that direction but we see still a lot of people here uh some are again standing on the overpasses down there we hear those pops those bangs the explosives from the flashbangs and other things at from time to time the crowd we’re seeing right now is just standing here peacefully kind of watching what is going on here but is stunning to look at all that black smoke rising from I know you were talking about all the Whimos that have been set on fire we can still see that black smoke rising from here we of course have got police helicopters media overhead so much police activity here if we I don’t know will we can take a good look down at the freeway we see all those officers those LAPD officers and other officers gathered down there again they’re making sure trying to make sure more people don’t get onto the freeway i believe there were some people on here earlier i can’t tell beyond that bridge the Los Angeles Street Bridge if there are any people on the freeway but this is just an extraordinary thing to see how many people have come out to join this protest they’re frustrated they’re angry and this has been building and apparently we don’t know for sure but certainly the news of all those National Guard troops coming into the area i don’t know if that spurred more people to come on down here and join these protests and Will if we can swing over this way we want to show people at the overpass right here now some of these people are holding flags and signs and they appear that they may have been here for the protest perhaps they left or perhaps they’re keeping their distance because that’s the thing obviously many of the people demonstrating down here are not here to cause trouble to cause confrontations with the police they’re simply here to voice their their anger and their frustration and their feelings that these arrests these uh detentions by ICE are just something unjust that shouldn’t be happening so they’re doing it peacefully they’re exercising their right to express their opinions but again the view here is just astonishing when you see how many people are here i mean this is quite the view and across the downtown area we just see groups of people walking around again standing on overpasses anywhere they can look at this and it’s really unbelievable to see what has been going on here so for now things are quiet in this area but of course we’ll have to see what happens next but as we’ve seen many times things are quiet and then suddenly something happens and a confrontation happens so we’ll send it back to you for now but we’ll keep an eye on things here the 110 freeway okay Amy reporting live amy thank you it is uh it is disheartening to see parts of our city burning tonight with that smoke rising behind you and we see some vandalism happening right now in downtown Los Angeles uh breaking down a a street sign here let’s go from Amy to Tim Caputo who’s also on the ground and uh is a little bit closer to the burning cars and has been witnessing what’s been going on there for the last couple hours him yeah the cars are still burning strong out here we haven’t seen the fire department or police come really to this side of Los Angeles Street you know we’ve been talking to a lot of folks who have been coming out here today for the protest for the demonstration to try to get a sense of exactly why they’re out here and what’s been going on with me now is Nira Elias you’ve been protesting not just today all weekend long you said even to the first Trump administration why yes sir um I started protesting as soon as Trump got into uh administration because we could see you know from his verbiage and just from his agenda that he was anti-immigrant in spite of having an immigrant family and um that that’s huge because the United States was built by immigrants it is great because because of immigrants and so it doesn’t make sense that they can’t have a seat at the table when they’re the backbone of of America they are what makes America great by their work their effort and they’re being exploited by not being given an opportunity to amnesty which has been over 40 years now you’ve been fighting for this for a while what’s the weekend been like for you both emotionally and physically what have you been doing as all this has been going on so two days ago two days ago Los Angeles got broadsided um you know it was just another regular day we were aware that there were ice raids happening but two days ago we got strong you know strong manhandled um my I live in West Lake MacArthur Park and our community was raided the Home Depot um there were schools you know that were having graduations where uh ICE came in and you know we’ve got Paramount and a number of other cities that were attacked uh without you know any warning and we’ve been seeing how people have been trying to go to their court hearings and they still have been apprehended and detained without any due process you know so what we are seeing is that President Trump is basically has no respect for his citizens uh and and for their rights sierra hang with me for just one second i just want to explain something real quick here guys because you probably hear the sirens behind me tommy take a a point to our right here the fire department has arrived here obviously where we are kind of stationed is a weird uh intersection where you cars can’t get through now the fire department at the moment kind of stuck and unable to get to the cars uh that were burning here on Los Angeles Street they are waiting for some of these cars ahead of me to move and then they’re going to work their way up street they are flanked behind them by LAPD you don’t have to show it for a second Tommy it’s all the way behind you um uh by several officers behind the fire department who will try to get up the street here as you see that fire burning you see the fire burning you’ve seen the fireworks out here the last couple days some people depict this as rioting as unrest as violence what does this say to you and I know this isn’t necessarily the entire crowd but when you see this what do you feel um I think that’s a common propaganda but just the last couple of days it has really made sense how um basically you know he came in and attacked the immigrant community and all of their loved ones and people responded by trying to be protective you know in the workplaces where they were being attacked you know and trying to block and so forth but what we’ve been seeing and that you know I hope that people will understand for those of us on the ground is that there has been more force coming in and as I said a little while ago uh he’s he’s showing that there’s no respect it’s almost looking like a military state like we feel helpless we feel powerless we feel like who who who do we have that can be that Trump can answer to you know what I mean and so I’m here for like a vigil um but it also protest and so forth but we’re feeling like you know we we want people to to see what’s happening to hear you know hear our cries that we have rights as well um I’m the daughter of of two immigrants from El Salvador and so I’m here to speak up for my community and to protect them do anything I can to let them know that they have a voice that they have people that care about them and so for those of us that have a voice I ask that you would please speak up at this time and don’t let your wealth or your privilege your American you know privilege uh choke your voice because we need it at this time nier thank you so much so eloquent what you said thank you and and be safe out here as well you heard it there ner daughter of immigrants lifelong Angelino erogant way of putting what she has been doing out here not just protesting today but why she felt it was important to be out here when you see the fires when you hear the fireworks when you see that police line you might think of just rebel rous rebel rousers and people out here to commit violence ner is what is out here these are people that find this important they want to have their voices heard and they’re coming out here with signs they’re coming out here wanting to have conversations and they want to make sure their voices are heard jury Niku yeah indeed and again the eyes of the world are upon our city tonight as this continues night three of unrest uh and we look to um different different places different levels different countries stephen Miller go ahead you want to Tim you want to keep going no I just wanted to point out here because I know you probably have it from Mayor 7 as well but we kind of saw this play out in Compton as well i was just going to laying the scene for you here as the fire department is trying to put out those Whimo cars that were set on fire while LAPD behind them trying to do a little bit of crowd control to make sure these firefighters are able to do their job obviously for those first responders and firefighters they’re not involved in this in any way but putting out a fire is paramount to them so for able for them to be able to do their job in the safest way possible that’s why you’re seeing now police come up on the other side and the crowd for the most part that has really been packed over here for the last couple hours um have moved across the 101 despite a handful of people like there somebody just threw a water bottle uh at Homeland Security uh who are pulling up behind LAPD here but a water bottle against the side of the car not necessarily the most violent action but a sense of what’s going on out here i’m glad that was against uh someone else and not you Tim i thought for a second that you might have been the target there uh we have seen that happen as we watch the the LFD put out these fires a volatile situation and we here we go right on camera um more civil unrest and um again when we talk about peaceful versus violent this is certainly not on the peaceful side of protest and this guy’s going to take another swing and we’ll see how long these these officials allow this to continue here we do have LA uh LA PD officers right in the area as this man uh twice now has hit this uh police vehicle with his bike and now seems to be leaving the area and so we just want to make sure Tim stays safe in this situation it is volatile um but uh we can see the white smoke now rising behind you which is a good sign if if uh veterans of Los Angeles know fires pretty well Tam and and we’re seeing this finally go out and I I the hope is now that these fires are are being put out that this kind of puts to arrest the the unrest that we have seen you know we we still see demonstrators on the street but we don’t see the confrontations that we were seeing hours ago yeah you know and Jory this is I think Chris Christie brought it up yesterday when he was over Compton and saying “What would happen if police just went home?” And this is kind of a a peculiar decision by Homeland Security to pull up yeah pull away this way some uh some not so nice remarks on that sign but Homeland Security to pull up on this road where they essentially can’t move up any further and into this crowd they’re not focused on LAPD those protesters the guy who threw the water bottle and slammed his bike against the back of the Homeland Security truck he wasn’t necessarily have an issue with the LAPD it was Homeland Security so for those agents to drive up essentially a dead-end street where they can’t move and get stuck here in the middle of the crowd I’m not saying that’s wrong but the presence often is a provocation in itself and I think for some of the folks out here just seeing those federal agents seeing Homeland Security ICE FBI whomever it is is kind of willpower to them to do something in response you saw LAPD you see them behind me there nobody’s bothering them they’re trying to protect the firefighters up there at the front of the street it’s just when Homeland Security pulled up three or four vans in a row it elicited that response they didn’t do anything to that guy on the bike but again the presence alone often causes that provocation so it’s this awkward stalemate where you have police presence that angers an already angry crowd obviously police can’t just go away because you have a crowd that is shown to be potentially violent but it’s this back and forth that is almost uncontrollable in the sense that more police that show up the more riled up the crowd gets and then it goes back and forth and back and forth until you know we hit a point like we did last night where it just gets completely out of control if you’re ICE if you’re the Trump administration you believe this is a righteous cause you believe that this is an important thing that will actually make things safer on the flip side you see the demonstrators saying “How is this possibly a safer situation for our city than where we were before?” Again I was talking about the eyes of the country on our uh city tonight tim we’ll get back to you in just a moment steven Miller deputy chief of staff to the president of the United States writing today “We have been saying this for years this is a fight to save civilization anyone with eyes can see that now certainly no stranger to inflammatory at times veering into offensive speech is Steven Miller uh he writes about seeing different countries flags as we’re watching chunks of rock and concrete hurled onto the 101 freeway and those California Highway Patrol vehicles below.” Steven Miller writing “Look at all the foreign flags los Angeles is occupied territory.” Uh he has said in several other b other posts that the presence of flags of other countries rather than being uh people being proud of their heritage and where they come from rather is a foreign invading force that is now occupying Los Angeles again we see um violence being uh meed out by demonstrators here uh sometimes it’s unmanned these vehicles from the CHP have been posted on the 101 freeway for several hours now and people are you see the scooters there lying beside them they have been hurled from the overpasses down onto those vehicles below the barricades the signs that sign that was ripped out we saw a little bit ago looks like it’s laying next to that vehicle and a scooter laying in the windshield and those are those are very heavy those lime scooters so just imagine the force when it came down from um that overpass onto that police vehicle you can imagine the damage that it’s caused but um going back to what Tim said a little bit earlier it just it really makes you think these protesters what they’re thinking but one good one point that I feel like um is really important is that a lot of these protesters unfortunately they’ve kind of just grouped all of these um law enforcement entities together so Homeland Security LAPD and the other forces they’ve kind of just grouped them so they that’s why they’re a lot of them they are hurling their anger towards them they don’t really care who it is if it’s Homeland Security or LAPD they just want to um just attack yeah it’s authority right it’s it’s a backlash against authority and when you feel like your community is under attack as many of these crowds do uh they turn to what Exactly whatever authority is on scene right there and law enforcement is law enforcement they are there to do their jobs they want to do their job return home safely to their family tonight you know uh they don’t want to have to fight they want to maintain the peace and we’ve seen them um confronted and provoked all day long i think in large part every agency we have seen has done a great job showing restraint trying to deescalate the situation because um as all these officials uh have said even the ones who are um champions of the rights of those who are demonstrating today you cannot turn to violence you cannot turn to chaos and so law enforcement is doing their best to maintain order and control and peace uh in the face of some very tough situations um yeah playing out because even like right now looking at everything going on I mean we really don’t get anywhere with this kind of um destruction and this anger I understand people are upset but this doesn’t take us anywhere the message isn’t spread across um the correct way this way and I also understand I’m sure a lot of the protesters um It angered them the 2,000 National Guard troops that were deployed it makes you think was that another thing that kind of sparked the anger so while they were there they saw these troops it really just brought it out of them um the anger so um I I don’t know if those troops will uh what’s going to happen with those troops if they will continue to be here but I’m sure their presence has definitely angered um a lot of people they’re angrier than what they were before they were deployed right can we go back up to Gabe Santos is he ready to go up in air 7 let’s see what’s going on uh we see some movement of some LAPD officers uh this is around So this is Grand Molina uh Gloria Marolina Grand Park here just outside City Hall gabe what are you seeing we saw some folks removing those chairs kind of refortifying their line what are you seeing now yeah as we move air 7 around this uh other building here just on the west side of city hall we could see there that uh fortified barricade that we’ve seen with those pink chairs that have been uh put in place there and as we get a little bit of a better view there you could see it now spans the entire length of Spring Street and uh well yeah you can see um about 20 or so of those pink chairs uh being used as a barricade those protesters now uh standing behind those uh barricades and now we see some of that less than lethal fire from LAPD lapd has not tolerated the presence of any sort of uh uh you know fixed barricades or anything like that they don’t want uh anybody to really uh dig their heels in so to speak and uh post up at uh any one specific location uh especially uh using uh shields or anything of that uh nature because as soon as that happens uh LAPD knows that that could uh lead to something a little more serious and is definitely uh something that is more difficult to deal with the more a barricade a literal barricade like this gets fortified if there’s uh any more of these uh chairs or any more uh uh uh construction signs or things of that nature that get brought into the area it’s just more and more for LAPD to deal with i want to mention some of the other activity that we were watching back on the 101 freeway uh uh we did see some of those projectiles being thrown off of the bridge there’s uh uh pieces of concrete we saw some bird scooters we saw that sign there uh some uh individuals on the overpass literally uh rocked the sign back and forth until it came loose and they uh threw it over the Los Angeles street bridge down onto some of these CHP vehicles there so at least three vehicles have now been hit and I see a number of uh chunks of concrete down there too it looks like uh some pieces of concrete have been uh hammered away from the sidewalk and uh some of those pieces have been thrown down onto You see another one right there at the top of the frame uh some of them have been thrown down onto these CHP vehicles down below now those uh Yep you see another one through the frame right there now those there’s there’s nobody in those vehicles those but there are a number of CHP officers still down uh underneath the overpass so they appear to be holding that position as of now but definitely not something uh you want to see we’ve had a number of city leaders uh condemn uh acts of violence and acts of vandalism and wow you see one of those rental bikes the entire bike hurled over the uh over the side there uh and more projectiles countless projectiles being thrown over the side uh really people are uh seeing these CHP vehicles down below and just using them for target practice right now uh which is obviously not something we want to see here we only see a few individuals right here on this bridge uh doing that but this is just one of a number of different scenes that uh law enforcement is dealing with right now we we’ve seen where Tim Caputo is located on the north side of the 101 uh on Los Angeles Street where uh those Whimo vehicles were burning earlier LA City Fire arriving on scene to put those fires out i’m seeing as I look out the window of Air 7 I’m seeing white smoke uh from those Whimo vehicles so it appears that fire crews are getting a handle on that i am a little surprised that LA City Fire actually made the move to uh uh move in there because it it really didn’t seem like uh the the fires were a continuing threat but it is my uh my my best guess is that LA City Fire was able to get some additional crews on scene and LAPD was able to get some additional crews on scene so that they could uh escort some fire trucks into the area to put those fires out so at the very least uh there isn’t just something burning in the middle of Los Angeles Street that could uh be uh you know something that’s uh easy to set other things on fire you know protesters could use the flames that are already existent here to set more fires that’s obviously a concern in any situation like this but you see uh these Whimo fires it looks like a lot of them are being put out some uh stubborn flames there in the middle probably those uh those lithium ion batteries that we’re always hearing about um with regards to any electronic vehicle fires those Whimos being uh electronic vehicles but a lot of different scenes here spanning a number of city blocks that law enforcement is having to deal with here uh as we uh tilt down that’s the uh federal building at the top of the frame and this is Alama Boulevard where you could see a lot of these uh LAPD vehicles uh staging the numbers on the top of those LAPD vehicles represent different sections of LAPD and you and uh I don’t I’m I’m not going to bore you with reading them all out but it’s basically from all over the city so you have uh LAPD resources from all over the city coming to the scene here and as Rob zooms in at the corner here near Alama and Temple you see a number of individuals in custody in handcuffs i did hear a unconfirmed report earlier uh that uh at least 17 individuals uh have been taken into custody right now that definitely a believable number right now still the people you saw the person with the motorcycle helmet on that is still the driver of that motorcycle that have been waiting there you can recognize the the clothes are the same they have been here for hours after they were taken into custody on the skirmish lines you can see that person right there with the helmet on that’s the motorcyclist who was taken into custody after the mo two motorcycles were driven into the crowd there i’m curious do you have a vantage point back outside at Grand Park to see what’s going on there it’s very reminiscent of some of those school protests which we covered a couple years ago um where they took students would take chairs and umbrellas and equipment there and line it up and wait for police to come in and they would give the order and march in i don’t know how much it’s surprising to see when we hear about a shortage of those non-lethals that these officers just continue to volley them into this crowd it doesn’t seem to be doing anything uh perhaps they’re just hoping they they stand their ground because you have the mounted horses right there if you just if they did what they did a moment ago when they were barricading themselves and just move the horses in the line of officers in you can break that up and get some of that equipment back under um you know city control and it’s also questionable why that was so available to people today when it’s uh not mored to the ground every time you know trash cans are not movable they’re attached to the ground so they can’t be used as weapons like this i know these um these chairs and tables I believe are from the steps that leads to the different levels maybe up to Dorothy Chandler Permillion there are those chairs uh throughout Grand Park which reaches different levels um but it’s just questionable why that was so readily available for this crowd to use there’s a bench that they were able to to dislodge and move and you see this wall of chairs and tables that they’ve now posted up here right outside city hall and there are a few of these scenes too we saw a little bit earlier when these protesters created these barricades these barriers with these tables and I think this is the first time that we’ve seen it with the actual with the benches um I don’t think the other barricaded area even had these benches but we saw um the police officers did come toward them with the horses and I think that is them u It’s kind of hard to tell because it’s zoomed out but I think Gabe is about to zoom in for us i think those are the police officers right there i don’t believe these are the ones with the horses though no the horses are just on the caddy corner in this intersection because when they start coming toward them with the horses that’s when we see those barricaded areas start dispersing so we’ll see when they make that move but as of right now they’ve the protesters have barricaded themselves behind those chairs in the meantime Governor Nuome is observing the situation he’s posted several tweets this afternoon and this evening writing Trump is trying to manufacture a crisis in LA County deploying troops not for order but to create chaos don’t take the bait never use violence or harm law enforcement less than an hour ago the governor wrote “Despite protests already being managed by the LAPD President Trump is escalating the situation by threatening to deploy roughly 500 active duty Marines to the streets of Los Angeles.” He writes “Los Angeles remain peaceful don’t fall into the trap that extremists are hoping for.” And that 500 active duty Marines threat was first put out by Defense Secretary Pete Hegathth and is now being repeated by President Trump saying he will do whatever he needs to do to maintain law and order um by and large that is not something that a president can do you cannot turn US troops against US citizens on US soil unless you’re using the Insurrection Act is this grounds to use the insur would you could under any circumstances legal moral could this be deemed an insurrection against the United States this is where I I would love if we had a legal expert to be uh here and answering the questions for us because that is such a good point and it just I’m curious um I mean is that the next step if it’s not the n if it’s the National Guard is here but the next step after the National Guard is it the Marines and does it stop there does he deploy the Army Navy Air Force what’s the step i this just seems so everything is so out of order and um just well in Trump’s first term he elicited hopes and desires to to use weaponry against US citizens um there’s that famous day in Washington DC when the president wanted to walk across um the grounds to the church through Lafayette Park to the nearby church there and wanted um wanted US troops to be on the ground to shoot at the legs of demonstrators who were outside the White House and so he has expressed a desire to um fire upon using US military means uh against US citizens which would be wildly against anything written in our constitution and our laws um and again now there is an open threat from the president of the United States and the secretary of defense to do exactly that using an insurrection act that looks like it does not have the grounds to be uh used here there i’m sure there will some that will call this an insurrection but we’re talking legal grounds does the president in this instance have the legal grounds to declare this an insurrection against the United States and and deploy US military troops against US citizens which is strictly forbidden uh by the US Constitution it will be really interesting to see how this is all going to unfold if that’s going to happen um looking back outside live back at downtown LA we have that aerial view and still showing the protesters going strong 7:04 uh this evening uh there is some good news here we can you can see on the screen so that looks like a live picture so the fire department is there we had those three Whimo cars on fire and uh we we had five Whimo cars excuse me on fire and it looks like from that white smoke they have taken care of that so that was successful um let’s just hope that we don’t see any more EV fires like what we saw there or anything else that the fire department has to get involved but what is this we’re seeing some more this is the remnants of the Whimos okay oh my gosh wow wow right nothing left but um all the plastic is now melted a lot of the the metal is likely melted as well that’s something we observed in the fires in January is that these things can get so hot that it just starts melting the aluminum and the metals um therein there was actually um an alert sent out by the LAPD today warning about the air quality because of these um fires it says that that from LAPD central division a traffic advisory uh to media partners demonstrators and others who may enter the area of Los Angeles Street north of Arcadia burning lithium ion batteries release toxic gases including hydrogen fluoride posing risks to responders and those nearby please avoid this area exactly we were just talking about that a few hours ago too and just thinking the protesters um they did this without thinking about the consequences exactly all of those to toxic gases in the air you really shouldn’t be breathing in that stuff and then looking at the remnants right now it’s still there those toxic fumes they’re still in the air tim Caputo described it as um smelling like a dumpster fire so obviously it doesn’t smell good downtown and not just that but the air quality um it’s that’s definitely not a place that you want to be right so the governor uh has met with the chief of police of the LAPD and LA County Sheriff Robert Luna um uh we we do have a picture we’re working on showing you uh the officials gathered in Los Angeles state emergency officials as they say they’re responding to the protest provoked by chaos from Washington that is from the governor provoked by chaos from Washington the governor writing “We’re here to keep the peace not play into Trump’s political games and we do expect to hear a press conference from the LAPD uh likely from the sheriff’s department as well and I we believe the governor will be there as well so he is in Los Angeles tonight monitoring the situation with the chief of uh the LAPD Jim McDonald and the sheriff as well as other officials from around the city california Highway Patrol I see so they posted a picture i’m just trying to see who what officials are uh gathered here uh I it looks like um other sheriff officials CHP’s likely there LAPD and um I’m not sure i I highly doubt that the feds any feds are in this meeting given the tone and words of what the governor is saying here um provoked by chaos from Washington blaming this solely on President Trump and his actions and uh the actions of his administration but we will see here in less than an hour we we plan to hear from the LAPD and we believe Governor Gavin Newsome as well right there are two men um their backs are toward the camera um they look like they’re in civilian clothes um obviously they’re not civilians but it makes you think um what kind of higher up law enforcement is this they have black polos on so it’ll be interesting to see who they are we’ll see that um in the next hour or so with that press conference right and all this is playing out once again as the governor of California and the state is now in direct confrontation with the president of the United States and the federal government the president last night ordering the federalization of 2,000 members of the California National Guard he did so without the request or approval of the governor of California that’s how this typically works if there’s a problem if there is a need a governor of a state requests from the federal government assistance federalizing those troops that did not happen here governor Gavin Newsome has now formally requested that the Trump administration resend that deployment of troops the I’m reading from the governor’s tweet he calls this an unlawful deployment of troops in Los Angeles County he says “Return them to my command.” That is the governor of California talking to the president of the United States and his administration saying “Return them to my command we didn’t have a problem until Trump got involved.” The governor writing “This is a serious breach of state sovereignty inflaming tensions while pulling resources from where they’re actually needed rescended the order returned control to California.” Right president Trump absolutely he bypassed Governor Nuome and he deployed um those 2,000 National Guard troops and obviously we’ve seen from the protest today that definitely um spiked up the anger level it looks like it went up a notch too protesters definitely upset about that okay we see that I believe is those are the feds moving through these are the same vehicles that Yeah this is Homeland Security moving through the same vehicles that we saw that uh man try and smash the back window out with his bike over by Tim Caputo they are driving by those mounted officers who at some point we assume will likely move in on those gathered in front of um the park city hall right so right down here city halls to the right Grand Park is to the left the courthouse is just up and around the corner up the hill from this location and those um Homeland Security vehicles are moving through the LAPD with those mounted officers are are holding their position um basically I guess letting these folks just kind of play around hiding behind their barricade but I think the volley of non-lethals has continued from LAPD officers as we see them continue to fortify their line there stacking those benches and tables up and standing behind them what they hope to accomplish here what the purpose of this is I’m not even sure if there is a purpose just kind of continue this going throughout the afternoon and they are continuing to hurl things back at those officers um at what point does the LAPD say this is enough we’re going to restore um control of this area it’s right outside City Hall it’s right by the park again those those pink chairs and benches and tables were somehow for some reason left unsecured to Grand Park and it has allowed these demonstrators to build up a a um a fortified line here uh and it’s going to start getting dark really soon in the next hour or so we’re expecting our sunset around 8:00 tonight so um it makes you think and right now it looks like there the law enforcement is in some sort of position uh right in front of those protesters that barricaded themselves but it makes you think is this going to continue until it gets dark is that when they’re going to move in um with the horses or are they going to move in sooner uh we have Gabe Santos and I believe Gab’s going to give us a picture a clearer picture of what he’s seeing gabe what’s going on yeah so we’ve been monitoring this uh barricade if you will that’s on Spring Street right next to uh City City Hall and we’ve been kind of keeping tabs on what LAPD is doing earlier when there was another one of these uh makeshift barricades set up LAPD moved in pretty quickly with those mounted units this one they appear to be kind of taking a little bit of their time uh dealing with and you could see there there are uh consequences if you will to that because protesters are continuing to build up this barrier and fortify it if you will with now two layers of these pink benches and uh as you could see somebody there throwing uh something at officers there further uh up to the uh north and uh you could see there people continue to use those pink chairs to fortify that barricade but LAPD continues to slowly very slowly uh fire their less than lethal rounds uh and make uh a little bit of headway at least moving down this street those boxes that we were seeing those are more of those less than lethal rounds we were hearing earlier that LAPD was actually running short on those rounds and that’s not as an entire department they were running short it’s that at the specific location different teams were running short on some of that less than lethal uh ammo so you had uh different uh different uh additional parts of LAPD come in and it it it took them a while due to traffic some of the freeways were uh shut down you but uh uh uh LAPD was able to bring in some additional boxes of that ammo and you could see those boxes there uh they have arrived at the scene here and LAPD is now making use of that as they continue to slowly push some of those uh protesters south uh near this barricade that they have set up on uh the street in front of city hall so it’ll be very interesting to see how LAPD uh kind of deals with this right now we did see earlier those uh white SUVs those are from the Federal Protective Service uh that’s a agency within the Department of Homeland Security and that is a part of the agency and their sole responsibility is to protect uh federal government facilities and uh occupants of federal government uh facilities so unsure exactly which facility they’re going to if they’re going to the uh federal building itself and try and refortify some of the uh uh law enforcement uh crews around that area or if they are just here in in general to help uh LAPD and things of that nature that would probably be less likely than just uh continuing to fortify uh specifically federal property but it is interesting seeing them on scene here and them kind of driving around because that definitely is something that is uh agitating some of the uh protesters here as they continue to see those uh uh federal officers move into the area as we zoom back into this section this uh barricade which now spans the entire length of uh Spring Street then continues to be uh fortified and you see more and more protesters kind of continue to set themselves up behind this barricade and we’re just waiting to see what uh LAPD does uh if they continue to move forward on this barricade here and using some of those uh less than lethal rounds it is curious to me why they continue this volley of less than lethals it doesn’t appear to be doing anything they continue to fortify their their lines there um and and as we heard earlier there were calls going out Gabe that they are running low on these rounds of flashbangs and pepper balls and we just see a continued volley of these officers on the front line it looks like it’s calmed down now they we haven’t seen anything in the last couple seconds but look at the side of the road every canister there is another uh empty canister of a less than lethal on one side of the road these are hundreds here throughout the day we have seen thousands literally thousands of these uh munitions sent uh towards these uh demonstrators so that’s one side of the street we’re seeing the other side is full of them as well um but again in this situation if you are indeed running low on them what it is accomplishing when you’re firing them at benches and uh chairs that are stacked up in the middle of the road so we will continue to monitor that right okay i think we’re uh shortly going to have to excuse Gabe to go refill with Air 7 uh we do have another other eyes in the sky that we will continue to watch what’s happening uh but this is a I think the largest gathering of people we have seen at this hour now outside uh Grand Park and LA City Hall it’s where we saw at 2:00 some almost more than five hours ago wow what was the second demonstration of this day outside city hall that was a large gathering more than a thousand people the entire park there on the left and the street was completely filled with people they appeared to join walk around uh down the block and join the other gathering that was happening at the federal complex um which has been the site of unrest for the last three nights there were thousands of protesters out here and right now just looking at this crowd um you’re right this is the largest crowd that we have seen in the last hour and if this is that barricaded um the the chairs and the benches that we looked at about 15 20 minutes ago this has grown significantly um a little bit earlier i think there were probably two or three rows of people behind those barricaded uh that barricaded area but now it has seemed to really grown i’d say at least um hundreds of people behind those table or those those chairs and and the um the bench we have a new gonna smoke we have a new post from President Trump uh who continues to call the governor of California Gavin Nuskum writing Governor Gavin Nuskum and quote Mayor Bass should apologize to the people of Los Angeles for the absolutely horrible job that they have done and this now includes the ongoing LA riots these are not protesters they are troublemakers and insurrectionists that is a key note that he’s using that term remember no masks he writes and then three minutes later he he posted paid insurrectionists okay so why is that so significant we were talking about it a little earlier insurrectionists in order to deploy US military troops onto the streets of the United States against citizens of the United States the president would have to invoke the Insurrection Act this is hundreds of years old what is an insurrection it’s obviously a movement against the government against the United States itself could Could this be viewed what’s happening in our city be viewed as uh an insurrection against the United States if the president here is using that term he’s calling these people insurrectionists is that a movement is that a move by the president to employ US military on the streets of our country and it makes you just wonder like okay are the Marines the next step like he said that he wanted to deploy a little bit earlier and when how soon will we see those did he say 500 Marines we’ll be seeing 500 active duty Marines and these are um military members they’re active duty they don’t think about getting assigned to um anywhere domestic i mean they’re deploying these men and women all around the um world but deploying them to California for this reason uh I’m sure it’s something that they were not expecting either right it’s a it’s a bit chilling actually when you think about the the possibility of um of the US military moving against United States citizens in the United States here is that photo of the governor with Jim McDonald there uh Sheriff Robert Luna and um other members of law enforcement gathered in Los Angeles just a short time ago the governor posting to Twitter and um citing joined LAPD LAD and state emergency officials in Los Angeles as we respond to protests provoked by chaos from Washington we’re here to keep the peace not play into Trump’s political games and on the flip side of that we hear from the president of the United States who are calling those on the the streets rioters and insurrectionists insurrectionists um those are you know this is you can say what you will about the unrest and the violence this is it’s hard to call this a riot uh first of all that we’ve seen some burning cars and we have seen violence um but it LA knows riots um we have seen them unfortunately in our past it’s questionable whether that was whether this is a riot okay that’s fine he calls it a riot but to call these people insurrectionists just I I feel like opens the door exactly uh pretty chilling to think about what that could mean and I was talking earlier with Tim Caputo um about what you know he had the burning cars behind him and what this looks like with the with the country and the world looking at what’s happening in our our country and so we have Governor Nuome and Mayor Bass blaming today’s unrest and the weekend’s unrest on the Trump administration and their actions on the flip side I was asking who looks bad when the country looks at this situation and sees our city on fire or at least cars in our city on fire and we go back to Deputy Chief of Staff Steven Miller’s Twitter feed uh he uh is reposting ones calling this Democrat management so who looks bad he’s saying that the Democrats another post let’s check in on how the LAPD’s management of the protests is going and it’s a car on fire so again the LAPD uh Democratic leadership in the city in the state is being used as a focal point for those who are opposed to those in in charge here saying this is this falls on the Democrats this falls on Governor Governor Nuomo and this falls on LA Mayor Karen Bass definitely not a good look and I’m sure um not what they were going for either the message that a lot of them are trying to get across um looking back outside this is this is 101 so 101 is still blocked off i don’t recall if it’s northbound or south it’s northbound this is southbound this is southbound that is still blocked we can see the northbound side getting through but southbound still blocked and um we have a number of those police vehicles there and they haven’t moved it’s been blocked for I’d say three three hours yeah yeah and the real danger here is that the northbound side to the left is open the people who are throwing these things off this overpass onto the vehicles below thankfully have not turned their eye to the cars that are moving by that could change in an instant it is uh it is um abhorrent to see what they are doing looking at what uh the state of of the 101 freeway is here littered with scooters a bicycle debris rock cement that have been hurled off this overpass onto these vehicles below uh but you know as bad as this looks it could get even worse with those cars driving by on the northbound side so how long this is going to be allowed to continue there are vehicles under the protection of the overpass that are not being hit where are those officers right now where where are the CHP officers that drove these vehicles onto the freeway who have now left them here i don’t think they can access them we they would need some kind of police escort to clear these people from the surrounding overpasses because they would find themselves under assault as their vehicles have been for hours now it’s terrifying just thinking that um there I mean looking at the damage on their cars knowing that there could have been a police officer inside that unit when they threw that lime scooter but luckily and we just saw something else get thrown at that vehicle as well luckily I we think that those officers are not there um so yeah that’s that’s another question where are those officers and when they come back to their cars they really just have to be careful they have to have some sort of escort but Jory that’s a really good point i wasn’t even thinking about um the northbound side and those drivers they’re fine right now they’re fine but thinking if this can if this escalates even more I mean their safety is at risk as well so uh CNN is reporting tonight that California Lieutenant Governor Alenni Kunalakis says there will likely be a lawsuit filed tomorrow challenging President Trump’s decision to federalize those National Guard troops in Los Angeles so the the governor of California is moving for the president to resend that order and now the lieutenant governor says there will be a lawsuit filed tomorrow trying to undo that move by President Trump um to federalize the California National Guard members again from a PR perspective who’s coming out looking better here the president says he wants law and order and is doing whatever he can to to gain that and says there are California National Guardsmen and women who are here who can do this i’m federalizing them i want peace you have uh the governor and the lieutenant governor now fighting that order obviously on grounds of legal challenges both sides want peace but in the in the eyes of of the the nation and the world who comes out on top in that dispute right it’s just it’s become a um clash unfortunately this has just become a clash of powers between not only um the government and the federal level but also protesters as well so they’re mixed in the middle of all of this right okay so uh as we sit on this shot I wonder if um if our camera can can pan back over to what’s playing out just a short ways away in front of city hall that is where a group of protesters have stuck around they are using chairs and benches and tables taken from Gloria Molina Grand Park which for some reason were not secured to the ground and they are now in the middle of the road outside um city hall uh used as a barricade to protect themselves from an onslaught of less than lethal flashbangs and pepper spray pepper balls that have been volied from the folks uh on the LAPD trying to break this up we have not seen much movement here in the last hour in this situation and it appears uh there’s a line of mounted officers that remains there at that intersection just outside uh at the corner of city hall there and down the street you can see those barricades that are being used and as soon as we clear the uh the shot of these trees you will see those pink benches stood up on their sides we have flags of various South and Central American countries being waved here and um it seems we have arrived at an impass and yeah looking at this it’s just it makes you think that I think we had a very similar um setup just about 30 minutes ago so it makes you think that half an hour passed by and we are not seeing any progress really being made like you’re thinking what are the police waiting for are they thinking that this is just going to play out are protesters going to get tired but we have seen a very similar scene to this for not just the last half hour but hours now and um yeah we just have those uh the chairs and the benches barricaded there so Spring Street has been taken over the steps of City Hall have now been lined with protesters a short time ago LA Mayor Karen Bass held a press conference just inside this building where these protesters were happening tim Caputo said you could hear the explosions happening outside let’s listen into a little bit of what LA Mayor Karen Bass had to say a short time ago what we’re seeing in LA is chaos caused by the administration people should exercise their right to protest that’s their first amendment right but people should also exercise that right peacefully we do not want to play into the administration’s hands we’re working with officials we’re organizing resources but what we’re seeing in Los Angeles is chaos that is provoked by the administration when you raid Home Depot and workplaces when you tear parents and children apart and when you run armored caravans through our streets you cause fear and you cause panic and deploying federalized troops is a dangerous escalation but we need to be real about this this is about another agenda it’s not about public safety there’s clearly no plan and there is clearly no policy i want the people of Los Angeles to know that we stand with all Angelinos no matter where you were born the First Amendment right gives you the ability again to protest peacefully but it does not give you the right to be violent to create chaos or to vandalize property and that will not be tolerated so I call on all Angelinos to continue expressing your right your anger your outrage but to do it peacefully and I just have to say that all of you were there Friday everybody knows what happened Friday a workplace several workplaces were uh targeted and raids took place now in the beginning the administration said they were just looking for dangerous uh felons violent people it’s hard to say that that’s what they found at a workplace or in a Home Depot parking lot when this happens it terrifies people it sends a sense of fear and chaos in our city and you well remember a few years ago in the last administration that kids were afraid to go to school parents were afraid to go to work this impacts all of our city you can’t terrify the workplace workforce and then expect for people to get the jobs done so if you think about a father that went into a factory and now his family doesn’t know where he is they the detainees have not been allowed to speak to legal counsel that is a market departure from what has happened in the past when you think of a mother that might be working in a household taking care of children on another side of town that impacts that family as well as her family and so this is something that I think should not be happening in our city and I join with the governor in appealing to the administration to resend the order to federalize the National Guard and allow the National Guard to come back under the control of the governor and that was LA Mayor Karen Bass a short time ago saying this chaos has been caused by provoked by President Trump and the Trump administration and their policies uh dealing with Los Angeles and immigr immigration and immigrants in our city as we were listening to the mayor exactly what we were talking about played out some officers emerged uh from b beneath that overpass and they were met immediately by projectiles rocks and bottles and other things being thrown off that overpass and as we said if they want to have any movement to get these vehicles out of there that overpass is going to have to be cleared by law enforcement because these uh folks something else large just got thrown it looks like a pillow but I do not think that was a pillow given the force of what is now sitting in the windshield of that vehicle what is that it looks like some kind of maybe a bag with like maybe a bag of rocks or some kind of heavy thing in the bag um but yeah we see that could be we we saw folks gathering things on the ground for a long time it could be they were filling up a bag and perhaps here comes another scooter um it I I’m surprised this has been allowed to continue for as long as it has you see the the size of those rocks here goes another scooter they missed missed it i mean at this point what does it matter these things the damage is so severe on these vehicles that are just beneath the the roadway but um I’m curious to see whether um someone with a hammer is getting these rocks because you see the size of the chunks of cement and here we go it looks like movement here it Okay they have moved in now and broken up this barricade with uh benches and chairs and they are the LAPD is moving now through with those mounted officers and the demonstrators who were gathered here for more than an hour are now being pushed back Spring Street uh this is South Down Spring towards LAPD headquarters ironically enough and you can see the steps of City Hall to the left the green of Molina Park is off to the right and um the the smoke lingers in the air here as officers are working to uh clear this area but just the fact that they took those benches and those chairs from um Glorio Molina Park that’s just insane it’s mindblowing and here we have the remnants of it I believe now it looks like law enforcement going in putting those benches down um they’ll be clearing that out of the road hopefully soon but let’s go see what’s happening a little further up the road and and with those demonstrators because those mounted officers are continuing to to move in again another stretch of roadway that’s just being reclaimed by the LAPD um where will these demonstrators go next exactly has this run out of steam it’s been a long day it’s been a long weekend in Los Angeles at what point does this end this does this calm down and these folks go home is this going to continue into the night as we’ve seen the last two nights and seen unrest confrontation with law enforcement and um once again we are at a showdown those LAPD officers are um standing in spring in the middle of Spring Street uh this is the middle this is the main crosswalk from the park over to city hall you see those that brick walkway there in the middle normally full of buses uh making their way through and a lot of people but tonight the only people that are making their way through are uh the police and these demonstrators in the middle of the road and right now I’m curious to know if these um demonstrators they’re going to go I mean is there even anything left at the park can they go to the park and grab more benches and um chairs or are they just going to stand there now and now that they are pretty much defenseless is this where it’s going to start fizzling down and we see some more progress being made it looks like we have a police car pulling up to something a little more movement yeah yeah um as we watch what’s playing here on Spring Street I wonder if we can go a little bit to the left and see what’s playing out at the federal complex this is pretty close so remember this is the site of that large demonstration around 2:00 today we’ll show you how far it is from the rest of the activity so this is the overpass this is uh on Los Angeles Street which looks like these vehicles are now being moved the overpass has been cleared this had to happen um at some point this was going on for way too long those vehicles were sustaining way too much damage and um um we’ll see we’ll wait and see what kind of damage was done to the overpass itself but fireworks more explosives uh going off here and we see a canister being kicked on the roadway here i also want to know Oh what’s going on so beneath there’s some there is some movement here watch the what these officers are are doing on the the 101 freeway they’re looking out for more people yeah the volleying of projectiles continues it looks like perhaps they were able to clear the overpass from below that’s not a good spot for them to stand because these protesters are throwing fireworks directly at those officers okay um traffic continues to go by on the northbound side and and here you see somebody throw something a firework down below and then retreat back to the other side i don’t know what the fortifications are beneath this underpass but these CHP vehicles have been here for hours um I I assume that those those officers that we’re seeing now that they that they have been beneath there this entire time we saw those who were arrested from the 101 and the on-ramp and they were taken away they weren’t taken into downtown they were taken down back onto the 101 freeway where those CHP vehicles were parked and you assume driven off to detention from there there remain some vehicles and the officers that occupied them beneath this overpass so they were hiding under that overpass i’m I’m more curious to know exactly how how were they able to clear out the people that were on that overpass cuz right we looked at it just about 10 minutes ago and it was packed right we had so many protesters there but um so quickly they got rid of them and I think that’s when the police felt safe enough they came out from under the overpass but unfortunately um they’re getting fireworks thrown at them but it looks like it has stopped we have some more movement here yeah looks like the airbag is deployed in this from the from everything being thrown on top of it so trying to get in here and access this maybe just putting it into neutral so So I’m surprised i think his legs moving i don’t think that officer is sitting there i think they are kind of pushing on the gas pedal perhaps because that airbag is fully deployed i think he’s climbing under it and you see him lifting it back up to emerge back from the vehicle so maybe putting it in neutral so they can push these vehicles out of the way struggling to get the airbag um out of the way and another canister thrown a smoke canister thrown from up above down onto the surface so we’ll see if this officer is able to move this vehicle again under attack an onslaught of projectiles being thrown down there that is that is assault on a on a law enforcement officer right there throwing directly a rock at that officer who was not in a vehicle exposed at the time in there i believe that is the person that was doing it it’s all caught on camera but where are the officers here that moved in on the protesters i’m not sure they did i’m not sure they did i think the officers on the on the surface of the 101 might have fired tear gas up above because I don’t see why they dispersed exactly i don’t see any officers um up on that level it’s everything seems to be down and and here we just saw something thrown and I don’t think it made it to the southbound side it it it might have fallen into oncoming traffic on the northbound side that’s another concern yeah the southbound drivers there you go you can see something in the middle of the road that was just thrown a couple things cans perhaps water um rocks and here we go so you see officers running because it’s too dangerous to move slowly when they emerge from beneath this overpass just unbelievable scene of CHP officers sprinting for their own safety as other officers step out to cover them as projectiles continue to be thrown we’ll see from this side whether anyone manages or dares to throw anything but this officer now moving pretty quickly knowing that they’re likely to face there you go something thrown and hitting that vehicle so how long this has been allowed to go on it’s been hours you can see the amount and the size of the chunks of concrete that were thrown onto the roadway here if that hit a person it could easily kill them another firework thrown down there so these three vehicles still abandoned by the CHP four of them we’ll see if anyone is able to get back in there the one close uh furthest to the left has the airbags deployed i don’t know if that’s drivable if they can even move that tonight but we see LAPD officers not too far away from here they cleared those folks out from the middle of Spring Street while all this was playing out um officers here from the CHP under siege from these demonstrators and you talk about peaceful demonstrations what we are seeing that is not peaceful the folks that are gathered on that overpass are violent they are not peaceful protesters and we are seeing their assault on law enforcement continue we just saw it right in front of our eyes exactly the assault on the police officers and those um officers running for their lives right now it looks like this looks like one uh demonstrator facing off against uh law enforcement but they did clear those two scenes out fairly quickly um that barricaded area and also the overpass and I’m curious how many other scenes we have how many gatherings of groups we have right now it looks like this is just one demonstrator um and officers seem to be firing something at this demonstrator um this demonstrator just seems to be walking yeah just just challenging them to do something now so their protection has been taken down you can see one bench there someone I believe lying down yep maybe with a skateboard as protection so these folks just kind of taunting those officers it’s it’s it brings up the question that Tim Caputo was asking earlier and um quoting someone else would these folks still be here if the LAPD had backed off at this point but you know the violence kind of negates that question as long as people are acting like this the LAPD needs to stay here and here we have officers on the back of this um armored pickup truck the SWAT team possibly um that’s sheriff sheriff yeah that’s sheriff or CHP i believe that’s just sheriff yeah it says sheriff on the door so those are LD deputies in full uh in tactical gear i don’t know if it’s full tactical gear um but they have tactical equipment on and uh looks like reinforcements are now moving in as LAD deputies are moving onto the scene here per perhaps there was a call when those CHP officers came under attack and that’s why these guys are moving in we’ll see maybe that’s what it took like it was it definitely um went a step ahead what I’m sure a lot of them were expecting um because yeah we just saw those officers get attacked running for their lives and I think really you’re right that did spark them wanting to move in and so a crowd is once again gathering on the overpass i I believe this is still Los Angeles street um and these demonstrators continue to volley concrete and bottles there’s a large chunk that just hit that vehicle once again so where is this coming from where where is all this concrete being removed from to be able to be thrown onto the roadway and what kind of damage is that doing to the overpass infrastructure here in downtown Los Angeles there is a lot of concrete on that roadway where did it come from it had to come from somewhere and you know chunks like that are not just sitting on the side of the road so here they are scattering again perhaps a tear gas canister was deployed back up onto here or maybe it’s the sheriff’s department moving in they’re still a couple blocks I They would have to be a couple blocks away from city hall where we saw them gathering yeah yeah it has to be either Oh there’s some fireworks that um I believe they threw but possibly tear gas um that was a pretty large crowd again we saw it clear out but then that large crowd gathered again looks like it’s clearing out but I feel like it’s just a matter of time before they come back and I just don’t understand why are they throwing the concrete um the officers have left there’s three cars left they’re heavily damaged um it makes you just wonder why why are they continuing to throw concrete it is it is the destruction it’s likely the destruction of young men you know we see this after sporting events the burning of couches the ripping down of goalposts you know this is the kind of thing that people of a certain age just like to do in a I am generalizing somewhat there could be some women fe some females involved in this and older people but generally we see in in a gathering like this you start to get a mob mentality where some people are doing it and you just kind of lose your inhibitions as here goes another scooter down onto the roadway below so the the damage that is being caused um to the infrastructure to the vehicles of the CHP to that overpass to the to the um scooters and the bikes that are provided for the public to use are now no longer available and this will cost money to replace money that has been spent by our tax dollars to procure is now um unavailable it makes you wonder like how much is the city going to have to spend now um this is thousands and thousands of dollars worth of damage that was so unnecessary and it looks like we have a little more um no this is not movement that’s just the northbound side that’s moving which honestly I’m so glad that the northbound side is still safe as of right now looks like at least the demonstrators have left it alone but we are zooming back in um into that police vehicle again it has some sort of bag and it looks like there is a flame on that police vehicle i can’t tell yeah yep that is now on fire uh we’ll see if it catches or if it burns out if it fizzles out uh we’ve already seen five vehicles go up in flames we those unmanned Whimos that were lit on fire so is this an incendiary or is this to extinguish it was an extinguisher okay good all right so that fire no that is still burning you can see it right on the the windshield what was the windshield is now kind of caved into this vehicle and that fire is still burning i I don’t know if there’s anything to catch on that it I guess it depends on how much um ingress it has into the vehicle itself but if a fire lands just on a vehicle that’s off on the windshield and the hood nothing should theoretically catch fire yeah and just seeing this damage it just gives you a glimpse of how upset and just um frustrated these protesters are and it just makes you want to tell them like “Hey LAPD is not ICE you know why are why are you doing this lapd is supposed to be there to protect you um they don’t like that they’re in this situation either why continue um this chaos?” But it just goes to show that mentality they’re upset right and uh just a couple blocks away we saw another crowd gathered outside city hall as these folks are reathering on this overpass and continuing to to volley chunks of concrete now incendiaries scooters and bikes off of this overpass onto those CHP vehicles below we believe there are still officers and other vehicles beneath this overpass um and we will uh we’ll see how this plays out we are expecting to hear from uh Loyola law professor Jessica Levenson i don’t know if she has joined us yet but we are awaiting her to join us because there is quite a bit to talk about constitutionally speaking as you now have the governor of California at odds legally with the president of the United States the uh president President Trump federalized 2,000 members of the California National Guard as we have said um multiple times today but we will explain it once again this is not an uncommon thing for a president to federalize National Guards members it has happened many times in our country’s history it hasn’t happened many times even recently here in Los Angeles federal Guards troops were deployed to help out in the aftermath of the fires they were uh deployed in 2020 with the civil unrest with everything that happened during um that eventful year um but that’s initiated at the request of the governor the governor is uh considered the commander and chief of every state’s national guard and that did not happen here we have the president usurping the authority of the governor to take over California National Guards members and deploy them onto the streets of that city the governor of California is now disputing that asking demanding requesting that the president resin that order and return control to the governor and the state of California we heard from CNN reporting that the Lieutenant Governor Aleni Kunalakis says that a a lawsuit will be filed tomorrow to try and overturn that decision of President Trump to federalize those troops this has not happened in our country’s history at least in in recent memory that I can think of since the civil rights era we’re talking since the 60s when there was push back against civil rights advancements john F kennedy federalized the troops to help help black students attend public school in states like Alabama and others when George Wallace and the like were refusing to follow federal law and depriving US citizens of their constitutional rights to attend school that was the last time I believe that this has happened against the wishes of a governor seeing their old na own national guards members taken taken over that is a little bit different than this that was to enforce federal law that the governor was refusing to do in this situation what is the justification to do this without the governor’s request so that has opened up a it’s um different like a different part of history that questions that we would love to to pose to Jessica Levenson whenever she is able to join us we are also awaiting at the top of the hour a law enforcement briefing with the LAPD we expect to hear from Chief Jim McDonald we know LA County Sheriff Robert Luna is also involved in these discussions and we saw some of his deputies as we see these demonstrators lighting a piece of cardboard on fire they are intent on burning more cars tonight we’ll see if it happens here that one of them is a CHP cruiser that has been um under attack for hours now folks throwing chunks of concrete scooters bikes and more onto these vehicles below it was a perfect shot landing on the hood of that vehicle again uh here comes some uh fire retardant a fire extinguisher to put that out i don’t know if it had much chance of lighting anything on fire but again definitely coming from unpass then so there are some um police officers still there then that shows they’re still there correct and so we do also expect and hope to hear from the governor who is in Los Angeles meeting with federal uh local officials here LAPD LASD and we we believe that he will be speaking at this press briefing at the top of the hour um as we await that as we await Professor Levenson we continue to watch this chaos play out on the streets of Los Angeles and includes the surface streets which are um the domain of Los Angeles and the 101 freeway which is the domain of the California Highway Patrol which you can tell by these three CHP vehicles which are now battered and dented after hours of projectiles being thrown at them and you can see an even larger crowd gathering now um on uh I believe that’s still um just the side of the overpass the over the overpass still has a lot but you can see more on the side and they don’t seem like they’re going anywhere um it’s getting late we’re getting close to um sunset sunset’s going to happen in the next 10 or 15 minutes so unfortunately it looks like this protest has made it into the evening hours when it starts getting dark and then that raises more questions what’s going to happen when things get dark is that maybe where um law enforcement draws the line and they say “Okay that’s it we need to um you know stop this right now and then go a different route or are they going to continue what they’re doing and like what we’ve been seeing let things fizzle out play out and then move in with the horses move in with those to those barricaded areas uh it’s interested to see like what their move is especially as it’s getting dark right the LAPD central division throwing out a traffic advisory saying due to demonstrators throwing objects onto the southbound lanes of the 101 freeway and damaging multiple police vehicles the 101 southbound freeway will remain closed until further notice this will take a lot of time not only to get the demonstrators out of this area but to clean up the mess they’ve now left behind right you have three California Highway Patrol vehicles that will likely be need to need to be towed they could get out under their own power we’ll see how damaged they are then you have I mean hundreds of pounds of concrete that have now accumulated after being thrown from this overpass onto the roadway that’s not something you can just easily where right how do how do you clean that up right are you going to kick it off to the side of the road do you need a street sweeper do you need crews coming through and gathering them in trash cans or a dump truck to do that um and so questions remain about how that is going to be handled uh we do have as we await the press conference at the top of the hour we do have Professor Jessica Levenson joining us tonight and boy Professor we have uh some some questions to talk about with you tonight i I don’t know if we have eight minutes to the top of the hour let’s try and fit as much in as we possibly can first what what’s on your mind as you watch what’s playing out in Los Angeles tonight and the battle now between California Governor Gavin Newsome and the President of the United States so I think what’s on my mind is what’s on everybody’s mind which is uh what happens next uh what happens overnight what happens tomorrow will we see a significant escalation if there is an significant escalation or frankly maybe any escalation we could see the president say “I need to do more uh we could see the president potentially again pull the cord and say “I need to invoke the Insurrection Act.” As I’m sure you’ve been talking about the Insurrection Act would give the president more authority to not just federalize the National Guard but to say that the National Guard can actually act as domestic law enforcement that the military on US soil can search can seize can arrest uh that’s not something that we’re accustomed to so I’m looking to see obviously what’s happening right now but also how the situation evolves and how the president reacts and we have seen the president allude to the fact that he and we’re watching sorry professor on the there’s a split screen here on the right side of your screen we’re seeing continued demonstrations and a firebomb was just thrown down off of the 101 freeway overpass onto one of those CHB vehicles below which is now uh burning we’ll see if they’re able to put that out with the fire retardant from below there’s a fire extinguisher i believe they’re deploying but that looks like it’s going to go it looked like it was some kind of ball of of uh fuel whether it was alcohol or gas lobbed off of this overpass and that CHP vehicle is now on fire so uh we are we’re we’re having this conversation with these scenes playing out professor um we have heard the president twice within the last hour refer to the people the demonstrators and some of them violent and clearly breaking the law here as insurrectionists we have heard Secretary of Defense Pete Hegath Marines will be deployed from Camp Pendleton onto the streets of Los Angeles if the violence continues is that is that allowed can the president of the United States legally in a situation like this deploy under the insurrection act insurrection act US military to fight US citizens on US soil okay so in a situation like this is going to be the key this is going to be where the fighting is so let’s talk really briefly about the federal statutes at issue here we all know that the president can only act when there’s something that gives him the power to act or there’s inherent constitutional power in this case what the president is pointing to is Title 7 this is not the Insurrection Act excuse me Title 10 title 10 allows the president to federalize the National Guard and to allow them to act in a support role for federal law enforcement they can help protect federal agents they can help protect federal property but they cannot act like law enforcement officials and again perform searches and seizures they cannot act like ICE agents but if things continue you asked me about the insurrection act obviously the president has been using certain language today what happens next the insurrection act is an exception to the posi commatatus act the Paccomatus Act says you can’t use the military as direct domestic law enforcement you can’t have that happen again unless there are certain oxygen or emergency circumstances the insurrection act would present those emergency circumstances so for me the real legal question is are we in a situation where the president can point to that broad grant of authority under the insurrection act and say yes we can move forward we cannot just have the national guard but have them perform those domestic law enforcement agency actions this is a president who has pushed the boundaries of constitutional law and law itself what would happen if he decides these are insurrectionists invokes the insurrection act in uh bring deploys US military and what is the who’s who can stop him he you know he’s the president of the United States if he does that let’s say Marines show up in Los Angeles who’s going to stop them so I think at that point you would have uh California having standing to sue i’m not saying it’s going to be a successful suit i’m saying they would have standing to sue argument would be that the president is infringing on state sovereignty because he doesn’t have the power under the insurrection act that when you pull the court on the insurrection act that you should have cooperation from a governor now there have been let’s discuss and you may have already discussed moments in our nation’s history where the president has said I’m sending in troops that was really about implementing desegregation decisions during the civil rights era we haven’t seen the insurrection act in my view used in modern times against the will of a governor which is a long answer to your question of what would happen california would go to court and California would say the president doesn’t have the power uh and then we would be in another court battle we would have a federal court a federal judge likely a number of federal judges making that decision it is incredible that we are asking these questions in the United States that this is even in the realm of possibility of something that can happen but uh Professor Jessica Levenson I would love to sit and talk with you more unfortunately we’re facing a time crunch here at the top of the hour we’re awaiting LAPD’s uh press conference so thank thank you so much i I I would love to talk to you and I hope we can talk to you about this and hopefully not about some of the outcomes that we’re we’re talking about are possibilities here jessica thank you thank you okay as we approach the top of the hour we are going to um kind of wrap up this portion of our coverage as we get ready for the LAPD press conference we’ll wait to see if California Governor Gavin Newsome will be taking part he did post a picture of himself with the chief of police of the LAPD and the LA County Sheriff Robert Luna that he is in Los Angeles he is working with those jurisdictions to see what is going to play out and how to best address this situation but we’re going to switch over some crews here um as we uh get ready so we will continue to cover you’ll still see this Air 7 picture of what is happening in downtown Los Angeles things calming down except for that one pocket over the 101 freeway where we see demonstrators continue to hurl objects down at the CHP vehicles below but stay with us we are not going anywhere we will bring you that LAPD press conference here in just about one minute as we continue our coverage here on Eyewitness News streaming and online for Eyewitness News this is Eyewitness News with live breaking news now at 8 violent clashes between more than a thousand protesters and law enforcement officers in downtown Los Angeles this on the third day of protests over federal immigration enforcement operations good evening I’m Mark Brown tonight we have seen protesters shutting down the 101 freeway setting fire to Whimo cars throwing rocks concrete even electric scooters against law enforcement vehicles on the 101 freeway we have seen several people pulled out of the crowd and arrested by police the remnants of less than lethal tear gas and rubber bullets littering the streets of downtown and beyond what we’re seeing on the group another battle playing out over the Trump administration’s decision to deploy National Guard troops to quell this these protests that the president is calling an insurrection we want to begin right now there’s a news conference that is scheduled with the chief of the Los Angeles Police Department Jim McDonald that is scheduled to begin at 8 this is a key element of this because one of the things that the president has been indicating is that local leaders local officials we don’t know if he includes the chief in that he has spoken about elected officials and especially the mayor and the governor saying that they are not responding to the protests in order to quell them and that is why he is calling in the national guard the chief of police of Los Angeles uh Jim McDonald is going to speak to the news media and to the citizens of Los Angeles we expect that to happen at any moment in the meantime this has been a momentous day here in Southern California where these protests that began downtown at city hall and at the federal building complex including the hall of uh the hall of administration and the uh uh justice department there and the courthouse those two crowds merged later this afternoon and became a huge throng of more than a thousand people and began marching around diff different areas of downtown Los Angeles city hall and elsewhere there has been violence directed at police and at members of ICE what you’re looking at now are live pictures from Air 7 as mounted LA police units are now moving some of those demonstrators out it has been a pretty amazing day in Southern California another crazy day of things happening let’s go to Tim Caputo who has been out in the middle of it for much of the afternoon tim what are you seeing well Mark uh you really nailed it on the head there it has been a crazy day and as the sun starts to go down the concern obviously as things escalate from here it’s kind of interesting as you see the different layers we kind of took a step back to get a broader vantage point partially because the area we were on Los Angeles Street earlier was getting a little bit hairy uh you could see down the 101 beneath us with all the overpasses and people on essentially every single overpass as police have moved in tommy come to my right here to show these officers who have lined up on the street uh we actually saw a number of sheriff’s deputies come in on those big trucks with their tactical gear here to assist the LAPD as they try to move this crowd or get some sort of control out here this afternoon where we’re standing is up on Hill Street it gives you a vantage point of everything that’s going on down below if you look to my left here on the hill this has grown throughout the day and this is something that we’ve seen not just here a little bit farther away but even down at Union Station as well people are showing up people are still coming out people heard what’s going on people want to be part of what’s going on and so the crowd is not necessarily getting smaller it may be dissipating in certain areas but in a lot of ways it’s getting bigger the folks up here taking some photo live streaming being part of it from a distance as you get a little bit closer you could start to see and hear where the fireworks are going off the police department obviously uh both LAPD the sheriff’s department and CHP in a bit of a difficult spot because of the landscape here you have the overpasses you have the freeway underneath and then you have the roads that go around the buildings both federal building and city hall over on the south side of the 101 there is a lot of area to cover and it seems as though from what we’ve seen both down below and up here as they start to move a crowd and it seems to dissipate people just work their way around they come up the street they go around the street so getting control here is almost impossible so what they’re trying to do is get things quieter but figure out how to finally get this crowd to go home i can tell you Mark from being out here on Friday night from being in Compton last night that is a tall order indeed there are a lot of demonstrators that they still have to deal with uh let’s get more from Gabe Santos he’s in Air 7 this is over the freeway bridge under which uh several CHP vehicles were uh abandoned after people started throwing uh uh scooters and uh concrete at those vehicles damaging them placing the lives of the officers inside them in danger let’s get more from Gabe about how that situation is now yeah Mark uh this is the situation above the 101 freeway you have a couple of bridges here that’s the Alama Street Bridge and then over to the right is the Los Angeles Street Bridge and on that bridge you had a number of protesters uh throwing things down on the CHP vehicles below those CHP vehicles were parked there uh from uh as you see a firework uh or parts of a firework going through the shot those CHP vehicles were parked there a number of hours ago about two or three hours ago when protesters uh came onto the freeway and uh were blocking the southbound lanes of the 101 freeway chp moved in they moved those protesters out and they controlled that situation but they left a number of those vehicles there onto the freeway eventually some of those protesters on the uh overpass on the Los Angeles Street Bridge started chipping uh pieces of concrete away from the sidewalk and finding other uh things to throw down like uh bird scooters and other electric uh bicycles and they started throwing them down onto the CHP vehicles uh below uh earlier in our live streaming coverage you saw that CHP vehicle right there was actually set on fire it looks as if uh it may not be a total loss in terms of being completely inoperable but it may no longer be drivable you see those CHP units there uh under the uh uh overpass there trying to figure out how to move that vehicle out of the way the other vehicles they appear to have been able to have moved uh those out of the way and all of those protesters that were on the Los Angeles Street Bridge have now been cleared lapd has refocused their efforts uh and you now have LA uh County Sheriff’s Department here as well we’ve seen Rescue 5 that’s that very large uh stallion gabe I need to stop you right now la Police Chief Jim McDonald is about to speak let’s hear him you good all good all right thank you uh thank you first of all I know it’s a very very busy time thank you all for coming here tonight and allowing us the opportunity to be able to brief the public a little bit about what’s going on and uh what we’ve been doing and ask truly an ask for peace throughout our city i’m joined here by uh Gerald Woodyard deputy chief from Operations West Bureau uh Herman Herado uh from commander from uh professional standards bureau and uh from operation central bureau Ral uh Joll who’s also the incident commander for central bureau and for this uh this incident so I want to just take an opportunity to speak directly to the people of Los Angeles clarify LAPD’s roles and the events that have been playing out over these past couple of days this includes our response to protests our public safety responsibilities and recent claims that you’ve seen made by some federal officials today I met with Governor Nuome Mayor Bass US Attorney General of Cal of uh the uh Central District of California Bill Aseli and ICE acting director Todd Lions let me begin by reaffirming a core principle the LAPD supports and protects the First Amendment right to free speech in recent days many protests across the city have been peaceful and we thank the community for expressing their views and their frustration in a responsible manner however when peaceful demonstrations devolve into acts of vandalism or violence especially violence directed at innocent people law enforcement officers and others we must respond firmly an act of violence whether toward officers demonstrators or the public will be met with swift and lawful action our goal is to maintain order without escalating conflict and to protect everybody’s right to safety recent public statements uh have misrepresented uh LAPD’s action from an incident the other night um specifically there was a claim that LAPD delayed responding to a federal officer’s request for assistance by more than two hours when we heard that I think anybody who’s a police officer can’t couldn’t believe it and certainly anyone with LAPD couldn’t imagine how that would happen well it didn’t happen and uh I just want to go into that just a little bit uh LAPD was not given advanced notice that the federal operation uh federal uh operations would occur in that area as a result we were not prepositioned to respond immediately to unrest related to those actions once the call for assistance came in LAPD responded within 38 minutes and that sounds like a long time but I’ll tell you uh why that is the response was impacted by traffic crowd density uh in the in the uh area with unrest occurring hazardous conditions caused by tear gas that was previously deployed by federal agents at the at that location many of our officers because it was put together uh in a mobile field force configuration uh without uh advanced notice were not equipped with gas mass but despite these challenges we moved in quickly and as safely as possible at no point did LAPD ignore or intentionally delay any requests for help i also want to be unequivocally clear the Los Angeles Police Department does not participate in or coordinate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Civil Immigration Enforcement we’ve said this over and over again and I can’t stress it enough for the people in uh to in our community who have high levels of anxiety about this issue that we want everybody to believe and be able to call the LAPD in time of need if they’ve been a victim of a crime or a witness to a crime we need that otherwise the system does not work that has been our policy and remains our policy and it went into effect in 1979 so 46 years ago that’s been the way we do business on the other hand however when a uh a law enforcement agency any agency requests emergency assistance to protect lives we are obligated to respond and we do public safety is our duty and we will answer every legitimate call for help from anyone we recognize that immigration enforcement operations can cause a deep fear and anxiety particularly in immigrant communities that’s why we’re committed to transparency accountability and treating every Angelino with respect regardless of their immigration status our job is not to divide communities or to politicize law enforcement our job is simply to keep everyone safe i want to express my sincere appreciation to all of our officers and partner agencies for their dedication and professionalism during these very challenging times their commitment to upholding the law even in the face of hostility is a reflection of the values that we stand for we’re working together to keep everyone safe our officers and the public alike alike and this remains our top priority we’ll continue to support peaceful protests and enforce the law when criminal acts occur the LAPD remains focused on its core mission to protect lives safeguard constitutional rights and serve every neighborhood in Los Angeles with integrity let me open it up now for any uh any questions you might have or any points that we can clarify chief the governor made a very strong statement that he didn’t believe the Trump administration needed to activate those guard troops to take control because he felt he had safety protection officers here how do you feel about that yeah if I I don’t know what basis they used to make that decision but if that was based on our uh what I delineated here about the uh the perceived lack of response to a help call by an outside agency that that did not happen we did respond with mobile field force configuration and just to explain that a mobile field force is a configuration of people or officers within the organization that we bring in from around the city we declare a tactical alert so we can break them away from their primary duties of answering radio calls to be able to come in form up they’re trained in this uh in this tactic into a a a configuration of uh four squads or a platoon that are led by a mobile force leader they then go for deep in the car and they drive into the impacted area and that way they can safely go in in a in a large group of uh of officers and able to handle whatever they come across if we were to send in uh a single unit or a couple of units into a riotous scene uh certainly they’d be surrounded and the outcome would probably not be good and so this is a configuration that has worked for us developed here worked for us for many years but it doesn’t happen instantaneously so we have to call in units we have to meet at a certain location they get the they get the information they need to operate in the environment and then they go and they take care of business and so that takes a little bit of time for us to be able to get in there in about 35 minutes is uh pretty much textbook so while we’d love to be able to say we can get there in in seconds or minutes in the reality of a a situation of civil unrest we got to do it right we got to do it safely for everybody involved go one at a time please and let’s identify name and outlet victor with chief we have seen two kinds of groups at least from Friday Saturday and today that I’ve been working uh the community is enraged and then they’re not happy with the actions of ICE and then the community that loots and attacks and destroys our city what would be your direct message to both groups yeah to uh to the people who are not happy with the fact that ICE is in the uh in the community doing what ICE does um you know it’s I respect ICE for being a fellow law enforcement agency they have their mission they have their uh what they have to do uh we don’t engage in in that activity but again we can’t preclude them from doing that they have every right to do that uh I I I ask people in the community to trust the LAPD that we’re not there for that purpose and that if they have something they need uh us to be able to address we’re there for them uh as far as the big picture of what can I recommend they do or or not do that’s something it’s a it’s a federal uh issue and the the federal authorities uh have have the right to be able to do what they’re doing as far as uh people worried about the the violence that we’re seeing this violence that I’ve seen is disgusting it’s escalated now uh since the beginning of uh this incident what we saw the first night was uh was bad what we’ve seen subsequent to that is getting increasingly worse and more violent tonight we had uh individuals out there shooting commercialrade fireworks at our officers that can kill you and uh we have adapted our tactics to be able to uh have a chance to be able to take these people into custody and to be able to hold them accountable we are overwhelmed uh as far as the number of people out there engaged in this type of activity uh and the type of things that they’re doing they’ll uh they’ll take uh backpacks and the backpack will have a cinder block in it they have a hammer and they’ll break up the cinder block and use that pass it around to throw at officers to throw at cars and throw at other people uh we’ve seen people with hammers and you’ve you’ve broadcasted uh breaking the ballards behind the federal building and taking the the rocks if you will or pieces of concrete and throwing them at officers we’ve had liquid of who knows what uh description thrown at officers there there’s no no limit to what they’re uh what they’re doing uh to our officers and again as I mentioned in my statement I can’t thank our folks enough and our partner agency uh uh police officials uh for going out there and taking care of the community and trying to be able to put themselves between the threat and uh and the overall community and they do this night in and night out and these past couple of nights we’ve seen it uh at a level that I think discuss every every good person thank you thank you sir you just described some pretty violent and chaotic situations what is your position on the National Guard being deployed do we need them here well you know it’s it’s an interesting question because I would have said that uh you know we we could handle this i believe that we we would have gone through a number of steps before we’d have deployed the National Guard or requested deployment of the National Guard we would normally go to 50% uh deployment to handle radio calls and do do the business of policing and everybody else would be focused on the initial problem beyond that then we would request through the sheriff mutual aid and that would bring in uh members of the 44 other police departments in LA County as well as the sheriff’s office and so that didn’t occur in this case because it wasn’t done through the sheriff or through the uh up through the the normal chain it was done from the top down from the president directing that that happen and then the the National Guard was federalized so they’re working for uh the the US Army not for the California State National Guard do we need them do we need them well looking at tonight uh you know this thing has gotten out of control uh what their I think I before I could answer that I’d have to know more about what their capabilities are what their their role is intended to be um to be able to make that determination but we have great cops in Southern California here that work together all the time so uh we have tremendous capability here uh to to say that we we would go to that right away I’d say we’re not uh we wouldn’t have been there yet uh looking at the violence tonight I I think we got to make uh a reassessment laurel how has your department interacted with the National Guard at all since they’ve been here i’d say very little other than we had a conference call this afternoon there aren’t a whole lot of uh of uh soldiers in place at this time they’re still incoming uh but the people who are here uh they’re you know tremendous Americans here trying to do you know their provide their service doing the task that they’re charged with uh our relationship has been tremendous uh overall with the National Guard we worked right alongside them for five months during the Palisades fire they were there every day in the beginning in large numbers and then that uh narrowed down before they de demobilized but the relationship is is overall tremendous uh we’re very very uh good partners with them and I hope they feel the same about us and when you look at the demonstrators who are people from the community who are upset about you know the immigration rates families being broken up deportations happening do you feel any sense of um kinship with them or um you know about this situation or do you do you see that there is need for for more law enforcement and for for more immigration enforcement in in Los Angeles you know I I think you know the federal agents are enforcing federal immigration law which is their right and anybody can have their personal opinion on uh on you know to what level that should be who should they focus on and those kind of things i won’t take a position on that because really that’s not our focus not our job uh but when I when I look at the people who are out there doing the violence that’s not the people that we see during the day who are legitimately out there exercising their first amendment rights uh and to be able to express uh their feelings about the immigration enforcement issue these are people who are all hooded up they’ve got a hoodie on they’ve got face masks on uh they’re people who do this all the time get away with whatever they can go out there uh you know from one uh civil unrest situation to another using the same or similar tactics frequently uh and they are they are connected some would call them anarchists or by any other variety of names but they’re people that uh we run across routinely city to city and this is what they do so even more disgusting that many of the people who were doing this come in from other places just to hurt people and to to cause havoc chief let’s go next to here okay so from 52 uh do you think that the presence of national guard increase the level to this kind of situation i mean you said that it’s disgusting you think that you if you control it with them without them uh is could be different situation you know I don’t I don’t know that’s a very interesting question uh what was the catalyst for us seeing the second and third day of this becoming increasingly more violent uh to be able to say it’s because of the National Guard uh I can’t because there there aren’t enough on the ground at this point to make a difference uh I’ve seen civil unrest uh a number of times before and generally the second and third days are more violent than the initial phase and so this is not uh not much different from that pattern uh but certainly uh I think there’s a number of things that cause people to come out much of it is they watch this and see it on TV social media uh whatever social media outlets they follow or or asking them or telling them to come down and be part of this and they do that and they come out here and many come out and just want to see what’s going on they’re out there with their cameras but they’re putting themselves in harm’s way and potentially setting themselves up for uh a criminal future when you look at some of the things that are happening here somebody could easily be killed and if you’re part of that then you’re going to be facing those charges as well uh talked to the DA just a couple of minutes ago and the DA will file felony charges on uh individuals where it’s appropriate uh but won’t be shy about doing that where it is appropriate and also the potential for federal charges given the type of environment we’re in uh and you know the federal authorities don’t play and so as we move forward uh I think people will be surprised in some cases for what happens to their future let’s go two more questions anybody that hasn’t asked already go ahead thank you given the amount of officers that are here in downtown LA how does that affect response time others yeah thank you for that question a great question and it was uh how does the uh the deployment of so many officers downtown or in any one part of the city affect our ability to provide police services citywide it greatly impacts our ability because it pulls officers who would normally deployed in communities around the city of Los Angeles into one area in order to be able to address the threat that we’re facing and so o other areas when we go on tactical alert that means we only handle handle radio calls of significant importance meaning a violent crime in progress uh uh calls that have to be answered right away so the other calls get put on a queue and may not get handled for some time to come and they’re important to everyone who is a victim of any kind of a crime uh and so when we go to tactical alert we don’t do it lightly but in this case we did it uh very quickly because we needed additional resources right away to be able to help quell the violence and that situation as you can see tonight has only gotten worse chief given what you said about not being informed so you could pre-stage for the incident that started this thing and you said I believe that you spoke with the ICE director as well as other city officials today is there any effort being made ICE to share information about what their next Yeah that’s something that we we did talk about and and we there’s no resolution to that and the problem is uh that we are guided and bound by the California Values Act which means that we can’t participate in any way in uh civil immigration enforcement so the the federal partners have been reticent to uh provide information to us uh before something happens uh because of that reason part of that is they want to be respectful of uh of the rules that we have to live by uh but it also and on a normal situation not that big a deal but in a situation like we saw here in the past couple of days it turns out to be a very big deal so we’re going to continue to work with the partners that I mentioned uh and many others as we go forward to try and be able to make things as safe for everybody as we can all right spectum chief uh how many arrests so far you have that yes uh Captain Royal Javal uh Operation Central Bureau in commander uh at least this is very fluid and preliminary um at least 10 people arrested so far there’s arrest being made as we speak um about three officers injured unfortunately very fortunate uh very minor injuries or I wouldn’t say not minor but not they’re not significant enough to be transported to a local hospital they were treated at the scene uh but we’re making more more arrests as we as we speak and we’re we’re trying to get into that posture where we’re able to make arrest right now really our officers are really under attack if you can see when the chief was talking about we’re trying to first of all ensure that our officers are safe and the public is safe and then we’ll move into uh we’re if we can arrest we’ll arrest and then obviously protect the property and our vehicles and other things like that as of now uh 10 or if I could just jump on and then 29 last night uh as well and so as we move forward we will uh step up our arrest posture in order to hold people accountable and do what we can to stop this violence we’re going to go two more questions really quick as a question how long does we expect this situation i’m sorry say that one more time how long do you think this is yeah uh for me again that would be uh speculative to for to say how long uh that the members of ICE will be in town doing the enforcement actions they’re doing but by calling out the National Guard often times their deployment periods are in 30-day periods and so uh to me it’s going to be an extended period of time i don’t know how long that’ll be uh we’re gearing up uh for that to be able to to participate in a meaningful way uh as we move forward without exhausting our people beyond what they already are uh we we’re a department that went through five months plus of the fires and and dealing with the fallout from the fires and and as you can imagine with a very limitedsized department to begin with that’s a big stress on our deployment but more so on our people and their families so uh as we move forward uh we’ll do everything we can to focus on employee wellness and to be able to offer whatever services we can to address the needs of our our folks we’ll go we’ll go one one more back there because he hasn’t asked yet and so Karma go ahead and then one more and then we’re gonna call it so just uh two questions one is there a chance of instituting a curfew and two will you be going back and reooking at any of these incidents that maybe there weren’t there wasn’t an opportunity to make an arrest at the time but going back and trying to investigate who’s responsible and potentially arresting that no thank you for the question and I spoke with the sheriff uh today and we discussed the possibility of uh implementing a curfew we we do we don’t rush into doing that but if we need to do that uh I’ll go back with the sheriff and uh and we’ll look at the options as far as that goes and as far as uh the give me the second part of the question again for some of these incidents we’ve watched unfold a lot of people watch things just unfold in real time thinking are any of these people going to be held accountable for this or the cars on fire and things like that is there a chance of going back absolutely when you when you look at the number the numbers of arrests we’ve made uh pale in comparison to what will be made uh there are video video uh accounts of what happened everywhere on social media on individuals uh cameras iPhones uh we will go after that uh uh very aggressively go after the all available video analyze that video and hold whoever we can accountable for the variety of uh different types of crimes that have been committed uh and that’s something we’ll do with uh with a number of different partners with level levels of expertise that may be beyond what we have no thank you for that times tell me on what charges people were yesterday do you have the specifics yeah so yesterday the 29 folks were for failure to disperse they were all arrested today so uh today and so far this is very preliminary because there’s so so much stuff going on uh the stuff that we know um is one person was arrested for throwing a Molotov cocktail at an officer significant incident and then another individual for ramming a motorcycle into one of our line uh where the officers were and injured one of the officers everything else is still very fluid and I I I won’t have that for a while so CHP has has made at least 17 arrests that I’m aware of in the freeway all right thank you everyone uh Commander Herado will stick around to do um comments in Spanish for anybody who’s interested you’ve just heard from LA Police Chief Jim McDonald discussing his department’s response to the unrest and the protests that are taking place in and around downtown Los Angeles of note is that uh we’re getting an indication now of the injuries that have happened three police officers three LAPD officers have been injured none of them transported uh and at least 10 people have been arrested so far this evening and this and today uh one for throwing a a Molotov cocktail at police officers another for ramming a motorcycle into a skirmish line of police officers but again uh the officers that were injured uh were not transported some 29 people arrested last night chp has arrested some 17 people there are arrests being made and he says there will be more in the future with regard to the National Guard response one reporter asking whether uh we need the National Guard at this stage of the game he said the chief said the first two days uh it didn’t appear that way i’m paraphrasing there are normally a number of steps that are gone through uh before the National Guard is requested uh he would have requested mutual aid from different departments a cooperative effort with the LA County Sheriff’s Department those things had not yet happened uh before the National Guard was called in so he says uh we wouldn’t have been there yet that’s a direct quote with regard to whether they’re needed tonight he says he’s going to have to reassess and look at how things are going we’re seeing from Air 7 how things are going you’re looking at a a parking lot pay booth there that has been set a fire by some of the people there more information coming from the chief shortly but let’s talk to our Gabe Santos in Air 7 about what he is seeing downtown gabe yeah Mark we’re seeing a continued escalation of uh the situation here as dayside turns tonight uh I’m just getting my bearings here with all the other uh uh uh helicopters up here we have a number of media helicopters we have uh law enforcement helicopters down below at a lower elevation we have a little bit of a marine layer up above just to give you an idea of uh everything we’re keeping an eye on up here we did see this line of mounted officers on horseback push north on Main Street right next to the famous Oliver Vera Street uh in the area here a little bit to the east of uh Chinatown there was a barricade set up and we saw uh protesters bring a piece of a rot iron fence and set it down in the middle of the street and protesters were set up behind that fence uh LAPD decided to push forward uh with uh rubber bullets and other non-lethal uh less thanlethal uh rounds and continue pushing uh those protesters out of the way and they actually just knocked the fence down and the horses just kind of stepped over it continued on past those protesters continued on uh towards Caesar Chavez Avenue and they’ve kind of split up in all directions and now we see LAPD kind of holding at this position but it appears that they kind of moved forward so quickly that now there’s protesters behind them so you have a bit of a safety issue happening there now another rot iron fence it looks like being ripped out of the ground we’ve seen a number of situations like this where uh individuals are uh grabbing things and shaking them back and forth and being able to you know with with a number of individuals you can you could do almost anything and they’re and they’re kind of doing the unthinkable things that are bolted to the ground uh a a number of people are just coming up and uh pulling fences and we we’ve seen uh traffic signs uh you know wiggled back and forth to get them out of the concrete and uh that’s uh what we saw earlier over the 101 and uh Los Angeles street that’s when uh a number of items were thrown from the overpass down at CHP cars that situation has calmed down but it just goes to show you there’s still a number of hot spots here in addition to this one and I want Rob to go back to that uh security post there uh as LAPD kind of moved forward towards that barricade and pushed past it appears they didn’t really monitor what was going on in this parking lot here and now you could see somebody has set fire to this uh pay booth in this uh parking lot and with uh LA City Fire kind of nowhere in sight they’re they’re you know at their fire stations they’re they’re staying a little bit further away from the scene because of safety issues uh you know just as I say that not LA City Fire but LAPD with a fire extinguisher they’re just going to move forward with their fire extinguisher and put this thing out so apparently they felt it safe enough with their riot gear you see that officer there with his uh baton trying to push a uh a protester back there it appears that they’ve made the uh the assessment that individuals in this parking lot appear to be pretty calm and pretty docile in addition to a number of press in the area it appears that a lot of those uh people down there that aren’t law enforcement are in fact uh press so uh law enforcement made the decision there to just come in with a fire extinguisher and put that little fire out that was in that parking booth but uh it just goes to show you that there’s still a number of hot spots here that LAPD is keeping an eye on that’s the intersection of Maine and Alamita uh once uh LAPD pushed those protesters down past uh Alva Street to Maine and Caesar Chavez uh you know ju just as I’m kind of wrapping my head around what we just saw a few minutes ago we see another barricade being put up with uh with a number of dumpsters there so uh people aren’t leaving the area they’re just kind of scattering and regrouping and then we’re continuing to see different little barricades get set up in different spots of town as LAPD kind of uh push uh continues to push the protesters towards uh different areas here we’re seeing a little bit of a progression north into Chinatown uh but we’re also we also have a large group at least a few minutes ago that uh I last had eyes on that was south of city hall at uh I believe that was Maine and uh I think it was Maine and First Street and uh we might be a little too far away uh with the buildings in a way uh here to get uh eyes on that group there but there was a group of about 500 people down on that side however that group of protesters they uh weren’t really doing anything that LAPD deems to be a threat so LAPD is really putting their focus on the protesters on the north side that continue to set up barricades they really don’t want anybody to dig their heels in and set up uh barricades or anything of that sort because the longer uh barricades get put in place the more they get fortified by other uh pieces of uh trash and other pieces of metal that uh these uh uh individuals find the harder it will be for LAPD to deal with it later on that’s the looks like that’s the Spring Street Bridge uh that CHP now has been able to contain and I think if we pan to the uh to the left Rob there uh we’ll be able to see the Los Angeles Street Bridge and that’s the bridge where a lot of protesters were throwing items down onto the freeway below uh and you see that uh CHP vehicle on a tow truck that CHP vehicle probably going to be a complete loss it was actually set on fire earlier uh as uh uh people on the bridge above were uh lighting pieces of cardboard on fire and throwing them down to the vehicles below post that CHP vehicle actually caught on fire a little bit before CHP officers were able to move in with a fire extinguisher and put it out but uh while we were zoomed in there you were able to see a lot of debris just spread across the lanes of the southbound 101 freeway so it’s going to be a big cleanup here all right and Gabe Santos thank you for that as we let’s keep that picture up right there the picture you have uh because the chief in his press conference spoke about the difference between people who are out there uh expressing their first amendment rights uh uh expressing their disagreement and disapproval of the the ICE raids uh of of day laborers and others uh versus the people who are out here doing damage and he actually had physical descriptions of what some of those people look like what they do that some of them are from out of town some of them are are people who go from literally from one se uh position of civil unrest to another and he described them a lot of them as as wearing having their faces covered having uh hoods and covering their faces and we did see that among the people who were putting up this barricade with regard to how we we look at them and describe we can describe their actions uh we don’t know whether this is protest or simply anarchy for the sake of it so we’re going to try to to to draw a distinction if possible between those who are who are out here expressing their disapproval versus the people that are doing things like this setting fires and putting and barricading streets so we’re we’re going to try to to to bore down into that particular aspect of what we’re seeing in the meantime Jory Rand has been uh covering this for the better part of the afternoon and much of the evening and has uh some more reporting for us now jory Mark it’s a frustrating scene to see play out here tonight those protesters is it a demonstration of protest or is it unrest and in some cases as you mentioned it might just be both someone who showed up for one now enjoying the other it’s frustrating to see this continue to play out and the LAP just allow this to happen they are overwhelmed as the chief heard uh as we heard from the chief that this is still going on and as Gabe mentioned once they break up one grouping it just spreads out to another spot and so we’re seeing this play out we have that parking security booth on fire and now we have obstructions in the middle of Main Street as this is being allowed to continue and it would just uh you know a lot of people want to see this end and these people taken into custody now it has been a very eventful day in our city likely one that we are going to talk about for a long time to come now there are two very different aspects to what is happening this weekend in Los Angeles let’s begin with what played out on the streets of LA it was a very destructive day several clashes taking place outside the federal building once that crowd was broken up demonstrators scattered and a large group made their way onto the 101 freeway the CHP allowed them to remain there for about an hour traffic was stopped in both directions before officers finally moved in and slowly backed that group up and off of the roadway making several arrests in the process however CHP vehicles were left exposed on the 101 and for hours we watched people on that overpass hurl everything from rocks and chunks of cinder block to concrete and electric scooters they began lighting pieces of cardboard on fire and dropping them on them below even a bike was dropped onto a windshield damaging the CHP vehicles now the freeway takeover leading to some tense clashes between the protesters and officers you can see one person being dragged away this was in front of the federal building that person had breached the line had taken that officer’s helmet you saw him just put it back on there and dragged away that person was on stilts and he remained somehow behind he made his way back behind police lines and was eventually handcuffed and arrested as they worked to take off those stilts from his legs multiple methods of non-cont force also used tear gas blank shot rubber bullets from LAPD officers we saw those protesters picking up barricades and benches and chairs from nearby Grand Park to shield themselves setting up a barricade this actually happened twice in two separate locations before LAPD officers on horseback moved in and cleared them out and then there were the fires likely the visuals that this weekend’s unrest will be remembered by it’s already being used by members of the Trump administration and right-wing media after five Whimo cars were set on fire these are driverless electric vehicles they have those dangerous lithium ion batteries that pump toxic fumes into the air the LAPD sending out an advisory to people to avoid this area not only because of the the demonstrations and what has ensued from them but the air quality the chemicals that were being uh launched into the air there the danger of being in that situation and so five vehicles were burned literally melting to the ground on Los Angeles street and again it’s now a propaganda tool for those who want to go against the leadership of Los Angeles and California we are seeing those images of those five cars on fire today being used a literal flash point in this fight between state and federal authorities mark all right Jory Rand your coverage will continue we thank you for being with us on this and continuing our our coverage of this unrest in downtown Los Angeles we have video from before this what you’re seeing on the right there that’s a fire that actually broke out while the chief of police was speaking while Jim McDonald was speaking to the news media about the department’s response about uh uh his ay’s uh attempt to deal with what is unfolding in the city of LA you could hear sirens behind him as he was speaking where he was speaking from uh the uh office of the chief of police not far at all from where many of these things are happening just a matter of a couple of blocks away and so what we’re seeing here is on the right officers on horseback trying to remove someone that person who has a backpack who was not in an area where he should have been you see them bringing him to the ground they’re going to search that backpack we don’t know if that person ended up being arrested but we do know that some 10 people have been arrested thus far this evening by the LA Police Department and some 17 people have been arrested by the highway patrol la Mayor Karen Bass speaking earlier today about where her disappointment lies with the federal government no my disappointment is I’ve been talking to uh the federal government for days i was hoping to prevent this situation from happening i was trying to encourage the uh administration that if they deployed the National Guard in Los Angeles it would create a sense of chaos it’s the last thing our city needs our city is still trying to recover from the wildfires and you just think about how so many people were impacted by that and that’s an example of where the administration was helpful and to go from that situation to where we are now is just really tragic and I think it’s so unfortunate it’s the last thing Los Angeles needs i have no exact timeline i cannot tell you that that’s part of the problem right we do not know i have heard a variety of days and weeks uh I certainly hope that this is over the last thing this city needs is civil unrest and the last thing this city needs is civil unrest that’s provoked we are watching now uh pictures from Air 7 over downtown Los Angeles uh and this statement from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegth discussing the possibility of deploying US Marines on American soil that drew a small group of protesters to Camp Pendleton today more than four dozen people held up signs at the main gate there with slogan slogans such as we’re on a slippery slope to fascism and your oath is to the constitution president Trump has already federalized and deployed National Guard members California National Guard to LA after those protests erupted over Friday’s immigration raids this despite strong objections from both the governor and the mayor patrick Saunders is an Air Force veteran he organized the Camp Pendleton demonstration we want to show our support to the military members that work here uh we want to kind of remind them of what their duty is to us but additionally we want to make it very publicly known that we condemn any sort of uh action by the administration of using active duty or National Guard troops uh on US citizens meanwhile US Northern Command confirms 500 Marines from 29 Palms are prepared to deploy status should they be needed to augment and support the DOJ’s protection of federal property and personnel efforts that is a quote we will keep an eye on that in the meantime we are watching uh people now milling about moving from place to place in parts of downtown Los Angeles this is a Chevron station that is near uh one of the points of conflict people are going in there we don’t know what they’re doing at that gas station if there’s any looting going on again you see people with hoods on you see some of the people that have been uh involved in some of the unrest here that are gathered there we do not know what they’re doing i don’t see people coming out with a lot of things in their arms that uh so that does that that’s a good sign I guess that it’s not being looted but uh it’s troubling to see people in these circumstances gathering and that is the area there where a a rot iron fence had been ripped off from a uh an area right around the street and placed in the middle of the street and then fortified with dumpsters this is another another one of these makeshift barriers that people have been using to try to confront the police and the police uh are moving in and moving those barriers out there was a fire a short time ago right in front of that barrier uh that has since gone out uh nearby about half a block to your right is where uh uh some some people had set up a uh uh caused a a fire at a a pay booth at a public parking lot near all this is near Alva Street and uh that police officers actually moved in and uh put that fire out themselves and moved people out of the way so the LAPD is responding but as the chief himself said at the moment they are overwhelmed there are more people causing trouble than there are officers to stop them at this point and whether the National Guard is in fact needed tonight is something that he says will have to be assessed in the meantime ABC News reporter Matt Gutman was behind the police lines earlier today he showed us the projectiles that were coming from both sides of these clashes that line of officers from the LAPD pushing everybody back um and using a tremendous amount of non-lethal force um you can see those flashbang canisters uh the sponges 40mm like this that they’ve fired at people just to continue to push them back i don’t think I’ve seen this much use of non-lethal in a very long time we’ve also seen significant number of rocks bottles uh projectiles that are very dangerous being hurled at uh the LAPD on this side of the skirmish line uh the size of the rocks and projectiles i’m gonna see if I can try to find another one for you uh that were thrown were significant um this is a is a piece of concrete or uh road that was picked up and chucked um you can see some of the sharper end stones over here much larger ones than that that were holder police so this is something that I haven’t seen quite some time in downtown LA it was very intense so how are they getting those rocks to throw well they’re bringing hammers with them some of them and they’re chipping away at the curb chipping away at parts of the street or different uh places on brick buildings and getting those pieces of rock to throw at the police and a word about those uh so-called less or not so-called they are they are less than lethal they’re designed to be less than lethal less likely to be lethal weapons uh they’re meant not to penetrate the skin they’re meant to meant to disperse the crowd to cause pain but not permanent injury but they can in fact be lethal and there have been cases of people who’ve been hit in the head by these projectiles because even if they don’t penetrate it’s the equivalent of a very hard blow to the body and that can in fact cause permanent damage people have had eyes uh put out people have been blinded people have had facial bones broken and suffered internal injuries from those less than lethal weapons they are not however bullets and are not intended to kill or maim but uh they are definitely something that you do not want to be trifling with uh as the LAPD is going through this they are using up quite a bit of those uh munitions as Matt Gutman was mentioning and as we have been mentioning on our air the some of the officers uh at the scene were starting to run out of those and they’re having to be brought in from other areas of the city because so many of them were being deployed in fact you can hear at various times during uh our discussions and interviews with either police officials or with the mayor you can hear flashbang grenades and less than lethal rounds being fired along with fireworks actually commercialrade fireworks that are being fired at the police by some of the people in the crowd and as the police chief mentioned those can kill so there are acts of violence taking place here the uh police department is responding the National Guard has been called in uh and now we are going to see how this plays out as this continues this evening governor Gavin Newsome posting tonight on X i have formally requested the Trump administration resend their unlawful deployment of troops in Los Angeles County and return them to my command we didn’t have a problem until Trump got involved this is a serious breach of state sovereignty inflaming tensions while pulling resources from where they’re actually needed rescend the order return control to California those the words of Governor Gavin Nuome uh let’s go to Gabe Santos in Air 7 over that area we’ve been looking at that Chevron station there what are you seeing from your vantage point Gabe yeah Mark we’ve been focused on this uh this intersection here at Alamita and Maine this is the next kind of barricade that has been set up by uh individuals that appear to just kind of continue to be setting up a few of these barricades as LAPD continues to push the crowd more and more north so this is just the latest one as I see a few people kind of making a run for it there but we’ve been focused on this gas station at the top of your uh screen because that’s the the the reason why there’s been a crowd around there is just because that’s there there was such a big crowd that was pushed further north and uh I’m trying to monitor a few different things here to see why people are running uh but uh the the crowd had been uh further to the south on Main Street south of Caesar Chavez Avenue that intersection you’re uh seeing right there uh and uh LAPD continued to push that crowd further north so now you’re just seeing uh the crowd just kind of scatter in a lot of different directions so a couple people went to the gas station we didn’t see any signs of looting or anything like that in that particular store right there so that’s definitely some good news but the concern obviously is uh individuals that continue to make barricades such as this one uh there on the right side of your screen that’s been as you said uh fortified with a couple of dumpsters and a raw iron fence we’ve seen uh an item set on fire there next to that uh fence but it appears that fire may be out as of uh as of right now so uh LAPD is trying to avoid situations like this but they’re also taking into account uh all of the resources that they are pouring into the area uh and they have been pouring into the area and they’re trying to figure out a way to balance those resources so they are not at this time making a push further north to uh knock down that barricade as they had been with previous barricades they’re just kind of uh holding the scene as it stands right now maybe to uh have a little bit of a respit have a little bit of a calm regroup and then figure out the next move uh you see the night sun from the LAPD helicopter that is over the scene here we’ve seen the uh the Super Puma Rescue 5 helicopter uh that’s the big uh LA County Sheriff’s helicopter here at the scene as as well they’ve been helping uh law enforcement keep an eye on things that uh parking that paid a park structure at the center of your screen uh was set on fire earlier but uh LAPD actually moved in with a fire extinguisher and they were able to put that fire out uh we were uh talking about an individual possibly with a flamethrower that uh set fire to uh a couple of trees there uh on Main Street just south of Caesar Chavez we did see uh an individual that LAPD believes to be the individual with that flamethrower taken into custody so that person uh has been arrested at this time uh and LAPD is going to uh figure out what what to charge that person with uh obviously for having a a flamethrower and uh using it on uh city streets that will be uh very uh serious charges uh and you can see here that’s uh Main Street and Caesar Chavez and that’s where a large contingent of LAPD is staging at this time while they figure out their next move I want to ask Rob to widen out the shot let’s look to the south of City Hall because that’s where another group of protesters was uh located about 30 minutes ago and we haven’t been able to uh see uh them for a few minutes now because we’ve been focused on the group to the north uh and there was about 500 people down there to the south it appears that that crowd may have uh more or less dispersed at this time uh and maybe gone their separate ways on uh Spring and First Street as you can see right there so LAPD uh kind of uh breathing a sigh of relief as far as the uh south side of their uh the area that they’re kind of watching right now you still have a multi-block area of downtown LA in and around city hall uh around city hall I should say that LAPD is keeping an eye on have that scene at the center of your screen which may uh may become a uh crime scene more or less the uh lanes of the southbound 101 freeway where uh people were uh throwing pieces of concrete and uh bicycles and bird scooters and signs from that Los Angeles street overpass onto the street below you see all of that debris there you see a number of those uh uh highway patrol cars and I think uh yeah those are all uh highway patrol cars down there you see that they’re parked under the overpass and that’s because the ones that weren’t parked under the overpass were heavily damaged by items uh thrown by people on the bridge and LAPD the reason why they moved north to begin with was they had to clear that bridge to prevent uh further damage to those uh patrol cars down below you see one of them on a flatbed tow truck that is the car that was uh pretty much set on fire earlier but it uh CHP officers were able to get in there with a fire extinguisher and put out the majority of the fire before it was completely destroyed but that’s going to be a vehicle that’s probably going to be a total loss and you see all that debris there in lanes that’s going to take a while to clean up and as I said a probably uh a little bit of a uh investigation to figure out uh you know what charges to file against the people who threw uh pieces of concrete down there onto the Freit those are the southbound lanes of the 101 as you approach the five freeway so uh still a few prongs of action here that LAPD is keeping an eye on but it appears at least for the past uh 20 or 20 or 25 minutes that we’re entering a little bit of a moment of calm while LAPD kind of regroups and figure out what their next move is going to be yeah Gabe you know it occurs to me as we’re watching this there are people driving through the area uh as if nothing was going on i think a word of advice would be avoid downtown Los Angeles right now just stay out try to go around it because you don’t know what streets are going to be blocked at any point you don’t know where the you might run to into a barricade you might run into a bunch of people who are up to no good uh so just stay out of downtown if at all possible uh all these vehicles that are that are trying to traverse the downtown area i don’t know if there’s uh there are any games or any events happening in or near downtown at the various venues right now so that might complicate matters as well just adding to the congestion and traffic in the area but stay out of downtown if you possibly can uh former Vice President Kla Harris responding to today’s event she had a statement she wrote in part quote Los Angeles is my home and like so many Americans I am appalled at what we are witnessing on the streets of our city deploying that National Guard is a dangerous escalation meant to provoke chaos in addition to the recent ICE raids in Southern California and across our nation it is part of the Trump administration’s cruel calculated agenda to spread panic and division this administration’s actions are not about public safety they’re about stoking fear fear of a community demanding dignity and due process protest is a powerful tool essential in the fight for justice and as the LAPD the mayor and governor have noted demonstrations in defense of our immigrant neighbors have been overwhelmingly peaceful i continue to support the millions of Americans who are standing up to protect our most fundamental rights and freedoms that from the former vice president and former presidential candidate Kla Harris uh Governor Gavin Newsome and LA Mayor Karen Bass leading the charge they’re blasting the Trump administration’s decision to deploy the National Guard after two days of protests over federal immigration raids but the war of words with the White House only escalating tonight eyewitness News reporter Jory Ran has been following this political firestorm this fight joins us now live from our newsroom with more on that jory that fight only growing tonight mark this is a situation our country really has never seen before it’s not unusual for the National Guard to be federal federalized we have seen it in the past uh most recently we uh from what we can ascertain it happened in the 1960s with John F kennedy federalizing the National Guard to allow black students into school as the governor namely George Wallace and other officials were not allowing students into school breaking federal law so the federal government had to come in take over the troops there in this situation it is a little different in that the governor didn’t want this to happen didn’t give his permission and it wasn’t because federal law wasn’t being executed by the local government it’s because the leader of the federal government wanted to prove a point here and take over and use these federal these state troops under federal power and so both the governor and the mayor are accusing President Trump of inflaming passions to provoke a response saying he and his administration are the ones who want violence here’s a look at some of those National Guard soldiers in Westwood today guarding the federal building there we saw it in downtown as well governor Nuomo today formally requesting that the Trump administration resend their what he calls unlawful deployment of troops in LA County and return control of the National Guard to him he says we didn’t have a problem until President Trump got involved and in fact uh we heard from CNN reporting that the Lieutenant Governor Aleni Kunalakis is saying tomorrow California will file a lawsuit to try and regain control of the California National Guard but tonight the president is doubling down on social media claiming the protesters are paid insurrectionists and that word is going to be very important moving forward take a listen you have violent people and we’re not going to let them get away with it i think that you’re going to see some very strong law and order so we spoke with law professor Jessica Levenson today who says while federal deployment of the National Guard is legal it typically comes after that state’s governor makes the request the last time that National Guard troops were called up under federal control without the governor’s request was 1965 so this is exceedingly rare and legal but I think what’s really important for people to know is unwarranted there’s no indication whatsoever in LA that National Guard troops are necessary to maintain order the governor has said there’s no need the LAPD has said there’s no need um and really all of this seems to be an unwarranted escalation the president has the capacity but he shouldn’t use it and it’s been very rarely used previously so JFK did it in the early 60s Lyndon Johnson doing it there again in 1965 now again it’s the use of the word insurrectionist that will be key here moving forward because the Secretary of Defense Pete Hgsath and the president have suggested that if the violence continues in Los Angeles Marines from Camp Pendleton will be moved in to take over uh securing the city of Los Angeles that would be US troops on US soil against US citizens that is largely forbidden the only way that a president is able to do something like that is by invoking the insurrection act that means that the president would have to claim that the country is under attack by an insurrection is that happening right now in Los Angeles it would be a wild legal battle for the president to bring in US troops to face US citizens and more tonight from Governor Nuome specifically for residents of Los Angeles the governor is here tonight he’s urging protesters to speak out but to remain nonviolent saying quote “Give them the spectacle they want do not give them the spectacle they want by turning violent.” referring to the Trump administration who the governor says wants to see violence play out as he could score political points as things devolve here in Los Angeles we’ll see how this plays out and expect to see some lawsuits filed tomorrow on behalf of the state of California against the president and his administration mark all right indeed Jory and when you talk about troops being brought in to deal with uh violence such as this uh it’s a crowd control issue uh and troops are trained in other things they are trained to win wars they are not necessarily focused at least in training in crowd control and using the tactics that police use in urban areas to control and deal with uh violent crowds so that will be a significant uh element that we’re going to have to watch for of course and we’re we’re seeing here another fire that has been set in the downtown LA area uh Gabe Santos is over it what do we have that’s burning here well looks like a cylinder of some kind some metal pallets uh they appear to have been piled up here at the intersection of Spring and First Street and the uh LAPD is nearby but they’re not they’re not too close they’re they’re kind of letting this uh letting this be for now their their efforts are still focused on the situation on the north side and I’m looking up uh north of Caesar Chavez and Main Street and I see another little fire burning there uh earlier where we were watching those uh those uh uh individuals that set up that uh blockade and you can kind of see as we pan over from south of city hall as we continue panning to the left Rob a little further down to the north of where that uh gas station is you can see there this new not a new fire but it is definitely a a fire that has been coaxed accordingly and it looks like they’ve uh there’s a lot of cardboard in that uh dumpster and uh uh individuals has have set that dumpster ablaze so you now have two bonfires if you will illegal bonfires burning in the streets here in downtown LA and uh LAPD at this point has taken this time to uh regroup their forces and figure out which one they want to tackle at this time but you have uh an individual with drums there you have this dumpster ablaze you have another little uh cylinder there on the ground also ablaze and uh as these fires continue LAPD is going to have to uh decide uh which one to tackle because uh at least at this time they don’t have the uh the resources in place to take one or the other unless they really uh coordinate that and really focus on uh sending a a uh a skirmish line to the north and sending another skirmish line to the south you’re going to have these two separate kind of hot spots these literal hotspots uh burning this one on Maine and Alamita and the other one uh near the intersection of First and Spring Street so uh still tensions rising high as uh individuals continue to uh set fires here in the downtown area all right this one a literal dumpster fire the dumpster fire of course has become kind of a metaphor for a failure a catastrophic failure uh amongst people who should know better and so this is what we’re seeing play out now uh in downtown Los Angeles of course the fire that has really caught a lot of people’s attention and has gone viral really the images were those Whimo cars that were set on fire uh during the protest a number of them were kind of parked on the street remember these are driverless vehicles of course so they there was no person inside to kind of get them out or make a decision as to where they should go they were sitting there parked on the street and as uh uh the protests and demonstrations were going on someone set them on fire and uh I believe it was five of them that actually burned to the ground uh Bruce Thomas our law enforcement expert joining us now uh to talk about what we have seen thus far today and what we’re seeing into into tonight and uh Bruce you uh I heard an interview with you earlier and you were saying that what we could expect this evening was kind of what we’re seeing here is that there are going to be smaller groups of people who are really bent on destruction who are going to go around causing as much mayhem as they can that seems to be playing out yeah these are not the protesters we saw during the daytime who were you know utilizing their first amendment rights yeah it did get out of control with the overpass on Spring Street with the CHP vehicles with the Whimo vehicles like you said over in uh Ala Street area but what we’re seeing now are these are anarchists these are not law-abiding citizens these are people that want to cause problems and they’ve come into LA to do so wow and as you’re saying that we’re watching somebody who was doing backwards donuts in that intersection a man driving through uh without a shirt on with this minivan not sure what his intentions were or what’s going on there but this guy’s taken off at a high rate of speed and you know there’s people out in the streets right now we don’t know if he was uh angry at the protesters or part of the protest we just don’t know but there are so many people out walking around the streets law enforcement officers uh uh other people that are out there and and he’s putting all of them at risk now with whatever he’s doing here this is just more craziness uh people he was doing those those backwards donuts in that intersection uh seemingly it looked to me like he was trying to target somebody they were throwing things at his vehicle and it looked as though he was trying to circle around and and try to try to get somebody i don’t know but uh what we’re seeing now is he has slowed down i’m not sure exactly where this is if we could get our our locator up uh from Air7 just to see what exactly this guy’s it’s it’s Al Vera Street it kind of looked like Alvera Street well he’s driving around Alva Street he’s got no shirt on he’s driving that minivan it just stopped i don’t know if it ran into a bullard there or what but it just stopped and now he’s backing up uh and yeah Mark I don’t know if you could hear me uh LAPD is aware of this individual but I I’m I’m not sure if they really know what to do he’s Well I was going to say he appeared to be trapped in that area with the with those uh blockades and now he’s flying down Main Street back to where that blockade is at a extremely high rate of speed slamming on the brakes now this is Caesar Chavez in Main Street and there’s so many people just out walking around right now uh I don’t know if he’s going to slow down before he gets to this barricade you see some people running uh we’re a little bit we’re a little bit blocked right now because uh we can’t see what’s going on on the other side of that building so I’m not sure if this guy in the vehicle stopped or if he continued on zoom back in left or right up i think that’s him right there yeah uh okay no not not him so So we’re we’re we just kind of saw this out of the corner of our eye and I’m I’m not sure if this guy is agitated by the protesters or was with the protesters but then we saw him doing these back uh backwards donuts and then other uh individuals started throwing rocks at this vehicle as he continued doing those donuts at high speeds now you see a crowd uh racing to the east uh looks like uh maybe to the west uh there he is now there he is now continuing to drive extremely erratically i’m really worried that this person is going to drive so fast that he’s going to run somebody over because there’s just so many pedestrians running around so many people with their phones out this guy’s already hit multiple things you see the bumper damage almost hitting that vehicle head on and people are continuing to throw rocks at him this is Alamita and Caesar Chavez i think that guy was trying to go up to the driver’s door more people throwing things at this vehicle again we we don’t know the connection this vehicle has to this protest if any if he was just in the area and got upset or if somebody may have hit the vehicle and that sparked him but this appears to be uh an an individual that is upset is unstable and is now driving at a high at a high rate of speed around the Chinatown area and Oliver Vera Street we’re going to continue to keep an eye on this one there he is right there he is stopped he has stopped occasionally he was stopped by a bullard before he ran into a barricade of some sort and he’s not out yet he did open the door there was TR a lot of a lot of front end damage to this minivan we’ll just we’re going to watch this play out but look at the speed he’s he even when he backs up he’s backing up fast he’s hitting the gas pedal hard there are people out in front of Oh my god oh no i thought he was going to hit the motorcycle it looked like he was aiming for him yeah yeah i I This person is clearly upset and just driving erratically not in any sort of well mental state uh that’s going to be a part of Union Station and I’m not sure if we’re able to get Air7 on the other side of that but uh we may Okay that’s the vehicle right there i want to bring in and around yep i want to bring in Bruce Thomas cuz you’re watching this too and this just you know if things weren’t bad enough this may be an enclosed area this may be some kind of a Oh those are the railroad tracks not a pursuit but this guy is definitely out of control beyond uh what normally you would think yeah uh and oh my gosh he’s putting a lot of people in danger here we don’t know his motive all we know is that he’s driving really fast he appears at various times to have been aiming at people with this minivan people have been throwing rocks and bricks and all kinds of things at him as he’s gone through intersections he was doing reverse donuts in an intersection and going very very rapidly he’s going through these downtown uh streets now it’s kind of a maze kind of a warren of of streets some of them one way some of them very narrow he’s right by the railroad tracks here that’s the tracks uh and and it’s just it’s frightening to see it’s just one of the many unsettling things we have been watching throughout this day and this evening when there have been protests of of ICE raids bigness and botchet bigness and bigness and and Boscher uh down in downtown Los Angeles this is kind of near uh the uh I believe the former the men’s central jail the former the men’s central jail down there that’s used by LA County um and there he goes l Now luckily he’s on a street it’s one of those back streets it’s small um and we don’t know we’ll have to see if he’s trying to make his way back toward the the demonstrations to see what his motivation plaza by Caesar Chavez he’s over in that that complex there and and as yeah he’s definitely out of control and as Gabe mentioned the LAPD is aware of him they know that he’s doing this and uh they’re going to try to I don’t know if they’re going to try to get him who’s who’s going to be available to do it uh you know we talked about the resources that have been stretched so thin for the LAPD as they deal with the the unrest that’s happening in downtown LA uh who’s available to chase this guy i don’t think anyone is at least uh at at the moment where we’re seeing it and do they want to do they want to chase him when he’s when he’s running through these uh these streets at such high rates of speed you know for safety sake Mark uh they definitely would want to be involved in this the problem is I don’t think they have the resources right now wow well again if you’re just joining us uh Eyewitness News continuing our coverage of the the demonstrations the violence the charges and countercharges by officials at the federal state and local level about the ICE raids and about the federal response the local response and what people are doing out in the streets and in the middle of that of our reporting of that we are seeing this man behaving very erratically in this minivan we’re not sure if he’s either targeting the protesters or if he’s one of them but it appears at least that he is uh in some way unhinged he doesn’t have a shirt on he’s driving this minivan at very high rates of speed there’s significant damage there have been a few collisions with various inanimate objects no people that we know of yet no vehicles that we know of yet but it’s only I think by sheer luck that that hasn’t happened as we see him now uh continuing gabe can can you give us an indication of what street he’s on yeah Mark this is Caesar Chavez he appears to be northbound on Caesar Chavez on Gallardo Street and uh you know we we’ve seen uh situations to almost purposefully hit other drivers and that’s the really scary part here uh we are actually switching out helicopters so you’re going to see my picture and the helicopter that I’m in get a little further away and we have our uh other air air 7 uh on the scene as well trying to locate this vehicle but it is definitely a scary situation for anybody that’s in the downtown area right now right uh in addition to everything else that’s happening and just to recap uh there were uh planned demonstrations this afternoon beginning at 2:00 at LA City Hall there was another demonstration happening this afternoon and uh into the early part of the evening at uh the the federal complex the uh federal building in downtown Los Angeles just a few blocks away from LA City Hall those uh demonstrations merged this afternoon into about a thousand people and growing as the day wore on and the uh that came amid word of course that the National Guard troops that were uh activated and federalized by the Trump administration by the president were moving into Los Angeles to uh in his words restore law and order uh the LAPD has been dealing with this and responding the LA County Sheriff’s Department has been dealing with this and responding as well we heard earlier from the chief of police uh one of the things that was very uh important that he mentioned was that uh there were claims in the initial hours of the first evening of of the demonstrations when things were starting to get out of hand that the when when ICE and federal agents were requesting help from the LAPD that the LAPD did not respond or delayed responding for two hours the chief saying adamantly and emphatically that was not the case that the LAPD was not given advanced notice of what ICE was doing and so because of that did not have officers pre-eployed and pre-positioned so that they could respond in a crowd control capacity and that officers took about 38 minutes to assemble and then head to the area where those federal agents were and uh they were hampered by both the size of the crowd and by the fact that tear gas had already been deployed because officers hadn’t gotten advanced notice they didn’t they weren’t equipped with some of the things that they would need for a a crowd control or a a riot sort of situation so a lot of them didn’t have gas masks so they went in anyway many of those officers being incapacitated or at least uh uh uh having their effectiveness uh deteriorated by the tear gas that had been deployed by the federal officers with the chief saying uh emphatically the LAPD did not ignore the call for help on that night also saying that uh oh here we go looking at this driver here this is this was playing out about six or seven minutes ago this guy going through it looked like he was really it really looks like he was targeting folks and trying to get trying to hit him with his vehicle but we don’t know we do know that the crowd was very angry at him judging by what we’re seeing in response all the projectiles being thrown at him uh and then he took off and he then went down the street you see he’s got no shirt on uh he’s throwing stuff out of the vehicle i guess some of it looks like one of the windows got shattered by one of the bricks or rocks and look at the speed with which he left that scene uh later on we saw him just driving erratically again heading into Alva Street running into a a traffic control bullard and uh and Okay is that the vehicle there on the left is that That’s it all right do we know whether the guy is in there oh yeah there he’s coming out what’s he got in the back he’s looking into the back of that minivan we don’t know if we have a location at least we can put this out on our air and if someone is going to try to Savannah and First Savannah and First Street in uh East First Street in downtown Los Angeles again Savannah and East First Street in downtown LA this is where that minivan driver has come to a stop he’s opened up the back and he’s stepping away still as far as we can tell with no shirt on uh there’s no night sun here because the uh there’s no LA uh helicopter LAPD or law enforcement helicopter to light up the the scene or the vehicle but he did walk across the street i don’t know in which direction he is walking because we can’t really orient ourselves in the dark he’s getting into a second vehicle getting into another vehicle is what we’re we’re being told oh there he is oh there they are officers now responding these are sheriff’s deputies they’re putting him in custody right now there he goes that is the end of that escapade we don’t know if anyone got hurt we lost track of him for a while we don’t know if any if anybody got hit we don’t know if he uh uh hurt anyone uh or whether he was actually trying to hurt someone certainly did look at one point that he was swerving toward somebody on a bicycle and trying to hit them but he did not that we saw uh Bruce uh this is this is just an an amazing thing that’s unfolding here given everything else that’s going on yeah for this guy to be driving like that is just dangerous beyond um I am glad to see that the sheriffs are have been requested and are responding to LAPD’s request for help um my only question would be what took so long uh clearly LAPD was overmatched and when you declare mutual aid you get the bigger agency LA County Sheriff’s which in the scheme of things they are actually in charge of a civil unrest uh institu in situation like this so I would ask why it took so long and the other thing I haven’t seen are some of the other agencies in Southern California responding to this yeah we’re not see you’re I that’s a that’s an excellent point it would be good to know it’s it’s hard to tell at night too because you can’t always see the the vehicles or or see insignia on patches or or or things like that that would indicate that someone’s there sheriff’s deputies of course pretty easy to to make out with the sheriff’s insignia on the side of the car and their khaki uniforms uh uh so they’re they’re pretty easy to spot but as far as other police departments or police agencies we don’t know of any that are also helping in this response to the unrest in downtown LA uh this is the minivan that guy was driving they’ve cleared it there’s uh uh uh thus far i think there was one other deputy who went through and saw that there was no one else inside the vehicle but they’re going to check it for for other things perhaps weapons contraband or anything else that would indicate uh danger or or perhaps have a clue to what his motive was so in addition to all the unrest in addition to all the things that are happening fires being set uh uh officers being attacked uh all of that in addition to that we had this guy uh driving erratically through downtown LA putting a lot of people at risk including police demonstrators everyone bystanders and he is now under arrest thanks to the LA County Sheriff’s Department the LAPD having its hands full dealing with what has been happening throughout the day and into the night some uh 10 arrests thus far we know that number is going to go up they’ve been uh focusing as the chief mentioned on clearing intersections clearing streets getting people out of areas where they can cause damage or injure people uh and uh the the effort to arrest those people will be ongoing they’re going to focus on people who have been uh attacking police officers attacking innocent people uh and vandalizing buildings and and vandalizing uh police vehicles as well they’re going to focus on that they’re going to uh in in particular perhaps on the people who were throwing projectiles and and uh bird scooters off of the uh the bridge onto the 101 freeway and damaging those highway patrol vehicles and putting officers there at risk and the people who’ve been blockading streets are going to do a lot of that so that you can expect as they comb through the video that’s going to be uh everywhere after this uh this event has uh wound down they’re going to be combing through all of that and they’re going to find people this is a tactic they’ve been using actually since since 1992 and perhaps before that uh in the LA riots of 1992 people were arrested a year later some of them for actions that were taken during uh that civil unrest period uh because they were caught on video and video even more prevalent now so you can expect a lot of people who think they got away with things tonight are going to find out that they have not la Mayor Karen Bass oh yeah go ahead Bruce oh I’m I’m sorry uh I was just going to ask I don’t know if Air7HD can pull in over by city hall but it appears that the sheriff’s mobile field force is doing some sort of operation by city hall possibly pushing a crowd further away okay um I saw some of their trucks um and some of them launching less lethal and flashbang okay let’s take a look what you’re looking at here these are highway patrol vehicles uh that are uh kind of securing that bridge over uh uh I believe that’s a bridge over the 101 freeway let’s go get closer to city hall if we can and see uh if uh what Bruce is mentioning is uh is actually happening that would be a mutual aid situation and seeing we’re going to see if there is a skirmish line we see that fire the the dumpster fire that is there maybe there are they forming around that to try to move these people out let’s tilt down a little bit with a camera and see what we’re looking at all right what we just saw that that appears to be fireworks that are being launched in some way uh by uh people against the officers i do not see a skirmish line here where uh but uh let’s take a look and see if there are other indications of uh a mutual aid response by the LA County Sheriff’s Department that would help to clear these intersections and get some of these people out that are up to no good out here setting fires and the like so we’re going to keep an eye on that uh Bruce thanks for for the tip we’re going to look for it in the meantime we want to tell you what the mayor has been saying speaking earlier today about the need for these protests to be peaceful first of all I think protests need to be peaceful period and anytime it deteriorates into violence that is a problem and it absolutely messes with the overall message that’s not peaceful what was happening it’s not peaceful for people to be on the highways it’s not peaceful for people to throw rocks or bottles that’s not peaceful and if you are going to entertain violence if you are going to try to take over a freeway then you are going to suffer the consequences of doing that i don’t think that LAPD the sheriff and certainly not myself are not shying away from statements like that the mayor adamant that uh lawb breaking will not be tolerated uh the chief saying that earlier today as well also saying that at the moment at least as the evening was unfolding that the department at least in this area was overwhelmed and uh that that’s his word uh so we’re going to see whether the the National Guard uh is going to have any effect on what’s happening here you’re seeing that that that commercial grade fireworks that the chief talked about that are being deployed or being not deployed but fired uh some of that has been fired against his officers and he spoke about the fact that that can actually kill you if it hits you uh and so uh there is a lot going on that they are having to deal with um and the question of whether the National Guard is needed the chief said uh indicated that the first two nights they hadn’t gotten to the point where they would have called them but tonight uh he would have to reassess and decide or look at whether that was a necessary part of the mix um it is uh it’s the numbers of people involved in this have dwindled quite a bit there were several thousand uh outside city hall that were marching around and then marching to the uh the the federal detention center in downtown LA in the federal building several thousand people were there that’s th those numbers have have dropped away to what must be a few hundred perhaps maybe less than that that are going from one location to another uh scattering around as soon as police form a skirmish line and move them out they go somewhere else and what we’re seeing now is some people uh setting fires put putting up barricades trying to uh close down intersections um but the numbers of people causing trouble is about I I would say Bruce maybe starting to match uh the numbers of law enforcement people who are out there and that may turn the tide in favor of the police if if at least if the numbers are dwindling maybe they can get a handle on this bruce you still with us i think we’ve the numbers are kind of equaling out um they were overwhelmed earlier today and this afternoon but I think now that you also have the sheriff’s there uh the manpower pool for law enforcement is greatly increased and they could take back some of these streets and maybe we will see a curfew later on i don’t know yeah that was a question that was asked during the press conference whether uh a curfew would be implemented in LA the chief said that he had spoken with Sheriff Luna about the possibility of a curfew being implemented but none has been implemented thus far uh it would take uh an action by the the LA County Supervisors and the LA city council to implement a curfew uh both city andor countywide uh and that certainly has been done in the past in situations where things have gotten out of hand just if you’re out on the streets after 10 o’clock at night or whatever time it is uh you are subject to arrest and that certainly is a tool that allows law enforcement to put an end to scenes like we’re seeing here where this fire uh is being set in the middle of uh this intersection a food truck driving by um and so but what we’re seeing I guess in is with the numbers dwindling as you mentioned uh the the law enforcement agencies that are responding are are in a better position to get a handle on this but we should note the LAPD and the sheriff’s department both uh below well below full strength uh officers are are retiring andor leaving both departments faster than they can be replaced and uh along with that there are budget constraints that are uh causing a real strain on police resources and police availability we’ve been doing stories about how the sheriff’s department is suffering you know their their their people are being so overtaxed that they’re they’re actually it’s affecting their their uh their alertness they’re having to work so many hours and so many days and so many shifts that it is starting to affect them physically and mentally and uh there there’s a real concern about both the LAPD officers the rank and file and the sheriff’s department rank and file about how to uh whether they can deal with too many more incidents such as these and then you have the budgetary concerns both the city and the county both uh having to make severe budget cuts uh caused in large part by the response to the fires that we had in January that really put a hole in the budgets of both governments and uh you really have there there’s not much room to deal with this sort of thing they’re going to deal with it they’re going to but but it’s going to affect other things much later on that’s a story for another night in the meantime uh ABC News reporter Matt Gutman he was out there as well behind the police lines earlier today showing us the projectiles that were being uh fired andor launched by both sides in these clashes that line of officers from the LAPD pushing everybody back um and using a tremendous amount of non-lethal force um you can see those flashbang canisters uh the sponges 40mm like this that they’ve fired at people just to continue to push them back i don’t think I’ve seen this much use of non-lethal in a very long time we’ve also seen significant number of rocks bottles uh projectiles that are very dangerous being hurled at uh the LAPD on this side of the skirmish line uh the size of the rocks and projectiles i’m going to see if I can try to find another one for you uh that were thrown were significant um this is a is a piece of concrete or uh road that was picked up and chucked um you can see some of the sharper end stones over here much larger ones than that that were holder police so this is something that I haven’t seen quite some time in downtown LA it was very intense indeed and it’s not something that you would expect to see in downtown LA and we’ll get to that in a second defense Secretary Pete Heget’s comments threatening to deploy US Marines on US soil drew a small group of protesters you see them there this is at Camp Pendleton more than four dozen people there holding up signs at the main gate to Camp Pendleton uh with slogans such as uh quote “We’re on a slippery slope to fascism and your oath is to the Constitution.” President Trump has already federalized and deployed those National Guard troops to LA after the protests erupted over the immigration raids on Friday this uh coming despite strong objection from the governor of California and the mayor of Los Angeles in fact uh the uh Newsome administration is going to file a lawsuit as perhaps as early as tomorrow to try to prevent that from happening in the meantime Patrick Saunders he’s an Air Force veteran he organized this uh protest outside Camp Pendleton we want to show our support to the military members that work here uh we want to kind of remind them of what their duty is to us but additionally we want to make it very publicly known that we condemn any sort of uh action by the administration of using active duty or national guard troops uh on US citizens us Northern Command confirms 500 Marines from 29 Palms are on what’s called prepare to deploy status that means they’re ready to go should they be needed and quote to augment and support the DoD’s protection of federal property and personnel efforts and there’s a live look now at downtown Los Angeles still spot fires here and there still uh groups of people gathering mainly at intersections either blocking them barricading them or setting fires there have been some continued skirmishes with police and there was a guy in a minivan that started driving around erratically and uh nearly took some people out he’s under arrest some 10 other people at least that we know of as of earlier this evening are under arrest by the LAPD 17 others arrested by the highway patrol both of those numbers are expected to go up as we continue to watch the law enforcement response to the unrest that is taking place in Los Angeles i’m joined now by Jory Rand you’ve been covering this all day and you’ve kind of watched this evolve uh throughout the day and what what did you notice and what what struck you it seems that um tensions are rising and falling as we go throughout the day and it seems like there’s a group of troublemakers who when things are calming down they start things back up again we see things calm down then we see five Whimo cars lit on fire we see that start to calm down we see a barricade situation with furniture grabbed from Grand Park we see that calm down and then we see protesters um all over the city starting fires this this gentleman that’s something I’ve never seen before typically when we see a gathering like this you do see people start to treat this like a street takeover and start doing donuts so when you first see that you just think that person is part of it they clearly were not as they drew the uh the attention of those gathered there and then took off through the city and what we see we have seen but again it is a a group of people who have been allowed to do this we saw the the the protesters who were on the overpass of the 101 freeway once the 101 was cleared and it looked like order had been restored those people were allowed to stay on top of the 101 freeway and they started pouring things on top of those CHP vehicles that were parked below and that was allowed to continue for hours now that was a mistake clearly by law enforcement you don’t you don’t leave people you know maybe they didn’t have the resources i shouldn’t say it was a mistake but it turned out it didn’t work well it did not work out well and you look at the numbers of the protesters out there the numbers of law enforcement and what happens if they decide to go in and make a move on these people what’s going to happen is that going to start a really violent confrontation with authorities is that going to start a panic where you start sending people running through a situation where you have a tra a potential trampling of a crowd it’s a it’s a very tough situation for them to be in and the fact that they were able that they left those vehicles exposed and the protesters in place on the overpass made it for a very uh disastrous situation it is a thin line between enforcement and provocation it is a line that the LAPD and other local police agencies have trod uh sometimes successfully sometimes catastrophically badly for decades dating back to 1965 right it’s actually been impressive to see some of the restraint we’ve seen from these different jurisdictions because they have been under siege all day with projectiles and bottles and rocks and fireworks and smoke canisters and very little response from the LAPD very few arrests we’ve talked about what 27 throughout the day from two different jurisdictions there could easily have been hundreds of arrests given the behavior we have seen on the streets of Los Angeles what they’re trying to do is get the streets cleared restore order as quickly as possible and as thoroughly as possible they’re having trouble doing that tonight because the crowd is dispersing and going from place to place if as uh uh uh Bruce Thomas mentioned a retired law enforcement officer if if that mutual aid response is now in effect and and taking effect you’ll see other agencies coming in and providing the manpower providing the bodies basically to go out and secure take take ground and hold it as opposed to take ground and then having to move somewhere else and losing the ground that they’ve taken so that that’s what’s uh hopefully a helpful development in this as we launch live now what’s happening uh in downtown LA these are pictures from Air 7 Spring Street and Second Street uh that vehicle there that’s on the side of the road i don’t know if that has been vandalized and is immobile because of that or whether someone is parking there and uh doing and doing it deliberately what we are seeing you know the the the chief mentioned these uh these people that go from place to place and they cause mayhem they cause uh uh problems and he they are dressed in hoodies they’re dressed in black and they bring hammers and they chip at the at the concrete and that that’s where they get their rocks from i was going to mention that when we talked about what Matt Gutman was reporting about the rocks that were being thrown by police if you’re walking around downtown LA there aren’t rocks scattered around these people are manufacturing these projectiles by bringing hammers and and hammering at the concrete and the asphalt and taking what chips away and throwing it at police uh we have uh Brian Mueller who’s a retired law enforcement officer here in Southern California uh are can you hear me yes sir all right so uh you have seen how things have unfolded tonight what is your take on on how uh law the different law enforcement agencies are responding and whether it’s been effective uh they do a lot of training together it does take some time to muster up uh enough personnel to be effective and not be overwhelmed the crowds are obviously a lot larger than the number of officers that are available obviously as you guys know uh each agency has a different jurisdiction and therefore it tends to change who is in command of a certain area it’s in the city it’s LAPD it’s parts of LA counties in the middle of the city like Grand Park and a few of the county buildings it’s sheriff’s department and obviously as we all saw right next to the 101 freeway which is the jurisdiction of CHP so it’s uh it communication is always tough in these type of situations there’s only so many radio frequencies and there’s a lot of things going on a lot of people trying to talk but trying to trying to make the maneuvers to uh gain control of the freeway and then obviously we all saw it did take uh in my opinion too long but uh maybe there was some other things going on they couldn’t release some personnel to secure the high ground you always want to have a high ground but the high ground is LA City’s turf if you will and not the CHP so that created a little bit of a problem but uh uh it usually takes a few hours for everything to start working uh in order what you do have is when you have try to disperse crowds uh you you don’t want a big crowd of people in one area unless you have enough people to keep them in there you’re going to start making some arrests but when you scatter them when you disperse them they tend to create problems all over the place so if you can keep them moving um and not muster up in a certain area by you by your personnel your uh law enforcement personnel being able to maneuver uh you can uh keep them from getting in a big power base but when you let them solidify in a certain area they’re going to start looking for uh environmental weapons or debris or dumpsters or whatever to start uh throwing things at static lines of police officers so Mhm when you have the officers in a static line uh then they become more vulnerable but if they have a maneuver capability it’s better for the officers and you’re able to disperse crowds the different agencies in in LA city and county have dealt with uh uh disturbances ranging in size from from uh uh Laker parades that get out of hand all the way to the you know the the unrest of 1992 and the George Floyd uh unrest that took place and the rioting and the vandalism that took place there to what we’re seeing tonight there’s different ranges and but that over the years they’ve learned different things and different tactics with regard to crowd control how equipped just from a training standpoint are the the the police these two different agencies in or at least speak to your agency uh about crowd control how much training do officers get how much tactical experience would you expect some of these uh deputies to have and and how is that brought to bear well there’s uh quite a bit of training that takes place ers uh in the police post academy learning domain 24 has to do with disturbances that’s the initial training deputy personnel get a lot of emergency response team training in the custodial environment and then again when they go to patrol patrol school get a little dose of it again and then recurrent training in field operations and especially when big events will be coming up like for example the Olympics or world cup or a presidential election or things that intel tells us that is likely to have some type of problem uh efforts will be made to focus on mobile field force crowd control use of force not lethal weapons uh training to so we’re better prepared um stations will make sure that their personnel they have their helmets and their face shields that are in good working order and have all flex cuffs and mass booking procedures all dialed in so everybody’s uh tuned up ready to go if a mobile field force has to get together and uh come together most uh police cars deputies policemen are one person in the car uh for the most part and handle things by themselves uh until situations like this come together they’re just too many and because we are outnumbered you have to come together what we call a mobile field force uh basically a well choreographed drill team mhm a smaller group of people being able to intervene in the bigger group of people incorporating a variety of formations movements strategies uh tactics uh declaring unlawful assembly having arrest teams staging areas mobile bookings and a variety of things uh cameras recording them securing uh county buildings county courouses hospitals uh critical things that are needed to run a government run a city and that are going to need it even after this protest uh goes away and also protect themselves you don’t want to get too deep in a big mob of people and not have the wherewithal to extract yourself mhm additionally with the uh you need to have know what the mo the commander’s intent is uh how do we want this thing to look like when we’re done with this thing mhm right and there’s there we talked earlier about the fine line between provocation and enforcement between getting getting the job done of getting uh the the the the people who are causing problems off the street arresting them moving the crowd out versus inflaming a crowd that when when when LA erupted in 1965 I know you’re far too young for that but it was because a man named Marquette Fry was stopped by the CHP uh on a on for a DUI and uh a crowd gathered around the arresting officers and uh one of them uh shoved a woman and that became the rumor mill said that they had shoved a pregnant woman to the ground and that is how uh that riot actually began in 1965 started at 113th and and uh Avalon I believe and so there there there’s you know they’re out there to do the job but there’s a that you can either uh you can cause a provocation as well and when you’re out there doing crowd control how do you prevent that sort of a a provocation from happening that might inflame the crowd further well uh I was only three at that time but uh we’re not there we don’t want to start the very riot we’re trying to prevent um but there was obviously a lot of other tensions in the community back then because just one shove of one person should not have sparked off a whole riot back in ‘ 65 um so there’s other things that are beyond what the officers were doing um but you know it is a fine line we’re trying to allow people to exercise their first amendment peacefully protest and that’s the key word peaceful and to declare an unlawful assembly they are either already breaking and destroying things or violence is eminent it’s about to go off and so the incident commander or whoever’s on the front line there who has the decision-making authority can give the command to give an unlawful assembly uh and then people fail to leave then they could be arrested for that now I heard earlier on some other channels maybe it was yours about the issue of people wearing masks why do they need a mask it’s not illegal to wear a mask but it’s illegal to wear a mask in after you’ve committed a different crime and that being the failure to disperse and then you can be arrested and ad charged with 185 of the California Penal Code which is wearing a mask in the commission of another type of crime interesting okay so that is something that’s in your your bag of tricks as it were when you’re dealing with people who are uh being unruly or causing potentially causing harm to officers throwing things at you for example that once once that’s happened yes yes that’s that’s true and we’re not trying to make arrest believe me the officers would rather be doing the regular patrol and uh having their Starbucks somewhere but when we come together we’d rather have people leave and go away uh but they don’t and so you have to make the choice of either we disappear and then they destroy the city and destroy property and people and people get injured who are unaware of something going on the street and they drive in in the middle of it and then people are going to go “Where were the police where was the sheriff mhm so when we are there we are there trying to keep the peace uh it can be a focal point by people uh who are uh determined to create a confrontation the police officers are not there to try to create a confrontation the people want it but they will always in my experience have uh were more more more likely than not um wanting a provocation you’ll notice that uh you tend to have a lot more cars going to areas where the protests are happening because they want to get involved they want to see it they want to get a little clip on their their smartphone to put it on Instagram or something and they create a problem also by showing up in an area that’s clearly got some police activity going on there and that makes it difficult for the officers so it’s it’s tough you end up putting up with a lot of abuse verbally a lot of things thrown at you from different directions i do know that uh some different tactics that different agencies use some officers their their protocols will stand there in a skirmish line and allow the mob of people to get really really close to them mhm and that’s very volatile and people a few protests deep in the mob of protesters will throw something over the top and it may injure uh significantly the officers and as you saw as we saw particularly when uh we SRT rolled out to the Fairfax district in May 30th of 2020 uh they were not peaceful they were throwing chunks of concrete and as you guys have reported on the news a lot of fireworks those things will fly faster and farther than a lot of our uh less lethal projectiles and they are they are explosive devices we’ve had some uniforms burned we’ve had ears where people had hearing issues afterwards had to get medical treatment for it so it is a difficult position to be in to try and uh facilitate first amendment peaceful protest but like I said earlier when they’re creating havoc or destroying things and being violent they are no longer peaceful they have removed themselves from first amendment protection or if violence is eminent uh they can declare a lawful assembly and then if they fail to leave arrested for that and if they’re wearing a mask arrested for also wearing a mask right okay well Brian Mueller retired uh sheriff’s deputy we thank you for your insight what we’re looking at here is right near crypto.com arena and we got word that a crowd was gathering there we don’t know if these these are people who are being peaceful or if they’re just watching and seeing what’s going on and they’re just wandering around on the streets or if there is something else to this uh we’re not seeing any sort of uh violent activity going on right now you see people walking with flags you see people uh walking down the street i did see one thing being thrown but it didn’t appear to be targeting anybody um and so we’re going to keep an eye on this situation uh we we began our as as we hold as we look at this uh we began our 8:00 hour with a news conference by the chief of the Los Angeles Police Department Jim McDonald here’s a recap of what he had to say lapd was not given advanced notice that the federal operation uh federal uh operations would occur in that area as a result we were not prepositioned to respond immediately to unrest related to those actions once the call for assistance came in LAPD responded within 38 minutes and that sounds like a long time but I’ll tell you uh why that is the response was impacted by traffic crowd density uh in the in the uh area with unrest occurring hazardous conditions caused by tear gas that was previously deployed by federal agents at the at that location many of our officers because it was put together uh in a mobile field force configuration uh without uh advanced notice were not equipped with gas mass but despite these challenges we moved in quickly and as safely as possible at no point did LAPD ignore or intentionally delay any request for help i also want to be unequivocally clear the Los Angeles Police Department does not participate in or coordinate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement on civil immigration enforcement we’ve said this over and over again and I can’t stress it enough for the people in uh to in our community who have high levels of anxiety about this issue that we want everybody to believe and be able to call the LAPD in time of need if they’ve been a victim of a crime or a witness to a crime we need that otherwise the system does not work that has been our policy and remains our policy and it went into effect in 1979 so 46 years ago that’s been the way we do business on the other hand however when a uh a law enforcement agency any agency requests emergency assistance to protect lives we are obligated to respond and we do public safety is our duty and we will answer every legitimate call for help from anyone we recognize that immigration enforcement operations can cause a deep fear and anxiety particularly in immigrant communities that’s why we’re committed to transparency accountability and treating every Angelino with respect regardless of their immigration status our job is not to divide communities or politicize law enforcement our job is simply to keep everyone safe it is an environment though in which law enforcement has to some extent been politicized we have uh the Department of Justice and uh the people from Homeland Security saying that uh the local uh agencies are not doing their jobs they accuse the LA Police Department of not responding to a call for help from the ICE agents and other federal agents who were involved in a what they’re calling an immigration enforcement action uh in uh in one part of the city uh the chief emphatically saying that did not happen that it took some time for officers to respond because they hadn’t gotten advanced notice that this would be happening and that officers in order to respond to that need to be especially equipped and formed into uh action teams to do that and that takes some time uh the uh the reports had been or the information that uh had been put out was that it took two hours for LAPD to respond that was not the case uh the chief saying it took 38 minutes from the time the call went out to the time officers got there and they were delayed in part because tear gas had been deployed and that uh the officers were not prepared to deal with tear gas because they had not been given advanced notice still they went in and assisted the federal agents in uh doing in uh in protecting them and keeping them separate from the crowd that was beginning to gather governor Gavin Newsome meanwhile posting on X tonight and I’m quoting here “Let’s get this straight one local law enforcement didn’t need help two Trump sent troops anyway to manufacture chaos and violence three Trump succeeded four now things are destabilized and we need to send in more law enforcement just to clean up Trump’s mess.” That is a direct quote from the governor from his tweet tonight the war of words between uh Governor Nuome and President Trump escalating tonight uh this is uh also a photo that we got from the governor’s office him meeting with uh Chief McDonald and Sheriff Luna this uh happening earlier today we’re not sure where this meeting took place it looks like a situation room uh of some sort uh and uh Governor Nuome tweeting this joined LAPD LA County Sheriff’s Department and state emergency officials in LA as we respond to protests provoked by chaos from Washington we’re here to keep the peace not play into Trump’s political games again that is a direct quote from the governor the president saying that uh there is chaos on the streets of LA and he used the word insurrection to describe the people uh who are committing some acts of violence and setting fires he’s saying there are insurrectionists and that is as we have been pointing out tonight not a randomly chosen word that is an important word because the uh opaces under which the president uh can perhaps uh invoke the insurrection act of 1807 would require that an insurrection be uh undertaken against the United States and against its government so that the president could then deploy troops to put down that insurrection and that then uh the threat from Defense Secretary Pete Hgsithth that uh Marines from Camp Pendleton could be deployed to the streets of Los Angeles marines US Marines uh deployed against or or to contain uh US citizens and be involved in uh enforcement action against uh American citizens uh LA Mayor Karen Bass speaking earlier today about the history and the challenges of dealing with large crowds in this city because our city has always had a very robust immigrant rights movement and infrastructure and institutions that have been around for several decades there is a history of having peaceful protests here now you know like any crowd if we’re talking about after an athletic event everybody celebrates there’s always a handful of people that tend to be at the end and tend to hang around and might get into mischief and violence but that’s not the people who are putting on the protests i tell you that to say that when those protests have been uh organized they’ve been organized in a proper way the problem is what happens at the end and that’s one thing that is difficult with crowd control whether it is a political protest or whether it is a football game that uh is the mayor of Los Angeles Karen Bass who we’ll be speaking to on ABC7 in just a matter of a few minutes in the meantime we’re going to take a look and continue to take a look at what is going on downtown right now at outside Crypto.com Arena and LA Live this is South South Figuroa at Olympic worth noting the crowd that we are seeing are people walking down the middle of the street we are not seeing uh any acts of violence doesn’t mean it’s not happening we haven’t seen it and uh we’re not seeing any fires being set what we are seeing are people waving flags of various flags Mexican flags American flags Palestinian flags uh and uh from flags of various countries that they are carrying but what we’re not seeing is any sorts of acts of uh violence or unrest this is right near Crypto.com Arena that’s uh it on the left LA live uh part of that complex and uh we don’t know if law enforcement officers are being deployed there this is in downtown Los Angeles as you can see the gleaming uh structures these skyscrapers in downtown Los Angeles uh amid what is uh been a pretty difficult day in this city in terms of the things that we have seen and the things that uh we are having to witness and deal with once again in the city of Los Angeles raids by uh ICE the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency uh uh targeting uh immigrants who uh do not have their uh correct authorization to be in the United States uh they are saying that they are going after uh criminals and people who prey on others uh demonstrators in this crowd today and elsewhere and at other times are saying that in fact the government is going after day laborers and people on their way to work on their way to school and in fact going after people who are in the federal building itself in the the the system at the uh agency trying to get their their situation straight and they’re ended up being arrested during that process while they’re actually uh preparing for an immigration hearing so there is a lot of emotion surrounding this a lot of anxiety and a lot of fear in the immigrant community in Los Angeles what we’re seeing now it looks like a contingent of officers the agency I I’m not sure yet i’m guessing I’m betting it’s LAPD uh and they are heading right now this is Temple and Alamita we don’t know if they’re relieving other officers or if they’re heading toward Crypto.com uh or or what but uh there is a citywide tactical alert no police officers are being allowed uh once their shift ends nobody’s going home and they’re all staying on and that keeps the manpower in place to both deal with this situation in downtown LA and also with uh whatever else is happening within the city there are other things happening homes are being broken into people are still being robbed all kinds of disturbances are happening that have nothing to do with what we’re seeing here that the LA Police Department has to deal with uh as a police agency in Los Angeles skirmish line forming this is Alama and Aliso in downtown Los Angeles more officers being deployed there we’re seeing resources being brought to bear we don’t know what the uh target is of this skirmish line but we’re going to try to find out uh in the meantime we want to show you some video from earlier that has become pretty much iconic and has gone viral uh and that is this this was uh downtown this was earlier in the afternoon towards the evening when uh the demonstration near the federal building complex uh began to turn violent in which uh people were setting Whimo cars on fire these cars were parked on the street uh and just sitting there and someone set them on fire and uh the mayor pointed out that there are people there that are protesting and then there are people who are bent on committing acts of violence and vandalism and arson and she was very clear that those who are doing the latter will be dealt with with the full force of the law the LA County DA indicating the same thing the chief of police all the different law enforcement agencies and and their representatives are saying exactly that that whoever set these fires they’re going to find you and they’re going to bring the full extent of the law to bear to uh to put you in a place of accountability where you will pay for what has been done uh there’s a lot of video that’s being put out there there’s a lot of video on social media uh the cameras are ubiquitous and it is very likely that whoever set these crimes was in fact caught on video whoever set these fires and there is a an an effort underway or that will be underway shortly to bring that person to justice and then speaking of somebody who was brought to justice the guy here in this minivan this is at an intersection where people had gathered and you see him going in circles backwards and people throwing rocks at him at the uh at the vehicle we don’t know whether which which started first was he driving erratically because when our camera got onto him it was kind of just starting there we don’t know whether they were throwing rocks at him first or whether he started driving erratically first but the the erratic driving we know continued after that this is a guy that had no shirt on and appeared to be very agitated because he took off took off at a high rate of speed as you see here with all the people on the streets law enforcement officers civilians everybody that is out there tonight this was an incredibly dangerous thing for him to do very high rate of speed driving around he went to Alvera Street got into a collision there uh was was backing up driving erratically again there were several uh minor collisions with inanimate objects the vehicle was able to keep going he eventually came to a stop and the sheriff’s department on a mutual aid situation came in and two deputies arrested him quickly and without further incident and as far as we know nobody was hurt but as you can see from that video it was a very near thing people very nearly got hurt or someone could have actually been killed let’s look live now this is Alama and Caesar Chavez Avenue i don’t know what that object is in the middle of the street or what people are doing here those are some cones people are kind of grabbing up what they can and uh setting them for some reason they want to set them in the middle of intersections and sometimes they set them on fire now you see LAPD setting up a skirmish line to try to clear this intersection this is Alama Street and Caesar Chavez Avenue this is in Chinatown and uh not far from a place where uh ICE had been uh staging on Thursday night you may recall it seems like months ago just a couple of days ago uh ICE uh officers federal officers staged in a parking lot in Chinatown and as word got out that they were there uh people started to show up and were surrounding them and they were on the sidewalk and they were protesting they were uh demonstrating against them they were yelling at the officers uh there were some uh bottles thrown there were some objects thrown but for the most part uh first of all the crowd was small and it was almost completely peaceful with with one or two exceptions the uh ICE officers put out a call oh look at that that’s the fireworks we’ve been talking about that have been thrown uh at police and at law enforcement uh ICE officers put out a call to for help because they uh felt that they were going to be overwhelmed by the people who were around and uh that was when the LAPD responded uh not uh in time not not as as quickly as the uh federal agents would have wanted but they got there and they dealt with uh the situation and uh people ended up being cleared from a sidewalk we have our Jory Rand who has been here uh with ABC7 covering uh what has been happening for most of the day here and he joins us now with another report jory yeah we continue to see unrest here and this is something that the federal government and President Trump in particular is pointing to and why he has brought in members of the California National Guard under his control tonight the governor of the state of California is now in direct confrontation with the president of the United States the back and forth continues on social media last night the president federalized 2,000 members of the California National Guard that is significant for several reasons one because the governor did not request that to happen it’s typically how this would play out the governor asks the federal government the federal government responds here it was the other way around president Trump moved in against the wishes of the governor today Gavin Nuome formerly requesting that the Trump administration resend their order saying he wants control returned to him the president though today said he will continue to try and maintain order you have violent people and we’re not going to let him get away with it i think that you’re going to see some very strong law and order so this is not typical in fact we haven’t seen a situation similar to this play out in the United States in about 60 years the last time that National Guard troops were called up under federal control without the governor’s request was 1965 so this is exceedingly rare and legal but I think what’s really important for people to know is unwarranted there’s no indication whatsoever in LA that National Guard troops are necessary to maintain order the governor has said there’s no need the LAPD has said there’s no need um and really all of this seems to be an unwarranted escalation the president has the capacity but he shouldn’t use it and it’s been very rarely used previously now even more rare from what we have seen uh seen play out here would be the implementation of federal troops not California National Guard not National Guard from any state but actual military members being deployed to the city of Los Angeles the Secretary of Defense Pete Hgsth and the president himself have threatened that this is a distinct possibility using Marines from Camp Pendleton to be deployed to the streets of Los Angeles now normally this would not be something the president has the authority to do you cannot put US troops on US soil against US citizens however there is a clause the Insurrection Act more than 200 years ago gave the president the authority to use US military in that situation against US citizens on US soil but the caveat of course there needs to be an insurrection against the US government happening at least twice today the president of the United States has called the the demonstrators on the streets of LA insurrectionists perhaps setting the ground to bring in those military members the Marines from Camp Pendleton so far that has not happened we also learned from CNN reporting that the state’s Lieutenant Governor Aleni Kunalakis says that tomorrow a lawsuit will be filed to go against Trump’s order to nationalize the California National Guard so we have legal battles brewing on several fronts and we will see how this plays out beginning well continuing on the streets of LA but continuing tomorrow in a courtroom um at least on one legal front and we’ll see what happens Mark with the military whether the insurrection act will be invoked coming up at 11 o’clock we’ll hear from another legal professor on the implications and the possibilities of that happening here in LA indeed Jory Rand thank you battles both legal and rhetorical as we look at video of actual dumpster fires uh leaders in Congress trying to get some more answers about people that are being detained by ICE three members of Congress stopped by the ICE detention center in Adalanto this morning alongside families and attorneys of people being detained but they were not allowed inside take a listen the moment that we came here they locked up the facilities we are all here to find out what has happened to the immigrants who were uh unlawfully arrested on Friday night uh without warrants we are exercising our rights as Congress members to visit these facilities inspect them and do our oversight this lack of due process that is going on right now in our country is something that should concern every citizen we think these individuals are are being held here in unhumane conditions which is why they’re not letting us in uh they’re rounding people up they’re shipping them to different facilities uh we talked to a gentleman earlier today who’s been on the search for his nephew for 3 days we just want access uh we got to amplify and continue to make sure that everyone understands what’s going on is not normal and is likely illegal but you know I wouldn’t know that unless they let me in we want to talk to who’s in charge we want to figure out what’s going on how many people are here uh what brought them here and under uh what rights are they being detained and it’s worth noting as members of Congress they have the right uh to enter any federal facility to inspect it uh and so the they are not allowed to be denied access to that facility uh these members of Congress say they’re demanding due process for detainees they also spoke on the phone with California Attorney General Rob Bont bont says he’s looking into the Trump administration’s use of National Guard troops without the approval of the governor that’s something we have been talking about and reporting about throughout the evening uh as we look live right now let’s uh take a look again at there there are so many scenes in downtown Los Angeles you see the the blue and red lights of police cars they’re they’re here at Aliso and and Alamita there are also uh we believe officers heading in the direction of Crypto.com Arena uh there are officers deployed at intersections uh throughout downtown LA on freeway overpasses uh on streets they’re bringing people uh they’re they’re taking people into custody uh fireworks as you see are being hurled at them they are using uh flashbang and less than lethal uh uh projectiles to try to clear intersections and clear crowds away uh so what you’re seeing is kind of a pyrochnic display on both sides of this situation in which one side is trying to keep the peace and others uh from the other side are bent on continuing to agitate against it uh worth noting as well this is uh this was a there was a crowd of several thousand people that were gathered uh at wow at city hall and uh at the federal building complex in downtown Los Angeles the Roy Ball federal building the federal court building and the uh detention center that is uh is there and uh those crowds merged and then uh began to move around downtown some elements of that crowd uh the crowd numbering several thousand some elements of the crowd spilling onto the 101 freeway causing the shutdown of the freeway now my understanding is LA Mayor Karen Bass is with us now uh Madame Mayor are you there i certainly am uh what a day this has been uh can you describe the situation now in terms of uh uh how whether or not the uh law enforcement agencies are gaining the upper hand here well I do think that the uh Los Angeles Police Department has gained the upper hand but one thing that happens uh sometimes more than not after a protest a peaceful protest then people who are involved in that protest or didn’t even participate but come so that they can wreck havoc is what is happening now so you have people dispersed running through the streets in different places in downtown and uh in some cases vandalizing property and I just hope that they understand that it is not acceptable and you might not get arrested tonight but that does not mean that you won’t get arrested in the upcoming days when the videotapes are reviewed you know for those same people who say that they are against ICE and they don’t want federal government involving involved and then they go about wrecking havoc in the city and and giving and justifying the need for what the administration is doing which I disagree and uh but they are reinforcing that and I think that that is a real tragedy considering the situation that the city is dealing with the governor has said that the president is essentially deliberately provoking the response by some elements of these demonstration by sending National Guard troops into Los Angeles without there being requested uh here do you share that view i absolutely share that view and it’s just perplexing to me as to why the administration did this i tried for days to appeal to them that this was not necessary and my big concern was if you send in federal troops you are going to agitate this entire situation i mean we have to understand that people are really in fear they’re terror terrified over the raids that happened and we hear that the raids are going to continue for days so you’re going to have people who are going to try to go to sleep tonight and be worried whether they should go to work kids worried whether they should go to school and so when this kind of fear gets set because you never know when a raid is going to happen or where it is then you know you you create a powder keg and then to add fuel on that powder keg then you bring in federal troops and this was just you know very perplexing as to why the federal government would want to do this at this time when neither he requested to help and nor did I request to help uh the president has referred to the people who are causing violence and vandalism as insurrectionists and we have been making note of of his particular use of that word uh to describe people who are committing crimes here uh and that this this may lead to his uh attempt to invoke the Insurrection Act to send uh the the the Marines in uh federal uh federal troops the United States Marine Corps military forces into Los Angeles have you been in contact with the with the president to try to find out if that’s what his intent is and and and have you been able to in some way contact him and and find out what’s going on here i have not contacted nor have I reached out to the president directly but I absolutely have been talking to people who are close to him you know the insurrection act I mean in some ways I feel like we’re a big laboratory i mean why are you experimenting with us you know one having uh uh federalizing the national guard taking that power away from the governor to having Marines 500 Marines that are stationed not far out of Los Angeles for a situation that doesn’t warrant it at all to me it is absolutely provocative and that’s my concern with the people that are out uh committing violent acts right now i think this is exactly what is wanted why do we want to voluntarily participate in this experiment the city of Los Angeles is not a laboratory we are the nation’s second largest city and I don’t think that we should be experimented with in this way and insurrectionists I know that’s what he calls them to me that implies an organized movement and I don’t think what we’re seeing is organized i think it’s random violence that is unacceptable and those people like I said a few minutes ago are naive if they think just because they didn’t get arrested tonight that they’re going to get away with this are you concerned the the department is uh understaffed that is a well-known thing it’s not at the level that you would like it to be in terms of personnel uh do you think that the department is up to the task of maintaining peace and and establishing peace in Los Angeles oh I absolutely do think that the department is up for the task there’s no evidence that the department isn’t uh but these kind of of measures do not help so just imagine Los Angeles if the raid had not happened on Friday what did this raid accomplish when the president first talking talked about raids he talked about arresting violent criminals i don’t know that there were violent criminals in the warehouses where people were working so what what was the reason for the shift or chasing people through the parking lot in Home Depot they were violent criminals so when you do this you sow confusion if that raid had not happened on Friday we would not be sitting here having this conversation today wow well you and I have been through you know you’re as you you’ve you’re a lifelong Angelino as am I and we’ve seen a lot of situations of civil unrest in the city of Los Angeles uh you know from 19 I don’t know if you were here in ‘ 65 but from 65 to 92 and and 2020 and and other situations as well does this in your view especially tonight rise to the level where uh National Guard intervention would be necessary no I don’t believe it does at all and the the civil unrest that you were referring to in 1992 it was unrest throughout the city this is isolated to a few blocks in downtown LA and we must remember this so this is chaos it is unacceptable it’s be it’s getting under control now but there is absolutely no comparison you have random uh violence and disorder in a couple of blocks you know that is absolutely no comparison to 1992 which I called the rainbow riot because there was unrest in all parts of the city it went from the valley to south LA to downtown and there’s nothing like that going on here today would you support a curfew in the city of LA well you know not right now uh I was actually talking to the chief about this a few hours ago you know it’s fine to call a curfew then the question is how are you going to enforce it are you going to go around town arresting people who are are coming back from the movies or are coming back from a social event or working late so uh I am hoping that this settles down uh I am hoping that we do not need to uh call for a curfew um but you know when I think about it I mean my message to Angelenos is we are better than this this is the time when our city needs to come together we should not allow ourselves to be divided and pitted against each other and anytime you have random violence like this that pits people against each other i think there should be peace in this city and I know that we can do this in less in a little bit less than a year we’re going to have the World Cup here the world is going to be here we need to stick together angelenos do not allow this situation to create chaos in our city that’s an interesting point you bring up the World Cup is next year the Olympics in three years and this is what uh the people uh of the world are seeing right now in the city of Los Angeles what are your thoughts about that well my thoughts are we need the support from the administration that’s what we need we need the support ironically in the area of security but these kind of tactics make our city insecure all right LA Mayor Karen Bass anything else you’d like to add in terms of your message to the people of LA who are seeing these images tonight and are concerned please be peaceful everyone has the right to exercise their First Amendment uh ability to communicate and to protest but there is never a reason that those protests should deteriorate into violence all right LA Mayor Karen Bass thank you very much for joining us and we look forward to hearing from you uh as events warrant and hopefully tomorrow as well thanks for joining us and uh we’ll we’ll check back thank you Madame Mayor all right thank you all right the the raids are are raising concern as well for for teachers staffers administrators ac across the LA Unified School District talking about the ICE raids it comes at a time of year when students would be looking forward to graduation but instead they are worried that ICE agents could show up on campus uh those worries being dredged up again it’s already happened at least twice at LA schools where agents have shown up on campus inquiring about students these were elementary school students superintendent Alberto Carvalo says he’s dismayed that some of those raids have happened near LA Unified Schools he released a statement reading in part tonight “These actions are causing unnecessary fear confusion and trauma for our students and families our schools must remain safe havens los Angeles Unified stands with our immigrant families.” ABC News reporter Matt Gutman was behind police lines earlier today this has been a day in which projectiles have been thrown uh from both sides non-lethal weapons being used by police rocks and bottles and other projectiles being used by some troublemaking elements of what is otherwise a peaceful crowd of demonstrators uh he has a look at what both sides are hurling at each other that line of officers from the LAPD pushing everybody back um and using a tremendous amount of non-lethal force um you can see those flashbang canisters uh the sponges 40mm like this that they’ve fired at people just to continue to push them back i don’t think I’ve seen this much use of non-lethal in a very long time we’ve also seen significant number of rocks bottles uh projectiles that are very dangerous being hurled at uh the LAPD on this side of the skirmish line uh the size of the rocks and projectiles I’m going to see if I can try to find another one for you uh that were thrown were significant um this is a is a piece of concrete or uh road that was picked up and chucked um you can see some of the sharper end stones over here much larger ones than that that were holder police so this is something that I haven’t seen quite some time in downtown LA it was very intense all right and those projectiles that he’s talking about uh we’ll we’ll get to that in a second this statement from former Vice President Kla Harris responding to today’s events she wrote in part “Lo Angeles is my home and like so many Americans I am appalled at what we are witnessing on the streets of our city deploying the National Guard is a dangerous escalation meant to provoke chaos in addition to the recent ICE raids in Southern California and across our nation it is part of the Trump administration’s cruel calculated agenda to spread panic and division this administration’s actions are not about public safety they’re about stoking fear fear of a community demanding dignity and due process protest is a powerful tool essential in the fight for justice and as the LAPD mayor and governor have noted demonstrations in defense of our immigrant neighbors have been overwhelmingly peaceful i continue to support the millions of Americans who are standing up to protect our most fundamental rights and freedoms as we take a live look now at downtown Los Angeles looks like a store is being looted this could be looks like a sneaker store and it wouldn’t be the first time this looks very familiar uh we were over this a few years ago during uh demonstrations and protests in the wake of the murder of George Floyd and this looks like to me to be the same store that was looted then and maybe being looted again you saw somebody running into that store it’s 10:27 on a Saturday night i don’t know whether that store was open or not but it doesn’t look good and we will see what is happening here people going up and going in uh and we’ll see if that is in fact happening there have been lawless elements that have been taking part in this uh protest or not taking part of the protest but perhaps exploiting it for their own ends like people you see here that are looting this store uh they’re stealing sneakers and uh they’re gonna be selling them and they’re being caught on video from various locations on both sides of the street and so there’s a good chance that uh their faces will be recognized and that their uh little spree of of theft will uh be rewarded with some accountability that will land them in jail that is what is being promised by the chief by the mayor by the sheriff that uh people who take advantage people who are involved in violence vandalism theft will be held accountable if not tonight as the mayor just said it will happen uh down the road don’t think you got away with it just because you haven’t been arrested yet that’s from the mayor um the projectiles that were being hurled at the police if you walk down any urban street you do not see rocks scattered about people get those rocks because there these demonstrators are coming from various parts of either various parts of the country or just who are are people who are intent on causing harm they bring hammers and they hammer away at the concrete and and chip away their own rocks and they use those and throw them against throw them at the police they’ll bring cinder blocks in backpacks and they break those up and throw those at police so there are people who do this for the sake of doing it and as we see now the LAPD responding to this store uh and we’re going to try to get the name of it and the location but I remember almost an identical shot a few years ago from Air7 over this exact location that was being looted uh so they are there 618 thank you 618 South Broadway uh where uh that store apparently a sneaker store is being looted and uh now the LAPD has responded they are going to go in they’re going to clear the store anybody who’s inside is going to get arrested likely anybody they catch with items from inside the store is likely possibly going to get arrested as well it’s interesting you see somebody there bringing items to the officers perhaps helping with the cleanup there so there is that as well so this whole thing that is happening tonight chaotic but officers are responding i’m the daughter of of two immigrants from El Salvador and so I’m here to speak up for my community and to protect them do anything I can to let them know that they have a voice that they have people that care about them breaking news now at 10:30 chaos in downtown LA as immigration protests get out of hand for the third straight day protesters facing off with police all day on Sunday things getting intense at times protesters seem using random items to protect themselves from police while others taking aim at CHP officers and their stranded patrol cars on the 101 freeway people here throwing things trying to set the patrol units on fire they were able to set one on fire all of this while Governor Gavin Newsome continues his public criticism of President Donald Trump and the White House blaming the administration for exploiting and inflaming the situation that’s unfolding right now in Southern California hello I’m Mark Brown we are continuing our live coverage on Eyewitness News at 10 live on ABC7 Hulu and wherever you stream the number of people we have seen on the streets has dwindled quite a bit but chaos has taken place after a otherwise peaceful demonstration earlier in the afternoon an hour ago the LAPD declaring an unlawful assembly for the downtown LA area demonstrators have marched to the LA live area they’re now blocking traffic on Figueroa and Air7 catching multiple items on fire dumpsters parking attendant booths and then there was this a driver doing reverse donuts while other people in the crowd were throwing objects at the car officers later took that driver into the c into custody chp says 56 people have been arrested since yesterday including one for throwing a Molotov cocktail at officers lapd Chief Jim McDonald expects those numbers to rise they’re going to review the video from multiple crime scenes of multiple crimes 17 of the 56 people were arrested from the 101 freeway today protesters taking over the freeway after officers broke up a large crowd outside the federal building in the early afternoon that crowd numbering in the thousands president Trump posting to Truth Social quote “Looking real bad in LA bring in the troops.” We have several eyewitness news crews covering all of the breaking developments tonight we will begin with reporter Tim Caputo live in downtown LA where police are trying to disperse what’s left of the unruly elements of that crowd tim that’s exactly right Mark i’m looking to my left because fireworks are going off just up the street it’s interesting how quickly these LAPD’s officers and these skirmish lines work out here we’re at the intersection of Alama here and Caesar Chavez you might have noticed 15 20 minutes ago there were easily several hundred people at all four corners of this intersection you actually see the cones currently in the street right now and you could even smell it in the air because they were throwing fireworks and setting fireworks off at the middle of this intersection even with some trash in the middle that’s what caused the fire at this intersection but police set up a skirmish line just here on Caesar Chavez with the mountain police here and another one on East Alama Street pushing the uh protesters out of here and at least kind of dissipating into the city streets obviously this has been an ongoing battle all day long with things starting earlier this morning with a protest that quickly turned into cars set on fire and there is graffiti practically everywhere you walk like near the federal buildings here downtown in all the adjacent areas as you mentioned at one point this large crowd made its way onto the 101 freeway and as CHP made a valiant effort to try to get them off the road at one point they even had to ditch some of their uh police vehicles as they were getting rocks and other objects hurled at them smashing the windows at their cars obviously there had been a number of injuries for those police officers and a whole lot of arrest at this point uh we spoke with a young lady who showed up earlier today she was here actually for a vigil a peaceful part of the protest obviously saw what was going on but obviously had a sense of what she wanted to be here for and that is to resist this Trump administration basically you know he came in and attacked the immigrant community and all of their loved ones and people responded by trying to be protective you know in the workplaces where they were being attacked you know and trying to block and so forth but what we’ve been seeing and that you know I hope that people understand for those of us on the ground is that there has been more force coming in and as I said a little while ago uh he’s he’s showing that there’s no respect it’s almost looking like a military state like we feel helpless we feel powerless we feel like who who who do we have that can that Trump can answer to you know what I mean and so as we mentioned they’re dissipating the crowd it doesn’t mean the crowd necessarily has gone home it is certainly smaller than it was probably at the height of the afternoon 4:00 you heard the sirens behind me they were just coming up Caesar Chavez and there it is some of the fireworks just up the street from where we are standing right now that’s where police are trying to put out these fires both literally and figuratively as they continue to pop up here this evening as another uh LAPD officer comes up the street with lights and sirens going as they’re coming up the street to address the crowd that has moved from this intersection all the way up the street i have a sense this is something that’s going to be going on for several hours here Mark as they move this crowd from intersection to intersection keeping in mind every time they do that a couple of them tail off and go home a couple tail off and go in the other direction so the crowd is getting smaller but as you hear with those fireworks still going off it’s still just as lively as it was this afternoon but police seem to be really pinpointing these crowds and trying to move them out and eventually send them all home we’re live in downtown Los Angeles tim Caputo ABC7 Eyewitness News tim Caputo in downtown LA still a very active scene as we can see behind you as we look live now right now LAPD officers outside that store that apparently was being looted a shoe a sneaker store in downtown LA on South Broadway and 6th worth noting that this is all because of protests over ICE and their raids targeting people who are here without authorization in the United States uh the president had promised during his campaign in fact it was a center point of the Republican National Convention that there would be mass deportations and he is carrying that out to uh the dismay of people who are affected by them people are very angry about what they’re seeing the promise has been from the administration that they were going to be going after violent criminals people who pray on others who are here illegally let’s go back to Tim Caputo uh he is live down there uh Tim what’s happening yeah Mark you know we were talking about these skirmish lines and LAPD kind of systematically going through we saw these officers actually lined up on the other side of Union Station initially we thought they might have moved the crowd underneath the tunnel here away from Caesar Chavez that’s actually what they did back when the initial protest back on February 2nd made its way onto the 101 it seems as though the crowd was kind of pushed back towards downtown LA and obviously now these police officers are responding in kind as they’re working their way up the street north of where we are at the moment uh we’re going to send it back to you because uh obviously as these police are passing uh we got some visitors over here by our camera mark so I’m going to send it back inside for a second all right be careful out there Tim thank you very much lapd Chief Jim McDonald meeting with uh Governor Gavin Newsome earlier today our Amy Powell has more on what’s been happening and how this is all unfolding amy well Mark we have to tell you this has been by far the biggest day of protest over ISIS immigration raids that we’ve seen and there have been numerous dangerous and violent incidents now we’re standing here on Broadway overlooking the 101 freeway and in the last few minutes we’ve heard numerous explosive you can see there are a lot of people in the street here and we’ve seen people setting off explosive devices fireworks running through the street you can hear all the sirens there are several LAPD vehicles down there we have some coming by right now and there goes some of those explosives and fireworks we’re talking about and we have seen this numerous times there’s a crowd that has been here throwing some of this on the freeway and again obviously this is a very dangerous situation this is the kind of activity that police are trying to stamp out here and we have to tell you there have been massive crowds of pro protesters gathering the streets around the federal detention center all day angry about a series of sweeps in the LA area during which ICE detained dozens of people some setting fire to several Whimo vehicles the blazes sending up thick plumes of black’s boat and tonight we saw people burning other materials on a street near city hall now many in the crowd have been demonstrating peacefully but tonight there are still people setting off fireworks and committing acts of vandalism and we’ll send it back to you all right Amy thank you we want to quickly get now to Sheriff Robert Luna Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna as we’re watching these scenes unfold uh can you give us an update on the situation from the point of view of your department uh yes sir and hello Mark it’s good to be on with you so I just want to let all the viewers know uh that at about 6:00 tonight the LAPD uh requested the sheriff’s department assistance uh you’re seeing in a lot of the videos you’re showing a lot of our deputies are out on the streets uh there in the city of Los Angeles we sent well over a 100 deputies and we continue to even send more uh I also have uh requested mutual aid from inside the rest of the county of Los Angeles and outside the county of Los Angeles so what you’re going to start seeing is law enforcement agencies from all over LA and even outside LA coming in to assist the Los Angeles Police Department along with even more additional CHP officers my message to everybody out there is um what we’re seeing right now is not protest there’s a lot of unlawful activity that uh is happening and we’re gonna stop it uh I have requested uh booking teams uh from our uh county jail system we are going to start taking a lot of people to jail so I advise people if you are have no legitimate business out here go home uh there’s other ways legitimate ways to exercise your first amendment rights destroying property attacking police officers and deputy sheriffs is not acceptable and you’re going to go to jail all right and as we’re looking at another one of these fires that has been set in downtown LA this looks like a vehicle that’s on fire uh and uh I want to ask you what was asked of Chief McDonald a couple of hours ago should the do you need the National Guard right now to quell this uh anytime we ask for the National Guard we go through a multi-step process i’m going through that now uh we uh obviously exhaust the resources from within the sheriff’s department first then I start going to other agencies uh that’s exactly what I’m doing now uh we have access to a lot of other law enforcement agencies uh if at that time we still need additional resources uh we will uh assess if we need to request the National Guard uh to come in here uh we did that for the fires uh many of you saw that it was very successful uh and uh that is a tool in the toolbox that we’re ready to use if necessary the last time well not the last time but the last time it was for a law enforcement reason was during uh the uh the the the unrest that occurred after the murder of George Floyd and before that 1992 uh and you you you go through those steps and at the end of it if things are still out of control that’s when you call the National Guard from a law enforcement perspective uh I wouldn’t say Mark that we wait till it’s out of control uh we’re continuously assessing what’s going on and please remember uh that for us at the LA County Sheriff’s Department we have an entire county to police we’re still getting 911 calls we’re providing service to other areas uh also concern uh about any other activity that may pop up i think we know from the last 72 hours uh as uh the federal agents are out uh serving their arrest warrants uh we have protesters that show up uh some of those become violent uh we have to be prepared to respond anywhere in the county of Los Angeles like we had to yesterday in the city of Paramont and Compton uh so we stand ready uh to not only assist our brothers and sisters at the Los Angeles Police Department uh but we are ready to respond anywhere in the county of Los Angeles uh even for other law enforcement agencies that may have this kind of activity in their cities your counterpart the your the chief of police has mentioned that the there there are people who come from outside people who all they do is go from unrest to unrest and cause problems they wait for these sorts of situations to happen and they go there with the intent of causing mayhem what’s your experience with that and do you do you believe that’s what’s happening here uh I do agree with Chief Jim McDonald uh he’s been in this business a long time as have I uh unfortunately for us in law enforcement uh there are uh uh basically professional agitators and protesters uh as you see uh there are people that have legitimate reasons to protest families uh and we see that actually that’s the majority of people that we saw during the day and then you have these groups that come in uh and they come in and you I saw a lot of them they’re masked up they have hammers with them they bring pepper spray they start attacking our employees um and that to me is nonsense uh it does happen uh We do our best and and one of the things I’d like to say uh to that is when you have legitimate protesters if you see these individuals within your groups let us know get them out of there because look at what’s happening now uh I believe there is a legitimate reason to protest but then this has turned to something ugly violent and the the message has been lost it It’s all about individuals who are committing criminal acts destroying property and bluntly destroying the city we love it’s It’s unacceptable would you support a curfew in the county uh that is a tool in the toolbox uh that is a strategy uh that we deploy uh without hesitation but it has to be the right time for the right circumstances uh and I can tell you this that uh myself and other uh county and city leaders have been discussing that as an option okay and if that were so if we have an say another night that looks like this is that something that we’re we’re likely to see uh uh high probability and we may not even wait till uh tomorrow night so we’ll see uh we’re definitely keeping that option on all right we have right we have seen uh your deputies in particular there was a very high-profile arrest that they made of a guy that was driving a minivan in a crazy fashion around downtown nearly hitting people doing reverse donuts in an intersection drove erratically went through Alva Street your two of your sheriff’s deputies uh went through and uh found that person and arrested him uh what other do you do you have a tabulation of uh the number of arrests the number of uh if if god forbid any deputies have been injured in this uh anything any numbers along that line uh first of all there’s a saying here at the sheriff’s department that the bear goes everywhere uh and it looks like uh our deputies uh were Johnny on the spot uh did a great job they arrested that individual as he should have been arrested um so I’m very proud of their work and the proud of the work of all the the work that these deputies can you imagine being a family member of one of these deputies uh you got a lot of families praying tonight that their loved ones come home and they don’t get hurt uh so just I I want to make sure the viewers understand that side of everything that’s going on uh and by the way a lot of these deputies we have are have immigration backgrounds they have immigrant parents uh as I as I do to answer your last question um I don’t have stats as I’m sitting here uh and or stats in front of me right now but that’s something we’ll tabulate as the night and morning goes on uh we can follow up with our uh sheriff’s information bureau and they’ll provide that to you tomorrow morning and if I could ask you a personal question as someone with immigrant parents what do you think of what’s going on with these with these raids that ICE is conducting of work sites uh uh Home Depot parking lots factories um as as they continue this this these sweeps you know what uh I respect our federal partners uh if they’re going after individuals that are violent uh and have committed either violent or serious crimes uh that’s they should be doing that work as long as there’s due process involved uh but when you’re taking uh the cooks the gardeners uh the maids the people working at hotels like my parents did uh that’s where it hits a different chord and that’s where you can relate to a lot of the people that are peacefully protesting i don’t relate to the people out here committing crimes uh and destroying property and attacking our employees of course uh what we’re seeing here is two law you know different law enforcement agencies with different missions you’ve got ICE and Customs Enforcement uh that is going around and they’re they’re they’re getting uh people who are in the country without authorization and taking them into custody and you have uh your department and other police agencies of course in California that are subject to a state law that uh uh prohibits them from cooperating on civil enforcement of uh of immigration uh regulations is this uh situation right now contributing to any sort of a strain in relations between you and these agencies or your agency and theirs that uh could have uh impacts beyond this week uh you know I I think there’s always uh I don’t know if I want to call it strain but uh different missions uh and uh we have to continue to figure out a way to communicate uh coordinate when we can uh I know there’s some legal restrictions uh but uh I’m focused on hope uh really I’m hoping that none of their federal agents get hurt in this i’m hoping that none of my deputy sheriffs or any police officers get hurt doing this and I definitely don’t want community members legitimate community members that are protesting or demonstrating uh peacefully to get hurt in this uh so uh that communication having that as a common way of going uh through this uh I don’t like the rhetoric uh on the extremes of either side of this uh I think we really need to take a deep breath and figure out how we resolve this uh throughout the country specifically here in our home in Los Angeles uh we’re better than this we really are all right LA County Sheriff Robert Luna thank you for joining us and we will be checking back uh as events warrant here we appreciate you taking the time to talk to us and sharing your thoughts and and what you’re seeing uh unfolding in the city and county of Los Angeles thank you for being there with us we’ll be back with more Eyewitness News coverage of the ICE raids the response the protests and now the violence coming up right after this and welcome back to Eyewitness News i’m Jory Rand live in our Eyewitness Newsroom as we continue to cover breaking news in downtown Los Angeles unrest throughout the day tonight’s violence and confrontation have uh we have been seeing play out since Friday mayor Karen Bass just expressed on air she thinks none of this would be happening were it not for an ICE operation Friday in a Home Depot parking lot 72 hours of unrest in LA County we have now seen three days of clashes between protesters and authorities it sparked Friday when federal agents descended upon a Home Depot in Westlake ice officials say they were there to arrest violent criminals who are in this country illegally the agents met almost immediately with resistance at one point a person stepping in front of a federal vehicle trying to stop them the driver kept going causing the man to fall backwards onto the pavement nearly running the man over search warrants were served in three different locations Friday and people who know those arrested described them simply as good hardworking people he’s a no criminal no nothing he’s nice people just works hard yeah he’s working good and nice people family he have two children yes working every day the clashes continued Saturday beginning in Paramount near another Home Depot but it was a nearby DHS facility that was being used as an ICE staging ground that drew the crowd federal and local law enforcement clashing with protesters in the streets federal officials had their windows shattered by projectiles we saw people blocking a US Marshall’s bus as it tried to drive violence continued as some demonstrators threw rocks and fireworks at more federal agents frustration with immigration raids have reached a boiling point the crowd was eventually pushed west over the 710 freeway into Compton where the confrontation continued a car lit on fire in the middle of Atlantic and Alandre during a standoff that lasted more than 12 hours then back in LA once the sun went down agents in riot gear forcing everyone to the intersection of Alama and Temple some of the protesters leaving the area others not backing down the LAPD declaring an unlawful assembly and President Trump moving to federalize 2,000 members of the California National Guard that leads us to today more violent clashes citywide as more than a thousand protesters went face-tof face with law enforcement in downtown once again this time with National Guard soldiers on hand guarding the federal building and complex protesters shutting down the 101 freeway setting fire to five Whimo cars and throwing rocks concrete even electric scooters onto CHP vehicles still parked on the 101 several people getting into physical confrontations with police la Mayor Karen Bass didn’t hold back in expressing her disappointment in how the Trump administration is handling this situation saying it is the federal government that is stoking this weekend’s violence i was hoping to prevent this situation from happening i was trying to encourage the uh administration that if they deployed the National Guard in Los Angeles it would create a sense of chaos the National Guard is there we have not seen them literally on the streets just guarding the federal building it is the LAPD CHP and LA Sheriff’s Department we have seen as the unrest continues deep into the night mark all right Jory Rand thank you for the encapsulation of why we find ourselves here tonight as we take a look live right now at downtown Los Angeles the lights of the city and among them the blue and red lights of police and uh other sheriff’s vehicles that uh dot the landscape as law enforcement officers try to bring under control these uh elements that have become an offshoot of what was a peaceful protest and demonstration and have started to create havoc in the city of Los Angeles there have been fires set people have been assaulted fireworks being fired at police by people bent on causing harm and the police responding as best they can we heard from the sheriff tonight that a mutual aid request was placed by the LAPD and the sheriff’s department and other local agencies from inside and outside of the city of Los Angeles are now responding and the law enforcement presence is about to grow quite rapidly neither the police chief nor the sheriff were indicating tonight that the the response from the National Guard was warranted they didn’t say it’s not but they say that it is uh under study and needed there are several steps that are required before they would make such a request and no such request has been made the mayor being much more blunt she said to us tonight there is no need for the National Guard the last time it was needed for a law enforcement issue was when there was citywide uh violence citywide unrest that could not be dealt with by the various agencies in the city and county of LA nonetheless we find ourselves tonight with National Guard troops that have been deployed at least right now alongside federal buildings and the threat of US Marines being brought into the city of Los Angeles to deal with American citizens we are continuing our live team coverage of the situation in downtown Los Angeles eyewitness News will be back in just a couple of minutes with more of our team coverage of the events that are unfolding in the city of angels now at 11 breaking news a third night of protests amid ICE raids in downtown LA scenes turning dangerous as tensions remain high get back the Trump administration federalizing 2,000 members of the California National Guard some arriving today as hundreds of US Marines remain on alert but some aren’t agreeing with the federal response i was hoping to prevent this situation from happening i was trying to encourage the uh administration that if they deployed the National Guard in Los Angeles it would create a sense of chaos the scenes changing moment by moment at times becoming violent hello thank you for joining us you’re watching Eyewitness News at 11 live on ABC7 Hulu and wherever you stream i’m Mark Brown the number of uh people we have seen on the streets has dwindled but the chaos has continued or attempts to incite chaos about an hour ago the LAPD declaring an unlawful assembly for the entire downtown Los Angeles area officers also responding to people looting at Sixth and Broadway multiple items on fire from a garbage dumpster to a parking attendance booth at one point this driver doing reverse donuts while others threw objects at the car officers later taking that driver into custody unsure of what his motive was 56 people between the CHP and the LAPD have been arrested since yesterday including one for throwing a Molotov cocktail at officers gabe Santos has been over the scene of downtown Los Angeles for most of the night he joins us now in Air 7 gabe yeah Mark uh we are continuing to monitor the scene here in downtown you’re looking at Hill and Temple Street with a large uh police presence and it is a contingent of multiple agencies you have LA County Sheriffs that’s going to be Temple and Broadway now uh LA County Sheriff’s has now been brought in to assist LAPD uh we saw uh various other federal agencies here too but the the the federal agencies are really kind of sticking to protecting federal buildings they’re not really having anything to do with protesters at this time you have CHP also on the scene uh dealing with the situation on the 101 freeway now happening hours ago but the southbound lanes of the 101 freeway are still closed due to some uh activity there where protesters earlier blocked the entire freeway and then uh from the bridge on the on Los Angeles street uh you could see it right there they actually started throwing uh pieces of concrete down onto the street below some of it hitting and heavily damaging some CHP vehicles down there that situation has uh uh seemed to have calmed down a bit right now but you’re looking at Hill and uh Temple Street where that uh looks like these are going to be LAPD units now and LAPD units uh and their special response team they are uh really just kinding uh trying to flood this the area with resources trying to flood downtown with resources as I look down Hill Street Spring Street it’s nothing but flashing lights red and blue flashing lights uh pretty much as far as the I can see uh in this downtown area uh there is that you see that smoke kind of rising uh through the shot there right where that uh LAPD chopper just flew the shot uh flew through the shot that is a little bit of a brush fire there that LAPD believes uh was started by an individual and they are actually trying to uh follow or see if there’s any available units to follow that individual north on uh Hill Street the air unit was calling out the location of the uh individual the air unit believe started that uh little fire there uh but there’s kind of a balance that uh LAPD has to manage here they have to decide okay what is actually worth it to take on right now we’re uh we’re zooming in on and Yale Street where the uh LAPD air unit is focused on right now and we’re just going to keep an eye on things and see uh which uh areas in this area of uh Hill Street kind of the 101 freeway uh which uh what areas uh have activity involved with protesters and where LAPD moves from here gabe Santos in Air 7 thank you we’re going to keep you up and your shot as things remain chaotic in parts of downtown LA tonight an unruly crowd challenging police shooting off fireworks starting fires we have seen some looting as well eyewitness News reporter Tim Caputo is down there live in downtown how’s it looking right now and Mark you know the crowd has been moving from intersection to intersection so essentially uh you’ll have in one second a crowd of several hundred people and then LAP will LAPD will move in and move the crowd out but I want to show you this because I think the entire day can be summed up in one hand you have this small piece of concrete you’re going to find these all over the streets of downtown Monday morning pieces like this and even bigger than this is what have been hurled at police officers at police vehicles at federal agents at CHP all day long and this blue piece here well this is the foam projectile the rubber bullets if you will that police officers have fired back at this crowd especially when it got violent this is the back and forth we have seen all day long that has essentially lasted uh from sunrise to sunset all over downtown Los Angeles at times this did get very violent with the crowd making its way onto the 101 freeway and as CHP worked to move the crowd out of there from above on those overpasses there were folks throwing rocks down below throwing pieces of concrete down below at one point CHP even had to ditch their vehicles because they were being uh objects were being thrown at them from above several cars were set on fire near the 101 as well as this crowd kind of worked its way through downtown clashing with police LAPD the sheriff’s department essentially anyone in a uniform all day long i spoke with two young men who actually came to downtown LA uh they’re from Panorama City they’re from Fontana as well they wanted to be part of this protest and both of them got a little too close for comfort it’s been crazy roller coaster it was chill for a good I don’t know a good 30 minutes and then next thing you know flashbangs you know tear gas in fact right over there there’s the park yeah they they started throwing a lot of tear gas in it and I was inhaling it so yeah that sucked and I guess I guess they thought I was a threat i wasn’t I wasn’t even throwing nothing i wasn’t being like nothing i wasn’t doing anything wrong and I I guess I got too close to the to close to them like to the top part of the gate and they ended up shooting me damn it’s not right bro so we were just at the intersection of Alama and Caesar Chavez and maybe an hour ago the crowd was several hundred people but LAPD came in with the mounted patrol and the skirmish line of officers and quickly moved them out of there the crowd still exists they’re moving around you’ve seen it from Air 7 but it’s getting smaller and smaller each and every time the one thing that’s been consistent not only through the day but into the night is those fireworks going off they’re not just kind of a symbol of where the crowd is they’ve often been used as an offensive in a lot of ways against police obviously something we’ve seen all day long we’re live tonight in downtown LA tim Caputo ABC7 Eyewitness News tim thank you and as this chaos continues to unfold the LAPD declared an unlawful assembly in downtown LA chief McDonald holding a press conference earlier this evening after meeting with Governor Gavin Newsome and Sheriff Robert Luna eyewitness News reporter Amy Powell joining us live with that part of the story amy and Mark the last time we spoke to you you saw there were fireworks going off on the street we’re here on Broadway overlooking the 101 freeway well since then sheriff’s deputies have arrived to clear the street in fact we got a line of deputies coming past us right now so all of those people with the explosive devices took off they ran down the street uh just a moment ago we saw several sever vehicles heading down the street and you see they’re firing off some non-lethal non-lethal weapons right now the helicopters going over so apparently they probably spotted those people with the explosives who were here earlier because again some of those devices they were setting off the firecrackers actually ignited a tree on fire across the street we can’t show you that right now because we got a sheriff’s vehicle blocking that but the sheriff’s deputies have come here they’ve cleared off this street and those protesters are on the run now massive crowds of protesters as you know have been gathering in the streets around the federal detention center angry about that series of sweeps in the LA area during which ICE detained dozens of people some setting fire to several Whimo vehicles the blazes sending up thick plumes of black spokes now tonight we saw people burning other materials on a street near city hall many in the crowd have been demonstrating peacefully but tonight there are still people setting off the fireworks as I mentioned and committing acts of vandalism earlier we heard from LAPD Chief Jim McDonald he said his department was given no advanced warning about the actions taken by federal agents he also made it clear that the LAPD does not participate in immigration and customs enforcement and he’s urging LA residents to protest without breaking the law when peaceful demonstrations devolve into acts of vandalism or violence especially violence directed at innocent people law enforcement officers and others we must respond firmly an act of violence whether toward officers demonstrators or the public will be met with swift and lawful action uh back out here live once again the sheriff’s deputies are here on Broadway and they have really cleared the protesters off this street again the people setting off those explosives took off running and we don’t know if the sheriff’s deputies have been able to catch them now one other point I want to make about what Chief McDonald was saying he addressed the issue there was a claim made that at the LAPD delayed responding to a federal officer’s request for help by more than two hours he says that is simply not true he says the officers were not pre-eployed so once they received that request for help they were there within 38 minutes so once again the LAPD wants people to follow the law that’s why they are taking part in enforcement efforts tonight trying to get people off the streets trying to keep these demonstrations peaceable which of course has not been the case certainly today i’ll send it back to you Mark yeah Amy uh in behind you it looks like a fire has been set by someone we have uh your shot and we also have Gabe Santos in Air 7 over it to show us what’s burning right now gabe yeah law enforcement believes that this is uh an arson fire and there’s there’s uh you know a lot of these that have been set throughout the night uh so uh LAPD LA County Sheriff’s all of the law enforcement resources here now LA City Fire are literally trying to uh put out little fires in the downtown area and this is one of them that has kind of uh spread pretty quickly up on a hillside it’s going uphill we know uh brush fires and dry conditions they burn very quickly uphill but LA City Fire was able to get on scene pretty quickly here and they’re going to uh as soon as they get those ho hose lines in position they are going to be able to uh put some water on this and get it out because it is uh this specific uh little area here which is uh north of the 101 freeway off of Spring Street uh is not an area that is heavily uh uh populated with uh protesters or demonstrators you can see that uh skirmish line on the right side of the picture there uh just trying to maintain security on I believe that’s going to be uh Hill Street uh in the background there uh they as I said earlier uh law enforcement believes that this was an arson fire and uh LAPD has their helicopter overhead trying to uh direct other available units if they are available and they can safely do so uh to try and take the person uh into custody that uh the uh air unit uh officer believes actually started this fire at the very least added fuel to this fire and helped it spread uh so this is what uh LAPD LA County Sheriff’s and all the law enforcement agencies in downtown are uh working with right now you still have a lot of individuals kind of scattered throughout the downtown area we’re not seeing a lot of uh major crowds as we saw earlier but a lot of individuals that are bent on uh doing things like this and starting uh fires starting uh uh uh dumpster fires and the like and LA FD has to kind of wiggle their way through the crowds around some of the debris and uh make their way in to put fires like this out i’m a little bit surprised that they haven’t uh opened the uh the hose lines if you will to start getting water on this and there you go right there uh they have been able to start putting water on this fire and hopefully this one will be out in pretty short order here mark it’s indicative really Gabe of the fact that if it doesn’t take a lot of people to cause this sort of chaos one person starts a fire here another person starts a fire there a few people barricade a street and all of a sudden you’ve got all kinds of incidents happening in downtown LA thank you for that report uh you know they’re supposed to be working together but they’re not they’re at cross purposes right now to the escalating war of words between state and local leaders and the White House tonight that’s what we’re talking about president Donald Trump firing back after Governor Gavin Newsome and Mayor Karen Bass blasted his decision to deploy National Guard troops amid protests against federal immigration rates eyewitness News reporter Jory Rand has been following this political fight and joins us live from our newsroom jory Mark Governor Nuome says that President Trump wants chaos he has instigated violence that’s coming from the governor he’s continues he’s manufactured a crisis and is in flaming conditions that’s the governor talking about the sitting president meanwhile President Trump appears to be itching for a fight hinting at the possibility of escalating this showdown even further threatening to deploy US military troops against its own citizens national Guard has now officially been deployed in Los Angeles the governor now saying he has formally requested that the Trump administration resend what he calls an unlawful deployment of troops in Los Angeles County the governor is asking that they be returned to his command he he goes on to say “We didn’t have a problem until Trump got involved.” But tonight the president is doubling down on social media claiming the protesters are paid insurrectionists you have violent people and we’re not going to let him get away with it i think that you’re going to see some very strong law and order so the governor says now that there is a lawsuit pending to tomorrow to try and reverse this decision from the president we spoke with Lyola law professor Jessica Levenson today who says the real legal question here is whether the emergency circumstances exist that would allow the president to use the military as direct domestic law enforcement under the insurrection act so I think at that point you would have uh California having standing to sue i’m not saying it’s going to be a successful suit i’m saying they would have standing to sue the argument would be that the president is infringing on state sovereignty because he doesn’t have the power under the insurrection act that when you pull the court on the insurrection act that you should have cooperation from a governor now there have been let’s discuss and you may have already discussed moments in our nation’s history where the president has said “I’m sending in troops.” that was really about implementing desegregation decisions during the civil rights era we haven’t seen the insurrection act in my view used in modern times against the will of a governor which is a there are key differences between what played out during the civil rights era that was a government a state government and a governor not working according to federal law and so the president stepped in this is not that situation and this is the president deciding he needs to come in and and and enact law and order in a city and a state that has said they do not want his help they want to maintain control of their own said militia he uh the governor saying today he is the commanderin-chief of the California National Guard and that power has now been usurped by the president of the United States the legal showdown will continue tomorrow as the fight continues on the streets of Los Angeles mark all right Jory Ran thank you more from Governor Nuome today today the governor responding on MSNBC to White House borders are Tom Hman who said he would arrest him amid the chaos in LA tom Holman the borders are said to me yesterday he he did not rule out literally arresting you nor Mayor Bass if you interfere in his yet he’s a tough guy why doesn’t he do that he knows where to find me but you know what let your hands off four-year-old girls that are trying to get educated get your hands off these poor people who just trying to get live their lives man trying to live their lives paying their taxes been here 10 years the fear the horror the hell is this guy come after me arrest me let’s just get it over with tough guy you know I don’t give a damn but I care about my community i care about this community the hell are they doing these guys need to grow up they need to stop and we need to push back and I’m sorry to be so clear but uh that kind of bloiating is exhausting so Tom arrest me let’s go the governor calling President Trump the quote commander of chaos calling his orders immoral we have Gabe Santos overhead in Air 7 over downtown LA the streets starting to look a quite a bit emptier than they were filling now with sirens and police vehicles on the move gabe yeah we’re we’re continuing to follow little uh outbursts of behavior from individuals in the downtown area uh these officers are headed towards 8th Street and Broadway you can see them making a left turn there and I believe that’s going to be 7th Street uh there was an officer needs help call in that area we’re we’re uh dealing with a lot of additional air traffic a lot of uh uh airship from law enforcement agencies and also the weather the uh the marine layer is pretty low over the downtown area so we can’t really get over where the LAPD ship is working over that particular scene so we’re we’re trying to kind of see from a distance and as these individual calls come out we’re trying to uh make sense of them and see uh what’s actually going on so you saw all of those units going southbound on Hill Street and they’re going to investigate this officer needs help call uh we’re going to try and find uh further details on that and see exactly what the uh result of that was but as I’m hearing that there’s also another call for uh assistance on First and Spring Street so we’re hearing these individual calls these individual uh intersections where officers are dealing with uh individuals that are still throwing projectiles and fireworks and uh things of that nature at officers i’m still seeing you know every every couple of minutes uh a flash or a flashbang or uh a firework go off so you’re still seeing a lot of uh little bits of activity like that and as I look out the windshield of Air7 I see a lot I just want to point out I see a lot of people still on the road so it’s not like people are avoiding downtown i think there’s there’s a liiloo factor to it all where you just have a lot of people coming downtown to just kind of see what’s going on and you could see uh there this looks like Hill Street and Or uh somebody uh you know launching the fireworks up into the air right in front of that uh I believe that’s a uh LAPD skirmish line a little bit south of that location and LAPD just has to uh manage their resources they have to decide you know we’re not going to chase after each individual fireworks thrower or fire starter we have to uh kind of methodically uh approach this and only move forward if uh the situation calls for it so we’re going to uh keep an eye on this and keep an eye on the various intersections where LAPD uh is still dealing with uh individuals apparently bent on causing uh mayhem this evening indeed Gabe Santos in Air 7 worth noting too as we look around it does seem like there are more law enforcement officers gathering in downtown Los Angeles now the mutual aid call came from the LAPD and agencies have begun to respond in particular the uh LA County Sheriff’s Department which has deployed a number of officers a lot of them into downtown LA to help with the response there so we’re starting to see uh the uh police uh beginning to match if not outnumber the numbers of people who are still bent on causing harm and and disarray in downtown Los Angeles so uh they are perhaps getting a handle on things the mayor indicating that earlier the sheriff also indicating that hundreds of uh people gathering outside the immigration service building in San Francisco today they’re rallying against the ICE raids and deportations that are happening across the state officers in riot gear were seen there trying to disperse the crowds this move comes as a response to demonstrations in LA as law enforcement used tear gas rubber bullets and flashbangs to control the crowd defense Secretary Pete Hegset’s comments threatening to deploy US Marines on US soil drew a small group of demonstrators to Camp Pendleton today more than four dozen people held up signs at the main gate to Camp Pendleton with slogans such as quote “We’re on a slippery slope to fascism and your oath is to the Constitution.” President Donald Trump has already federalized and deployed National Guard troops to LA after protests erupted over Friday’s immigration raids this coming despite strong objections from the governor and the mayor of Los Angeles patrick Saunders is an Air Force veteran he organized the Camp Pendleton demonstration we want to show our support to the military members that work here uh we want to kind of remind them of what their duty is to us but additionally we want to make it very publicly known that we condemn any sort of uh action by the administration of using active duty or National Guard troops uh on US citizens meanwhile US Northern Command confirms 500 Mar Marines from 29 Palms are on what is called prepared to deploy status should they be called to help protect federal property and personnel let’s look live right now again at Air 7 over downtown Los Angeles another long convoy of law enforcement vehicles on the move we are seeing them deployed and moving to various hotspots around the downtown area which has been the scene of so much of the chaos that erupted after the peaceful demonstrations against the ICE raids that have taken place this week we’ll be back with more coverage right after the break
HAPPENING NOW: A protest is happening now in downtown Los Angeles.
33 comments
FBI AND ELON WORK FOR CHINA THEY ORGANIZED THESE EVENTS
Just protest with signs stating, we are voting you out of office for racially profiling and for the double standard. Many white illegals are blending in. Latin Americans just take the house and senate back.
Amazing how the Right wing are destroying the US these days. Somehow we should support Musk. There must be something in between. Where is the love❤
what about police shooting reporter
So proud to wave the Mexico flag… just not proud enough to actually go back. LOL.
Failing to manage illegals in situ — this is the outcome we’ve arrived at after years of neglect.
Ship them all to Mexico!
Build own country
No islam no terrorism
i understand now… deploying more troops leads to more rioting… ok.
Wrong title. "Illegal alien invasion"
Dictator Donald Trump, his wife, and his entire family must also be deported from the United States because they, too, are immigrants. Trump must pay for all the crimes he committed from his first term to his second.
And yet Wave the flag of another Country…and while we're at it that should mean every single LEGAL American should have any and all minor misdemeanors wiped from the system. This is a protest about bein mad about breakin' a law…crazy af man, and not everybody they want to deport is a bad person either but the fact remains they broke the law and have to answer to it just like the everybody else plain and simple.
The enemies from within… unfit, unstable to be president….
It looks like Athena greece ! Send some Greeks… they can definitely solve this …
Arrest Mayor Karen
When the Federal government breaks the law why are the LA PD not arresting them instead? oh yeah right, never talk about states rights again.
I realize it's not the wild west anymore, but if you find yourself under horse hooves, you are not protesting peacefully. Keep smelling your own farts, Los Angelas
"Waymo is an American autonomous driving technology company that originated from Google's self-driving car project. It is a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. and is headquartered in Mountain View, California."
notice how its nearly all men doing the chaos, young men yearn for the trenches.
ترامب ديكتاتور
People, just think about it, the illegals are telling the police to "get out of here", it's unthinkable! What has the country become?! We need to get rid of anyone who creates disorder in the streets and resists the police and military. Trump is doing the right thing! Everything will be a help to Trump, the police, the military ! Everybody help the country!
What’s going on in the USA ??
It’s been coming for a long time. discord on both sides is the only thing,that will stop blood shed
Bill C deported over 12 million just sayin
MAGA🇺🇸
The protestors show great restraint. Peaceful civil disobedience ❤
LAPD SCUM
Why no water cannons
Everytime I see a Mexican flag, I think of weakness. A Mexican army of more than 20,000 got whooped by a malitia made up of farmers and cowboys. Too funny.
8:12pm when they let the lapd horse trample that guy on live tv. My guy is gonna get paid
Protect your country…
This police guy is a liar. Lying on camera. Who can believe a word he says?
One rioter breaks stuff, 9 of them closely record with their phones.. "90% peaceful protest"
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