More Anti-Trump Protests in Downtown L.A.
Lately, there have been more protests in downtown Los Angeles against the Trump administration’s decisions to approve immigration raids. This Saturday, there was another series of protests at night against the recent immigration raids.
These raids are mostly because of militarized immigration searches and newly dispatched troops of the National Guard in downtown Los Angeles, plus other elite military forces that the protesters felt were unnecessary because it disturbed their everyday routine. Because of his decisions to intervene with the normal life of people in Los Angeles, many people criticized his decisions on X, Instagram, and other websites and joined the protests. Although the protests were meant to stop the troops from coming, Trump commandeered 2,000 more troops of the National Guard and 700 of the Marines.
The ‘No Kings Protest’ was the biggest protest since Trump had been elected, featuring 5 million people scattered across L.A. and its surrounding cities. After issuing a dispersal order to the people in the ‘No Kings Protest’ at 4 PM, the police started throwing canisters of tear gas at the protesters, who threw them back. A dispersal order is a directive issued by authorities that contribute to law enforcement. Melvin Hill, a leading protester in this event, who was a past U.S. Marine said “I’m out here because I was willing to die for the things we have in our constitution, and right now I feel like our constitutional rights are being violated, stepped on, trampled on by our president”. The protesters accompanying Mr. Hill shared the same thoughts, throwing rocks and other objects at the National Guard that were dispatched a couple of days ago.
“Shame on you! Shame on you!” shouted the protesters at the National Guard stood in front, guarding a federal building. In posts on X, the L.A. Police Department claimed that fireworks, rocks, and bottles were thrown at the National Guard. They had also claimed that ‘outside agitators’ had blockaded part of the street with other materials to prevent intervention. According to the L.A. Times, Homeland Security posted on X that “the facts are these U.S. citizens were arrested because they assaulted U.S. Border Control Agents”. “Secretary Noem has been clear: if you lay a hand on a law enforcement officer, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” they continued.
The citizens of L.A. all had different opinions on the current actions of the president’s administration. Some were against and some were with the Trump protests, but it is probable that more troops will be sent to L.A. because of the frequent protests.
