LOS ANGELES — More than 1,000 protesters clashed and faced off with National Guard troops in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday during the latest demonstrations against immigration raids that swept across California over the weekend.
Xinhua reporters at the scene observed National Guard soldiers, along with agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security, repeatedly firing tear gas and smoke grenades to disperse the crowd. Some protesters and journalists were hit during the confrontation.
“We want to protest peacefully. However, the Trump administration just sent soldiers to fight against us. Is it necessary?” one protester told Xinhua outside the Metropolitan Detention Center.
Protesters at the scene also chanted “shame on you” at National Guard soldiers who created a perimeter around the federal building. Meanwhile, many locations have been taken over by more and more demonstrators and a main freeway running through the city has been blocked.
Shortly after the clash, California Governor Gavin Newsom urged protesters to remain peaceful.
“California — Don’t give Donald Trump what he wants. Speak up. Stay peaceful. Stay calm,” Newsom wrote in an online post. “Do not use violence and respect the law enforcement officers that are trying their best to keep the peace.”
National Guard troops sent by the Trump administration arrived in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday morning, according to the US Northern Command. The 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team from the California National Guard deployed approximately 300 soldiers to three separate locations in the greater Los Angeles area.
“They are conducting safety and protection of federal property & personnel,” the Northern Command announced in an online post.
On Sunday afternoon, Newsom made a formal request to US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, asking the latter to rescind “unlawful” deployment of National Guard troops to Los Angeles and return them to California authority’s command, calling the deployment “a serious breach of state sovereignty.”
“We didn’t have a problem until Trump got involved,” Newsom said in a post on X.
“This is a serious breach of state sovereignty — inflaming tensions while pulling resources from where they’re actually needed. Rescind the order. Return control to California,” he added.
The clash came after agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal law enforcement agencies raided several locations in southern California on Friday, which sparked two-day mass protests.
Washington vowed on Saturday to continue the raids despite opposition from local communities and officials. The raids resulted in more than 100 arrests, drawing angry protesters who confronted agents with tear gas, flash-bang grenades and rocks.
US President Donald Trump took extraordinary action on Saturday by calling up 2,000 National Guard troops to quell immigration protests in the Los Angeles region, making rare use of federal powers and bypassing the authority of Governor Newsom.
The governor is leading the opposition on Sunday against Trump’s decision.
Newsom, who previously warned repeatedly that Trump’s decision was for the sake of a spectacle, said the president was “not to meet an unmet need, but to manufacture a crisis.”
“He’s hoping for chaos so he can justify more crackdowns, more fear, more control. Stay calm. Never use violence. Stay peaceful,” he wrote in a post.
Protesters clash with National Guard troops in LA
