Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass imposed a curfew in the city center on Tuesday, on the fifth day of ongoing protests against immigration and customs enforcement raids.
The curfew will be in effect in the city center from 8:00 PM to 6:00 AM local time, initially for a few days, and will be extended if necessary, writes Axios. Authorities aim to stop looting and vandalism amid growing protests. On Tuesday, police detained about 200 protesters.
«It is crucial to understand that what is happening in the one-square-mile area does not affect the entire city,» Bass noted, adding that «some images of protests and violence create the impression that this is a crisis engulfing the entire city, but it is not.»
More than two thousand National Guard troops are already in the city, with the Pentagon promising to send four thousand National Guard soldiers and 700 Marines to Los Angeles. Bass and California Governor Gavin Newsom criticized the president's decision to deploy troops in the city and called for their withdrawal.
Newsom filed a lawsuit against Trump and the Pentagon, attempting to challenge the decision to deploy military forces in the city. On Tuesday, a federal judge rejected the California governor's request for an immediate restraining order and granted the Trump administration's request for additional time to respond to the governor's motion.
Meanwhile, two California senators, Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla, stated that active-duty military personnel should be mobilized domestically only «in the most extreme circumstances, and this is not the case.»
Newsom publicly criticized Trump, accusing him of weakness, causing societal harm, and attacking democracy. According to the California governor, the US president «has cast military nets all over Los Angeles, far exceeding his declared intentions to pursue only violent and serious criminals.»
«Trump's agents are arresting dishwashers, gardeners, day laborers, and seamstresses. This is simply weakness. Weakness masquerading as strength,» he said, noting that Trump «is not protecting, but harming» society.
Newsom called for peaceful protest in defense of democracy, addressing other states. «California may be the first, but it clearly won't end here. Other states will be next. Democracy will be next. Democracy is under attack. We are witnessing the moment we feared,» the California governor stated. He added that Trump «is taking a sledgehammer to destroy what our founding fathers created, the historic project, three equal branches of independent power.» «There is no longer a system of checks and balances. Congress is nowhere to be seen,» Newsom concluded.
Photo: The New York Times