For the third night in a row, downtown Los Angeles became the epicentre of chaos and confrontation as protests against US President
Donald Trump's immigration crackdown boiled over into violence, with police deploying tear gas, rubber bullets, and flashbangs to subdue demonstrators. Protesters set self-driving cars ablaze, blocked the 101 freeway, and clashed with law enforcement late into Sunday night, leaving parts of the city scorched and on edge.
The flashpoint came after Trump took the extraordinary step of deploying the National Guard to California without the consent of the state's governor, an act not seen in decades. More than 300 troops arrived over the weekend, with 2,000 authorised and 500 US Marines on standby.
Meanwhile, California governor Gavin Newsom told MSNBC that he will file suit on Monday against the Trump administration and called its order "an illegal act, an immoral act, an unconstitutional act."
By Monday morning, more than 150 people had been arrested in Los Angeles alone. The streets downtown were littered with scorched cars, shattered barricades, and graffiti-smeared buildings, evidence of a city pushed to the brink.
‘Bring in the Troops!’: Trump's overnight rant fuels firestormThe president, awake past midnight, raged on his Truth Social platform, calling protesters "thugs" and demanding mass arrests.
"Looking really bad in L.A. BRING IN THE TROOPS!!!" Trump wrote at 12.16 am.
"ARREST THE PEOPLE IN FACE MASKS, NOW!" he added minutes later.
Trump invoked a rarely used legal provision, citing "a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States." Experts say it is the first time since 1965, when Lyndon B Johnson sent troops to Alabama during the civil rights movement, that a president has activated a state's National without its governor's request for domestic law enforcement purposes.
California governor Gavin Newsom condemned the move as a "serious breach of state sovereignty" and accused Trump of "manufacturing chaos and violence."
Street battles and flames in the skyDowntown Los Angeles witnessed hours of pitched street battles on Sunday. Demonstrators pelted law enforcement with rocks, concrete slabs, electric scooters, and fireworks. In return, officers used crowd-control munitions to disperse them. Several vehicles, including at least four self-driving Waymo cars, were torched, their lithium batteries exploding into dark columns of smoke.
People take cover as a fire work explodes during a protest near the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, Sunday. (Pic credit: AP)
As night fell, protesters built makeshift barricades. The Los Angeles police department declared the area an unlawful assembly, and officers moved in as flashbangs echoed off buildings every few seconds.
The guard was primarily stationed to protect federal buildings, including the downtown immigration detention centre, where many of the demonstrations have concentrated.
A reporter hit and the world watchesAmong those caught in the crossfire was Australian journalist Lauren Tomasi of 9News, who was hit by a nonlethal round while reporting live. Footage shows an officer raising his weapon and firing at close range, causing Tomasi to cry out in pain and limp away from the police line.
"You just f---ing shot the reporter," a voice behind the camera can be heard shouting.
Tomasi later confirmed she was safe but described the atmosphere as "volatile and unpredictable."
A tale of two citiesDespite the unrest downtown, much of Los Angeles continued its usual rhythms on Sunday. A pride parade marched through West Hollywood, music echoed from the Hollywood Bowl, and families gathered for swim meets in the suburbs. But downtown told a different story, one of mounting civil strife and political collision.
People throw debris at law enforcement officers while others take cover during a protest against a series of immigration raids that occurred over the weekend, in downtown Los Angeles. (Pic credit: AP)
Symbolism and sovereignty: The protest messageMany protesters were first- or second-generation immigrants. Waving Latin American flags, particularly the Mexican tricolor, they marched in solidarity with families affected by the new travel ban, which took effect Monday. The ban blocks citizens from 12 predominantly African and Middle Eastern nations from entering the US.
While Trump allies cast the flag-bearing protesters as outsiders or agitators, many said the flags were symbols of pride, not rebellion.
Law enforcement caught in the middleLos Angeles police chief Jim McDonnell, while initially hesitant to welcome national guard support, acknowledged on Sunday night that "a reassessment" was needed.
"This thing has gotten out of control," McDonnell said. "We have great cops in Southern California... but the level of violence we saw tonight is beyond anything we anticipated."
As the sun rose Monday over scorched pavement and shuttered blocks, Los Angeles found itself at a historic crossroads—between federal force and state defiance, between protest and policing, between fear and fury. And with more demonstrations, the city's uneasy calm may not last for long.