Los Angeles imposes curfew amid ongoing immigration raid protests
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has declared a local emergency and imposed a 10-hour curfew for downtown Los Angeles in response to escalating protests over U.S. President Donald Trump’s immigration raids.
Bass says the curfew will run from 8 pm on Tuesday to 6 am on Wednesday local time, as she declared a local emergency, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
“We reached a tipping point” after 23 businesses were looted, Bass said.
The curfew will be in place in an area covering a just over 2.5 square kilometre section of downtown, including the area where protests have been raging since Friday. The city of Los Angeles encompasses roughly 2,295 square kilometres.
The curfew doesn’t apply to residents who live in the designated area, those who are homeless, credentialed media or public safety and emergency officials, according to Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell.
McDonnell said “unlawful and dangerous behaviour” has been escalating since Saturday, prompting the need to impose the curfew.
“The curfew is a necessary measure to protect lives and safeguard property following several consecutive days of growing unrest throughout the city,” said McDonnell.
California Governor Gavin Newsom says US President Donald Trump is “pulling a military dragnet” across Los Angeles.
The Democratic governor's remarks come after Trump ordered the deployment of nearly 5,000 troops, including National Guard and Marines, to the nation’s second-largest city.
They were deployed to protect federal buildings but are now also protecting immigration agents as they carry out arrests.
The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said in a statement that the troops were providing security at federal facilities and protecting federal officers “who are out on daily enforcement operations.”
Newsom says Trump’s immigration crackdown has gone far beyond simply arresting criminals and that “dishwashers, gardeners, day labourers and seamstresses" are among those being detained.
He said Trump’s decision to deploy the California National Guard without his support should serve as a warning to other states as to the kind of disregard to federal laws the incumbent administration is willing to engage in.
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