Demonstrations continued Saturday amid a nationwide push to end funding for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, including one assembly outside Los Angeles City Hall, a day following the arrests of multiple protesters during clashes with federal agents outside downtown’s Metropolitan Detention Center.
The City Hall rally organized by 50501Socal was scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. on the building’s steps at 200 N. Spring St. Nearly a dozen similar rallies were set for Saturday in Southern California cities.
At least five people were arrested Friday, LA Mayor Karen Bass said, during confrontations with federal officers during a nationwide day of protest following the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by U.S. Department of Homeland Security agents in Minneapolis while the two were protesting against the illegal immigration crackdown there.
“Officers have arrested a suspect who was allegedly using a sling shot to shoot hard metal objects at officers who were standing on the line,” the Los Angeles Police Department Central Division posted on social media At 7:40 p.m. Friday.
The clashes between authorities and demonstrators started shortly before 5 p.m. Friday
Video from the scene showed members of the crowd throwing objects toward the federal facility at 300 N. Spring St., while police appeared to deploy pepper spray from inside the building and put up a makeshift barricade made of wooden skids from a loading-dock area.
At 5:16 p.m. Friday, the LAPD announced a tactical alert because of “violent agitators” on Alameda Street between Temple and Aliso streets, according to the department’s social media post.
A tactical alert requires all on-duty officers to not sign out from their shifts to enable the redeployment of personnel.
Spring Street between Temple and First streets was closed due to demonstrations.
Police ordered demonstrators to disperse at about 5:45 p.m., giving protesters in the area of Alameda between Union Station 10 minutes to leave or face arrest, police said.
When officers attempted to disperse the crowd on Alameda Street between Temple and Aliso streets around 6:05 p.m., protesters immediately began to block the road with traffic control items and throw rocks and bottles at the officers, according to police.
Freshly sprayed graffiti paint displaying obscenities critical of ICE and President Donald Trump was visible on several buildings in the area.
The LAPD announced Friday that acts of vandalism during the protest were being documented and requested that all property owners and managers to document acts of vandalism and report them via LAPD.online.
By the 1 p.m. start of the rally outside LA City Hall and at the adjacent Grand Park, a crowd of more than 1,000 protesters had assembled in the park, with the throng continuing to swell as demonstrators set off on a peaceful march eastward. Many crossed the Cesar E. Chavez Avenue bridge toward Boyle Heights.
Video from the scene showed sheriff’s deputies standing guard behind razor wire surrounding the Hall of Justice, home to administrative offices for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
California Highway Patrol officials said on- and off-ramps were blocked in the downtown area, though traffic flow on area freeways was normal.
Sign-carrying protesters assembled outside a Target store in Woodland Hills Friday, lambasting what they said was the retailer’s abandonment of policies that encourage diversity, equity and inclusion.
Some demonstrators claimed federal agents have been allowed on store premises. Target representatives denied the claims, saying the company has no agreement to cooperate with the federal government on immigration enforcement.
Additional protests were held in Pasadena, Long Beach, outside Burbank City Hall, at Abbott Kinney and Venice boulevards in Venice, at Carlson Park in Culver City and the intersection of Valencia Boulevard and McBean Parkway in Santa Clarita.
In Orange County, an afternoon rally took place at the intersection of Camino Capistrano and Del Obispo Street in San Juan Capistrano.
Broadcast reports showed students walking out of classes and on the march in Mission Viejo and La Habra.
Students at La Quinta and Coachella high schools in Riverside County also participated in walkouts to join that national day of protest.
Los Angeles Unified School District campuses remained open Friday.
“Schools are providing students with opportunities on campus for student expression, offering additional district resources and guidance for students to engage in meaningful discussions on campus,” according to a statement from the School District.
“The people of the Twin Cities have shown the way for the whole country — to stop ICE’s reign of terror, we need to SHUT IT DOWN. On Friday, January 30, join a nationwide day of no school, no work and no shopping,” protest organizers in Minneapolis posted online.
Several local businesses participated in the protest through closures or boycotts.
“Everyday Americans are coming together to demand the immediate and permanent removal of ICE, DHS, CBP from communities at over 300 events nationwide,” according to protest organizers from 50501 SoCal.
“The purpose of the system is what it does,” 50501 National Press Coordinator Hunter Dunn said in a statement. “ICE exists to kidnap children, throw our neighbors into concentration camps, and execute Americans in the street. We must do more than simply abolish ICE: we must prosecute every single official complicit in their crimes against the American people.”
