Nearly 60 anti-ICE protesters were arrested in Los Angeles over the weekend during nationwide demonstrations calling for an end to funding for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, authorities said Monday.
Police made 51 arrests on Saturday evening, with 47 adults and three juveniles cited and released for failure to disperse, Los Angeles Police Department spokeswoman Officer Norma Eisenman told HeySoCal.com. One person was arrested on suspicion of felony evading.
On Friday, five adults and one juvenile were charged with failing to comply with the LAPD’s dispersal order, one individual was charged with assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer and one arrest was for an alleged curfew violation.
Saturday’s protests occurred after violence broke out Friday night, when protesters were arrested for throwing objects at federal agents at downtown’s Metropolitan Detention Center. A large rally began at 2 p.m. Saturday on the steps of City Hall, 200 N. Spring St.
Similar to the protest Friday night, the demonstration Saturday appeared peaceful at the start, but as the later hours of the night set in, the LAPD issued a citywide tactical alert and ordered protesters to disperse after some threw “bottles, rocks and industrial size fireworks” at law enforcement officers, according to the department.
Several anti-ICE rallies were also held Friday and Saturday in Southern California locales, including Pasadena, Baldwin Park, Compton, El Segundo, Culver City, Torrance and Aliso Viejo.
After violent clashes occurred Friday, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said he requested more federal agents to LA to protect federal property.
“The violence and destruction of property directed at our federal properties in downtown Los Angeles last night is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. I have authorized federal officers to arrest anyone engaged in violence on the spot,” Essayli said.
“We’re not playing,” he posted later Saturday on social media. “We have surged federal officers to protect our property and our employees. I have authorized probable cause arrests for those who break the law, and they will be charged federally.”
In an extensive internet post, President Donald Trump also pledged to protect federal property during protests.
“I have instructed Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, that under no circumstances are we going to participate in various poorly run Democrat cities with regard to their protests and/or riots unless, and until, they ask us for help,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “We will, however, guard, and very powerfully so, any and all federal buildings that are being attacked by these highly paid lunatics, agitators, and insurrectionists.
“Please be aware that I have instructed ICE and/or Border Patrol to be very forceful in this protection of federal government property,” Trump continued. “There will be no spitting in the faces of our officers, there will be no punching or kicking the headlights of our cars, and there will be no rock or brick throwing at our vehicles, or at our patriot warriors. If there is, those people will suffer an equal, or more, consequence. …
“I am informing local governments, as I did in Los Angeles when they were rioting at the end of the Biden term, that you must protect your own state and local property,” the president continued. “In addition, it is your obligation to also protect our federal property, buildings, parks, and everything else. We are there to protect federal property, only as a back up, in that it is local and state responsibility to do so.”
It was not immediately clear Monday if federal officers made any arrests related to the protests over the weekend. Federal authorities did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Two officers suffered minor injuries, according to published reports.
LAPD officials said Friday that vandalism during the protests was being documented. Police asked all property owners and managers to also document acts of vandalism and report them via lapdonline.org.
LA Mayor Karen Bass said violent protests invite a stronger federal presence.
“I think the protests are extremely important, but it is equally important for these protests to be peaceful, for vandalism not to take place,” Bass said late Friday. “That just hurts the city. That does not impact the administration in any kind of way that is going to bring about any type of change. … If the protest gets violent, that is exactly what I believe this administration wants to see happen, because then don’t be surprised if the military re-enters our city.”
The demonstrations were part of a nationwide day of action in response to the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal officers in Minneapolis. Protest organizers have called for the defunding of ICE.
On Monday, Archbishop Jose H. Gomez designated Wednesday as a “Day of Prayer for Peace in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.” A “Mass for Peace” is scheduled for 12:10 p.m. at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown LA.
