The Department of Homeland Security said that three federal officers were injured on Friday during a clash with demonstrators in downtown Los Angeles that left one federal agent hospitalized with a concussion.
The demonstration formed outside Los Angeles City Hall in the early afternoon, the Los Angeles Police Department said. It said the demonstrators then began marching toward a nearby federal building where those arrested by federal immigration agents in the Los Angeles area have been processed.
The protest grew to a group of about 200 to 300 people, some of whom began to throw objects, including rocks, at law enforcement officers outside the federal building, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.
One Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer was injured after being hit in the head with a rock, and two Federal Protective Services officers were also injured, the department said. One was hospitalized with a concussion, while the other had a cut over his eye.
The D.H.S. statement said that the “rioters” had not been located and arrested.
“Assaulting federal law enforcement is a felony and a federal crime,” it said. “Anyone who assaults or obstructs law enforcement will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Law and order will prevail.”
The city police said that acts of vandalism had been reported near the federal building before those protesting marched back to City Hall where the demonstration began.
It was unclear what led to the clash. The area outside the downtown federal building has been the site of many protests since large-scale immigration enforcement operations began in Southern California last summer.
At times, those protests have escalated into clashes between demonstrators and law enforcement. Last summer, the protests prompted President Trump to send National Guard troops to Southern California, and Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles implemented a temporary curfew in downtown to help quell the demonstrations.
Jesus Jiménez is a Times reporter covering Southern California.
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