Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell and department leaders held a press conference Sunday night to update the public on the ongoing clash between law enforcement and anti-ICE protestors downtown.
Officials said that since Saturday, at least 39 people have been arrested by LAPD, with officers from the California Highway Patrol arresting an additional 17 people Sunday after protesters breached the 101 Freeway Sunday afternoon.
Among the arrests, one man was taken into custody for allegedly throwing a Molotov cocktail at an officer and a motorcyclist was arrested for ramming a police skirmish line.
Among the mayhem, protesters on an overpass tossed rocks, scooters and other items at police cars parked on the 101 Freeway and attempted to start cruisers on fire. Police said several individuals were shooting “commercial grade fireworks” at officers.
“That can kill you,” Chief McDonnell said. “We have adapted our tactics to be able to have a chance to be able to take these people into custody and to hold them accountable.”
McDonnell, who said the department currently has limited interaction with federalized national guard troops, admitted that officers are overwhelmed with the number of people in the area causing mayhem.
“They’ll take a backpack, and the backpack will have a cinderblock in it. They’ll break up the cinderblock and use that, pass it around to throw at officers, to throw at cars and other people,” he said.
Asked about his feelings toward working with the national guard, McDonnell said the department would have gone through a few more steps, including requests for mutual aid from the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department and other agencies, before asking for deployment of the guard.
“Do we need them? Look at tonight, this has gotten out of control. I’d have to know more about what their capabilities are, what their role is intended to be,” the chief said. “But we have great cops here that work together all the time, so we have tremendous capability.”
Chief McDonnell reiterated that LAPD does not work with federal ICE agents, nor do they provide them with any information, saying that’s been the department’s policy since 1979.
“I can’t stress this enough for the people in our community who have high levels of anxiety about this issue,” he added. “We want everybody to be able to call LAPD in time of need or if they’ve been a witness to a crime. We need that, otherwise the system does not work.”
McDonnell also went out of his way to express gratitude to people who have engaged in peaceful demonstrations across the city, noting that those out committing acts of violence are not the same people seen exercising their First Amendment rights during the day.
“There are people who do this all the time, get away with whatever they can, going from one civil unrest situation to another using similar tactics and they are connected,” the chief said. “
The complete press conference can be watched in the video player above.
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