As a fifth day of anti-ICE protests continue into the typically volatile evening hours, a state of emergency and a curfew in a portion of downtown Los Angeles now in place, many across Southern California and the nation are asking who is inciting the violence, committing the vandalism and doing the looting?
Is it demonstrators or habitual agitators?
In a Tuesday evening press conference, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass announced the curfew in a single square mile area downtown between the 110, 10 and 5 freeways, including Skid Row, Chinatown, Little Tokyo and the Fashion District.
The curfew, which begins this evening at 8 p.m. and goes until 6 a.m., is expected to remain in place for at least several days.
“Last night, there were 23 businesses that were looted,” the mayor said. “I think that if you drive through downtown L.A., the graffiti is everywhere and has caused significant damages to businesses and a number of properties.”
Bass warned anyone attempting to remain in the curfew zone after 8 p.m., with limited exceptions, will be subject to arrest.
On Monday, Bass expressed her deep frustration with those choosing to engage in illegal behavior, using the cover of immigrants’ rights as a reason to cause mayhem.
“I just say to anybody that does that, don’t come and say you are supporting immigrants’ rights. You can’t possibly be supporting immigrants and vandalize our city,” she said. “You will be arrested. It might not happen that day, so don’t think that because you went home that night that you’re free. There’s a lot of videotape, investigations that will take place and you will be held accountable and, frankly, need to be separated from the people who are fighting on behalf of our immigrant community.”
On Sunday, L.A. Police Chief Jim McDonnell highlighted the level of violence police have battled, from a Molotov cocktail that hit an officer to two motorcyclists reportedly ramming skirmish lines to cinderblocks smashed into rocks, passed around and lobbed at police and commercial grade fireworks launched at the force.
“That can kill you,” McDonnell emphasized.
The night of June 9 also devolved into a stretch of five Waymo driverless taxis on North Los Angeles Street near Arcadia Street tagged with graffiti and lit on fire, sending flames and clouds of toxic black smoke into the air.
“These are people who are all hooded up, they’ve got a face mask on. They’re the people who do this all the time, get away with whatever they can [and] go from one civil unrest situation to another using similar tactics,” the chief said. “Some would call them anarchists, but they’re people we run across routinely, city to city; it’s what they do. Even more disgusting [is] that many people doing this come in from other places just to hurt people and to cause havoc.”
As of late afternoon Tuesday, police said that nearly 200 people had been arrested on various charges.
Just before 9 p.m., LAPD’s Central Division said in a post to X that “mass arrests are being initiated” for curfew violations.
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