Another demonstration against the Trump administration’s ongoing crackdown on illegal immigration was scheduled in downtown Los Angeles Saturday, after three consecutive nights of protests that occasionally featured clashes with police.
The group RefuseFascism.org organized a March for Humanity beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday at La Placita Olvera, past the federal Metropolitan Detention Center into East Los Angeles, concluding at Hollenbeck Park. The group said the march was being held to protest “our immigrant brothers and sisters … being hunted, disappeared into detention camps and terrorized by a lawless and grotesque federalized military force loyal only to Trump’s MAGA fascist regime.”
Protesters blocked the road at Aliso and Alameda streets around 10 p.m. Friday near the Metropolitan Detention Center, and Los Angeles Police Department cautioned drivers to use alternate routes.
The crowd cleared the area by 1 a.m., KTLA5 reported.
One night earlier, at least one person was injured and four people were arrested when protesters clashed with LAPD officers at the same location.
“Late in the evening and into the morning hours, Central Division officers were called to the area (of) Alameda south of Aliso due to federal officers requesting assistance due to protesters trespassing, obstructing and becoming violent,” an LAPD news release said. “When Central officers arrived, they were confronted by a large group of people in the middle of Alameda.”
As officers responded, they “were met with one individual swinging a 6-foot rope with metal bolts on the end of it hitting officers.”
Others in the crowd did not disperse as ordered and resisted efforts to remove them, according to the LAPD.
One person was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, two were arrested on suspicion of resisting or obstructing officers and one was collared on suspicion of battery for allegedly spitting on or at officers, police said.
Shortly after the protest was dispersed around 12:30 a..m. Friday, the LAPD requested an ambulance to respond to the Metropolitan Detention Center for an injured party, according to reports from the scene.
Video from ABC7 showed protesters following a Los Angeles Fire Department ambulance, taking photographs and chanting slogans as the ambulance drove away. The ambulance was escorted by a Department of Homeland Security Federal Protective Service vehicle.
The condition of the injured person was not available.
The latest series of protests began Wednesday night, when National Guard members were deployed to the scene.