What started as a large, peaceful crowd protesting President Donald Trump and his administration in downtown Los Angeles ended with a smaller group of people throwing cement chunks at federal officers, followed by tear gas and arrests.
The Los Angeles Police Department’s incident commander declared a citywide tactical alert around 5:10 p.m. Saturday after a group of protesters started kicking a fence in front of the Metropolitan Detention Center at Alameda and Temple streets and throwing concrete chunks at federal officer. Demonstrators were ordered to leave the area.
“Protestors on Alameda between Aliso and Temple have been warned multiple times by Federal Authorities to not attempt to tear down the gate and not throw items,” a post on an LAPD social media account said.
“Federal authorities are using non-lethal measures to move crowd back.”
Video from the scene showed LAPD officers on foot and horseback lining up to push protesters away from the location. Photos showed tear gas in use.
Around 7:25 p.m., the department tweeted, “multiple arrests being made.” A police spokesman said it would likely not have exact numbers until Sunday morning.
The tactical alert was cancelled at 8:03 p.m.
A tactical alert allows the department to keep officers on duty past the end of their scheduled shifts.
Obscene graffiti criticizing Immigration and Customs Enforcement could be seen in the area, along with a call to “Free Palestine.”
The downtown No Kings Day rally at Gloria Molina Grand Park across from City Hall began around 2 p.m. Saturday, followed by a march at 3 p.m., part of a nationwide day of protests against the Trump administration.
In anticipation of the crowds, Caltrans crews Friday placed security gates along on- and off-ramps to the Hollywood (101) Freeway in the downtown area. During previous No Kings protests in downtown L.A., some participants moved onto freeway lanes, temporarily blocking traffic. Streets were also blocked in the Civic Center area, including sections of Broadway and Spring Street.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and the LAPD urged participants to keep the demonstrations peaceful and lawful.
“Peaceful protest is our constitutional right,” Bass wrote on social media. “When people come together to make their voices heard, that is democracy in action. Please stay safe and look out for one another.”
The LAPD posted the following on social media: “The Los Angeles Police Department fully supports the right of individuals to peacefully assemble and exercise their First Amendment rights. We are committed to ensuring that everyone can express themselves safely. We ask those that choose to assemble to do so in a manner that is lawful, safe and responsible.”
Some participants in the downtown march carried a large helium-filled balloon depicting Trump, along with handmade signs, during a roughly 1.5-mile march beginning on Spring Street. The organizers called for Trump’s impeachment and removal from office and the abolition of ICE.
“As unconstitutional deportations and inhumane treatment of immigrants and asylum seekers continue across the United States, and as illegal and unauthorized wars are perpetrated around the globe, Los Angeles unites in solidarity with a peaceful march and rally,” organizers said in a statement.
Scheduled speakers included actress Jodie Sweetin and Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association, the nation’s largest union. It represents public school teachers and other support personnel, faculty and staff members at colleges and universities, retired educators and college students preparing to become teachers.
“A lot of people want to help, they just don’t know where to start,” said Emily Williams, a lead organizer for 50501 SoCal. “No Kings is that starting point. It’s about community, about showing up for each other, and about turning concern into real action you can be part of.”
50501 SoCal is the Southern California chapter of 50501, which bills itself as “a peaceful, decentralized grassroots political movement with a mission to uphold democracy and constitutional governance.” Its name stems from “50 protests. 50 states. 1 Movement.”
50501 was among the national organizers of No Kings Day.
“The president thinks his rule is absolute,” according to the No Kings website. “But in America, we don’t have kings — and we won’t back down against chaos, corruption and cruelty. Our peaceful movement is only getting bigger. `No Kings’ is more than just a slogan; it is the foundation our nation was built upon.”
A total of 40 demonstrations were held in Los Angeles County, including Burbank, Culver City, Hollywood, Long Beach, Malibu, Venice and Woodland Hills. More than a dozen demonstrations were held in Orange County, including Anaheim, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Santa Ana and Westminster.
They were among more than 3,300 events nationwide with at least eight million participants, which organizer 50501 claims set a record for ” the largest single-day nationwide demonstrations in US history. The third No Kings saw more than one million more attendees and 600 more events than the October mobilization.”
Nearly half of the No Kings events were in traditionally “red” or battleground states, organizers said.
“This is what it looks like when a movement grows — not just in size, but in reach, in courage and in more people who see themselves as part of this movement,” the organizers said.
“The American people are fed up with this administration’s power grabs, an illegal war that Congress and the public haven’t approved and the continued attempts to stifle our freedoms. We’re not waiting for change; we’re making it.”
A spokeswoman for the White House, Abigail Jackson, said in a statement to The New York Times that “the only people who care about these Trump derangement therapy sessions are the reporters who are paid to cover them.”