Arrests made as clashes continue for 3rd night – DW – 06/09/2025

The United Nations has weighed in on the police response to protesters in California.

It called on all levels of government, including state and federal authorities, to prevent “further militarization” amid the unrest.

“We do not want to see any further militarization of this situation, and we encourage the parties at the local, state and federal levels to work to do that,” said UN spokesperson Farhan Haq.

US President Donald Trump claimed it was necessary to deploy the National Guard to Los Angeles in a post on his Truth social network on Monday.

“We made a great decision in sending the National Guard to deal with the violent, instigated riots in California,” Trump wrote.

“If we had not done so, Los Angeles would have been completely obliterated. The very incompetent ‘Governor,’ Gavin Newscum [sic], and ‘Mayor,’ Karen Bass, should be saying, ‘THANK YOU, PRESIDENT TRUMP, YOU ARE SO WONDERFUL. WE WOULD BE NOTHING WITHOUT YOU, SIR’.”

A day earlier, California’s Governor Gavin Newsom announced the state would sue the Trump administration over the move.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has condemned the violence during protests in Los Angeles against President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.

“It must be clear, we condemn violence wherever it comes from,” Sheinbaum said during a press conference.

Some protesters, carrying Mexican flags and signs denouncing US immigration authorities, participated in the demonstrations over the past few days. 

Sheinbaum also urged respect for migrant “dignity.”

Foreign Minister Juan Ramon de la Fuente said at least 42 Mexicans were being held after the controversial Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in Los Angeles.

He added that the vast majority of Mexicans detained were working when they were arrested.

The City of Glendale in Los Angeles County has canceled a contract that allowed Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to house detainees in its local jail.

“The City recognizes that public perception of the ICE contract, no matter how limited or carefully managed, no matter the good, has become divisive,” it said in a statement late Sunday.

ICE’s agreement with Glendale has been in place since 2007.

Even before the recent anti-ICE protests, the city faced criticism from community members and activists who argued that the collaboration violated California’s sanctuary laws.

California is a sanctuary state, meaning state and local law enforcement agencies are barred from assisting federal civil immigration officers.

US President Donald Trump has sent National Guard troops to Los Angeles against the will of the California state government. But Governor Gavin Newsom sees it as an alarming abuse of power.

With this order, Trump “continues to test the bounds of legality,” policy analyst Tyson Barker told DW.

At least 60 people were arrested in San Francisco as police clashed with demonstrators rallying against immigration raids in Los Angeles.

San Francisco police “declared an unlawful assembly,” they said on social media platform X. “Approximately 60 people were arrested, including juveniles.”

The demonstrations took place in front of a building belonging to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

It was initially peaceful, but police the group of people refused to comply with an order to disperse.

California Governor Gavin Newsom said California will sue the Trump administration over its deployment of the National Guard to quell Los Angeles protests.

Newsom told MSNBC that the lawsuit would challenge the president’s move to authorize federal troops without the state’s consent.

“Donald Trump has created the conditions you see on your TV tonight. He’s exacerbated the conditions. He’s, you know, lit the proverbial match. He’s putting fuel on this fire, ever since he announced he was taking over the National Guard — an illegal act, an immoral act, an unconstitutional act,” Newsom said. “And we’re going to test that theory with a lawsuit tomorrow,” he added.

Jayson Campadonia, news director at NBC News Radio, told DW that people in LA were worried about the “racial aspect of ICE raids” because it brought back memories of the 1992 riots in Los Angeles.

Those riots stemmed from the acquittal of four white Los Angeles Police Department officers in the beating of Black motorist Rodney King in 1991. The riots left more than 50 dead and more than 2,000 injured.

This time too, tensions are running high as similar apprehensions come into play, with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers reportedly having taken people into custody during immigration raids, as part of US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration, in the Los Angeles area on Friday.

Campadonia has been to protest sites in LA and said smaller protests converged into a big protest on Sunday.

He said he saw members of the National Guard “fully there to go to work” as they stood shoulder to shoulder in the streets on Sunday.

US President Donald Trump said in an early morning social media post that protesters were getting aggressive in Los Angeles referring to an assessment made by the Los Angeles police chief.

LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell delivered a press conference earlier Sunday, saying his officers were targeted during protests and that protests were becoming “increasingly worse and more violent.”

Jim McDonnell said he would have to “make a reassessment” on the need for the National Guard when asked about it at the press conference given the kind of violence that took place Sunday.

According to CNN, McDonnell said that: “Before I could answer that, I’d have to know more about what their capabilities are, what their role is intended to be, to be able to make that determination.”

“We have tremendous capability here. To say that we’d go to that right away, I’d say we’re not – we wouldn’t have been there yet. Looking at the violence tonight, I think we gotta make a reassessment,” he said.

“Don’t let these thugs get away with it,” Trump wrote on social media, adding that it’s “looking really bad in L.A. BRING IN THE TROOPS!!,” before writing “ARREST THE PEOPLE IN FACE MASKS, NOW!” 

Trump has sharply criticized protesters in Los Angeles, widening a political divide between California state authorities and his administration.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said she met with LA Governor Gavin Newsom, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell and LA County Sheriff Robert Luna on Sunday.

She asked people to steer clear of violence, writing to X that: “Angelenos — don’t engage in violence and chaos. Don’t give the administration what they want.”

The Los Angeles Times detailed the scene on the ground in a report, as clashes between police and protesters on a roadway on Sunday afternoon saw people taking aim at police patrol cars.

A roadway was closed to traffic for several hours and highway patrol officers worked to disperse demonstrators who had gathered there, detaining several people in the process, according to the report.

A group of people then descended on self-driving taxis lined up on a downtown street — tires were slashed, windows smashed and anti-ICE messages spray-painted on all of the taxis, three of which were set on fire.

The Los Angeles Fire Department responded to the vehicle blazes while the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) warned people to stay away from the area. 

The Los Angeles Police Department said early Monday morning that they have received reports of looting.

“Business owners are reporting stores are being looted in the area of 6th St and Broadway,” the LAPD Central Division posted to X. “Officers are enroute to the location to investigate.” 

Nine News US correspondent Lauren Tomasi was hit with a rubber bullet while she was filming a segment on the protests in Los Angeles. 

The video shows the dramatic moment, as people around her realize that an officer fired a rubber round at the Australian reporter while doing her job. 

US President Donald Trump’s new travel ban took effect Monday, with citizens from 12 countries barred from entering the US.

Trump signed the proclamation that applies to citizens from the following countries: Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

The administration is also imposing heightened restrictions on people from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela who are outside the US and don’t hold a valid visa.

Trump enacted a similar policy when he was president the first time and in 2017 initially targeted citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries.

That ban was reversed by President Joe Biden.