Several US cities braced for protests against President Donald Trump's sweeping illegal immigration raids, as parts of the country's second-largest city, Los Angeles, spent the night under curfew in an effort to quell five days of unrest.
Los Angeles police said that "mass arrests" were underway as people gathered on downtown streets after an overnight curfew.
"Multiple groups continue to congregate on 1st St between Spring and Alameda" within the designated downtown curfew area, the Los Angeles Police Department wrote on X late Tuesday.
"Those groups are being addressed and mass arrests are being initiated. Curfew is in effect."
The arrests come after the city imposed a strict overnight curfew—from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m.—following several days of demonstrations triggered by escalating federal immigration raids.
Mayor Karen Bass, citing concerns over vandalism, looting, and violence, declared a local state of emergency and imposed the curfew Wednesday morning to restore order in the downtown area.
‘A threat to democracy’
Public anger first erupted on Friday, when federal agents carried out workplace immigration raids that led to the detention of dozens of workers across Los Angeles.
Protests intensified over the weekend, with demonstrators blocking major freeways, setting vehicles on fire, and clashing with law enforcement. Police responded with tear gas, rubber bullets, and flash-bang grenades.
The raids are part of Trump's sweeping immigration crackdown, which Democrats and immigrant advocates have said are indiscriminately breaking up families.
US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem pledged on Monday to carry out more operations to round up suspected immigration violators. Trump officials have branded the protests as lawless and blamed state and local Democrats for protecting undocumented immigrants with sanctuary cities.
California Governor Gavin Newsom described the federal deployment of military forces to Los Angeles as “a threat to democracy” and an “illegal” overreach in response to protests sparked by immigration enforcement, warned that President Trump’s use of Marines and the National Guard amounted to militarising civilian spaces and undermining democratic norms.
Despite the early unrest, local officials noted that Monday’s demonstrations were largely peaceful. Thousands gathered outside City Hall, while hundreds more protested outside a federal complex that houses a detention center where some of the arrested immigrants are reportedly being held.
The demonstrations have been concentrated primarily in the downtown area of Los Angeles, a city of nearly 4 million.
Organizers say the protests will continue until the detainees are released and the federal government halts further immigration raids.
