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    Los Angeles protests: a visual guide to what happened on the streets

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    After a series of immigration raids across the city of Los Angeles on Friday inspired mostly peaceful protests involving a few hundred people, the situation escalated on Saturday when the US president, Donald Trump, took the unprecedented step of mobilizing the national guard – the country’s military reserve units – claiming the demonstrations amounted to “rebellion” against the authority of the US government. The governor of California, Gavin Newsom, called the decision “purposefully inflammatory”. Here’s a look at what actually happened on the streets.Most of the events took place in downtown Los Angeles, in a fairly localized area. The vast majority of the gigantic metropolis was not affected.Friday 6 June, morning. Federal immigration officers raid multiple locations across Los Angeles, including a Home Depot in Westlake; centers where day laborers gather looking for work; and the Ambiance clothing store in the fashion district. The Coalition of Humane Immigrant Rights (Chirla) says there are raids at seven sites.Friday 6 June, afternoon. David Huerta, the president of California’s biggest union, is arrested while apparently doing little more than standing and observing one of the immigration raids. Footage shows the 58-year-old head of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) being knocked down by a masked agent. He was taken to a hospital, then transferred to the Metropolitan detention center in downtown LA. “What happened to me is not about me; this is about something much bigger,” he says in a statement from the hospital. “This is about how we as a community stand together and resist the injustice that’s happening.” In a statement the US attorney Bill Essayli claims Huerta “deliberately obstructed their access by blocking their vehicle” and says he was arrested on suspicion of interfering with federal officers.Friday 6 June, afternoon. Demonstrators gather outside the federal detention center in downtown Los Angeles where Huerta and others are being held. There is a tense but largely non-violent standoff with police.7pm: The LAPD declares unlawful assembly in the area and deploys teargas to break up the crowd.8.20pm: The police force declares a city-wide tactical alert.Saturday 7 June, morning. As border patrol agents are seen gathering opposite another Home Depot location, this time in the largely Latino, working-class neighborhood of Paramount, news spreads on social media of another raid. A couple of hundred protesters gather outside the Paramount Business Center. Sheriff’s deputies block off a perimeter near the 710 Freeway and Hunsaker Ave.12pm. Border patrol vehicles leave the center, with officers firing teargas and flash grenades at protesters. Some follow the convoy of federal vehicles up Alondra Blvd, throwing rocks and other objects; a few others set up a roadblock near the Home Depot.Saturday 7 June, 4pm. The area near the Home Depot confrontation is declared an unlawful assembly and protesters are warned to leave. Approximately 100 people gather further west in the neighborhood of Compton, at the intersection of Atlantic Ave and Alondra Blvd, where three fires are set, including a vehicle in the middle of intersection. Rocks are thrown at LA county sheriff’s deputies, and officers retreat to the bottom of bridge to the east.7pm. The Trump administration announces it will deploy the national guard, claiming the limited protests were a “rebellion” against the US government. The California governor, Gavin Newsom, immediately denounces the move, the first time a US president has mobilized US military forces in a domestic political situation without the request of the state’s governor since 1965.The US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, also announces that 500 marines at Camp Pendleton in California have been placed on high alert.Saturday 7 June, evening. Federal agents emerge in a phalanx from inside the Metropolitan detention center to confront approximately 100 protesters, firing teargas and “less lethal” weapons at them.9.30pm. Officers and vehicles force the crowd on Alondra Blvd back west, and by midnight most protesters have dispersed.Sunday 8 June, morning. After curfews are declared across LA county overnight from 6pm-6am, by Sunday morning about 300 national guard troops are deployed to the city. Two dozen appear to news crews outside the federal complex, as though intent only on posing for photographs.10.30am. Protesters begin congregating near the Metropolitan detention center, where national guard troops have arrived to support immigration officials – though they do not appear to be engaging in active policing.1pm. Thousands of protesters gather in downtown LA.Sunday 8 June, afternoon. The LAPD again declares the protest an unlawful assembly, ordering everyone to leave, but still the protests continue. Police patrol on horseback and report several arrests. Journalists and protesters are reportedly struck by projectiles, while LA police say two officers are injured after being struck by motorcyclists attempting to “breach a skirmish line”. Ice officers and other federal agents use teargas and pepper balls in an attempt to disperse the crowds. Throughout the afternoon, there are isolated episodes of vandalism – graffiti sprayed on buildings and vehicles, and a protester who damages the side mirror of a parked car. A line of spray-painted Waymo driverless cars, one with a smashed windshield, are later set on fire.Downtown Los AngelesSunday 8 June, afternoon. Hundreds of protesters block the 101 Freeway. They take over two lanes.Evening. Tensions have risen, with demonstrators throwing garbage and rocks at police. Newsom and the Los Angeles mayor, Karen Bass, double down on their plea to protesters to stay peaceful. “Protest is appropriate to do, but it is just not appropriate for there to be violence,” Bass says, while the LAPD chief, Jim McDonnell, calls the violence “disgusting” and says officers have been pelted with rocks, and shot at with commercial grade fireworks. Crucially, he notes that those engaging in violence were not among the people demonstrating against the immigration raids, but are “people who do this all the time”. More

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      Los Angeles’s projected $1bn budget shortfall will lead to layoffs, officials say

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      Battered by the aftermath of historic wildfires and worsening economic conditions, the city of Los Angeles is projecting that it will face an estimated $1bn shortfall in its budget next year, which is likely to result in major cuts to city services.Next year’s nearly $1bn budget gap “makes layoffs nearly inevitable”, city administrative officer Matt Szabo told the city council on Wednesday. “We are not looking at dozens or even hundreds of layoffs, but thousands.”In a statement on Wednesday, the Los Angeles mayor, Karen Bass, said that she was preparing a budget for next year that would “deliver fundamental change in the way the City operates”.In her “reform budget”, Bass wrote in a public letter addressed to Szabo: “We must consider no program or department too precious to consider for reductions or reorganization.”The Trump administration’s trade and immigration policies are likely to make Los Angeles’s already bad economic situation even worse in the coming year, Szabo told city officials in Wednesday’s meeting.Inflation and a weakening economy, combined with the disruption and damage of January’s wildfires, have already driven an estimated $141m reduction in revenue from the city’s business tax, sales tax and hotel tax through the end of February, Szabo said.“Federal trade policy is not only likely to spur further inflation, but also to slow growth and dampen international travel, upon which our hotel tax relies,” he added.Donald Trump’s pledges of enacting mass deportations of undocumented people across the country could also have a damaging effect on Los Angeles, and affect the local economy.“Federal immigration policy provides a particular threat to our local economy,” Szabo said. “The construction industry in the state of California is estimated to be about 40% undocumented, and, due to the fires, there is nowhere in the country where demand for construction and construction-related services will be higher than here in Los Angeles.”The city is also struggling with a dramatic increase in lawsuit liabilities over the past three years, with payouts in the past year likely totaling $320m.Szabo said that working with state lawmakers in Sacramento to cap payouts in lawsuits against the city is one strategy to address the city’s ballooning liabilities. He also said that making Los Angeles homeowners pay more for solid waste collection, which he said the city’s general fund is currently subsidizing, could close $200m of the gap in next year’s budget.The extent of the city’s financial problems took some local officials by surprise, the Los Angeles Times reported, quoting councilmember Bob Blumenfield as saying: “There’s no question that all of us are in shock with this number.” More

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      LA mayor Karen Bass ousts fire chief after public rift over wildfire response

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      Six weeks after the most destructive wildfire in city history, Los Angeles’s mayor, Karen Bass, ousted the city’s fire chief on Friday following a public rift over preparations for a potential fire and finger-pointing between the chief and city hall over responsibility for the devastation.Bass said in a statement that she was removing Chief Kristin Crowley immediately.“Bringing new leadership to the fire department is what our city needs,” Bass said in a statement.“We know that 1,000 firefighters that could have been on duty on the morning the fires broke out were instead sent home on Chief Crowley’s watch,” Bass claimed. She also accused the chief of refusing to prepare an “after-action report” on the fires, which she called a necessary step in the investigation.The Palisades fire began during heavy winds on 7 January, destroying or damaging nearly 8,000 homes, businesses and other structures and killing at least 12 people in the Los Angeles neighborhood. Another wind-whipped fire started the same day in suburban Altadena, a community to the east, killing at least 17 people and destroying or damaging more than 10,000 homes and other buildings.Bass has been facing criticism for being in Africa as part of a presidential delegation on the day the fires started, even though weather reports had warned of dangerous fire conditions in the days before she left.In televised interviews this week, Bass acknowledged she made a mistake by leaving the city. But she implied that she was not aware of the looming danger when she jetted around the globe to attend the inauguration of the Ghanaian president, John Dramani Mahama. She faulted Crowley for failing to alert her about the potentially explosive fire conditions.Crowley has publicly criticized the city for budget cuts that she said made it harder for firefighters to do their jobs.Crowley was named fire chief in 2022 by Bass’s predecessor at a time when the department was in turmoil over allegations of rampant harassment, hazing and discrimination. She worked for the city fire department for more than 25 years and held nearly every role, including fire marshal, engineer and battalion chief. More