LA cleans up and takes stock after weekend of defiance

California leaders condemn 'authoritarian' president for sending in troops as protests over immigration raids spread to other cities

- By Andrew Gumbel, Sam Levin and Edward Helmore

Outsidethe federal courthouse complex in downtown Los Angeles on Monday morning, two cleaners carrying bins on wheels looked uncertainly at the daunting task in front of them - long walls in several directions covered in spray-painted graffiti after a weekend of vigorous street protest.

The black marble plinth bearing the name “Edward R Roybal Center and Federal Building” had been defaced by graffiti reading “Fuck Ice” and another saying “Dead Cops”.

The City of Angels was in recovery mode after a fraught day of protest last Sunday against Donald Trump’s immigration roundups and his decision to activate the California national guard against the will of the state’s leaders.

The 101 freeway, which had been occupied by protesters, was open to traffic again, but most of the downtown exits were sealed off by California highway patrol vehicles. A cleaning crew with a pressure washer was hard at work on the outside of the federal building on Los Angeles Street, which houses a passport office, a social security office and other key federal bureaucratic services.

The national guard, which played almost no role in policing the protests last Sunday, was once again nowhere to be seen. Federal authorities from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) or the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) were likewise noticeably absent.

Neighbouring police forces were drafted in to help - officers from Pasadena, South Pasadena, Burbank, Vernon and other cities were on duty after the weekend.