‘We’re not afraid’ Protesters defiant in the face of troops and teargas

Thousands of Angelenos enraged by Donald Trump’s decision to commandeer their state national guard swamped the streets of the city centre on Sunday, bringing a major freeway to a standstill.

- Andrew Gumbel

But the national guard, hemmed in by the protesters and by dozens of Los Angeles police cruisers, played almost no role in any of it.

A vocal, boisterous but largely peaceful sea of protesters engulfed the north-eastern corner of central Los Angeles around City Hall and the federal courthouse. They hurled insults at Trump and at the immigration enforcement teams who had conducted mass arrests of undocumented migrants in the area on Friday.

They converged on the Metropolitan detention centre, the federal lock-up where many protesters arrested over the previous 48 hours were being held, and an adjacent loading dock that about 50 national guard troops, in battle gear with riot shields and semi-automatic weapons, were using as their staging ground.

The protesters did not hesitate to walk right up to the heavily armed men. “We’re not afraid of you!” one organiser with a bullhorn, John Parker, yelled. One of the many banners on display read: “National Guard LOL.” Every building and wall in the immediate vicinity was covered in profane graffiti, the most common being “Fuck Ice” (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), “LAPD can suck it” and “Kill all cops”.

Shortly after noon, the guardsmen, flanked by armed officers with Department of Homeland Security insignia, fired teargas into the growing crowd so a caravan of DHS and border patrol vehicles could push its way through. People backed off briefly and donned masks, only to come back in larger numbers. That was the extent of the national guard’s involvement.