Reuters
[Source: Reuters]
With five minutes until the curfew took effect, hundreds of protesters faced police with their hands raised, chanting ” “peaceful protest.”
Even so, state and local officials have called Trump’s response an extreme overreaction to mostly peaceful demonstrations.
Bass emphasized at a press conference the distinction between the majority of demonstrators protesting peacefully and a smaller number of agitators she blamed for violence and looting.
A curfew had been considered for several days but Bass said she decided to impose one after 23 business were looted on Monday night.
“When these peaceful rallies end, and the protesters head home, another element moves in: opportunists, who come in under the cover of a peaceful protest to ravage and destroy,” Council member Ysabel Jurado, who represents the area, told reporters.
As the mayor and the council member spoke, police and protesters were engaged in skirmishes outside.
In what has become a daily ritual, police forced demonstrators away from the streets outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, where many detained migrants are held. Multiple groups of protesters snaked through downtown Los Angeles, monitored or followed by police armed with less lethal munitions.
Protests also took place in other cities including New York, Atlanta and Chicago, where demonstrators shouted at and scuffled with officers.
Some protesters climbed onto the Picasso sculpture in Daley Plaza, while others chanted that ICE should be abolished.
Christina Berger, 39, said it was heartbreaking to hear about children who are afraid of being separated from their families due to immigration raids, adding, “I just want to give some hope to my friends and neighbors.”
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