Priests, rabbis and other religious leaders took them to the streets of Los Angeles on Monday to maintain peace amid the protests that were caught up in violence over the weekend.
President Donald Trump’s protests against immigration crackdown have intensified with the deployment of National Guard members. Additionally, hundreds of US Marines are reportedly on their way to LA.
Waymo cars were torched, businesses were looted, and numerous injuries were reported in mixed chaos over the weekend.
But on Monday, the protests were far more peaceful and religious leaders – some of them stressed that economic justice, a partner with the organization’s clergy and lay congregations, discouraging violence by both police and protesters at the intersection of Alameda and Aliso Streets in downtown Los Angeles.
“We are here to peacefully ask where our families are,” Pastor Omega Burkhardt told KTLA’s Kimberly Chen. “¿Don’t deceased? Where are the people detained? We are here peacefully to support our right to protest. We are here to maintain the peaceful presence of our people.
Another religious leader spoke directly to police following what appears to be one person’s frustration with the officer.
“I was saying, ‘No one has to shoot today, no one has to do any harm today,'” Pastor Eddie Anderson told Chen. “We can stand here and do our first revision right, and we will protest against them to tear our families apart and take away our loved ones. This is black-brown solidarity, and that all religious faith will come together.
Pastor Eddie Anderson speaks to KTLA during the protest against the June 9, 2025 immigration attack (KTLA)
While officers and Anderson seemed to develop a common understanding as they thanked the officers for their help in protecting members of the upset crowd as they attempted to break through officers, the minister thanked the police for protecting the protesters as part of their duties.
“We’re not going to shoot any of us,” the officer assured.
Anderson’s colleagues added that their religious beliefs require them to stand up for immigrants and others to be targeted by the Trump administration.
Rabbi Susan Goldberg said he defended “the deepest values of the Jewish community,” including “compassion,” “love,” and “care and support for the most vulnerable.”
“Caring for widows, orphans and strangers, treating them as family and caring for them are the most repeated commands within our Torah,” she said.
Another clergyman, Pastor Stephen “Kue” Jn-Marie, continues to create faith-based cases in protest, calling it a “moral obligation” to oppose immoral crackdown.
“In the tradition of Scripture and my faith, I say that the two greatest commandments are to love your God with all your heart and to love your neighbor as yourself,” he said. “They cannot separate. You must bring them together… To love God, I must first love you, as you were created in the image of God in my tradition of faith.”
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