Tens of thousands of protesters burned the Fountain in Southern California on Saturday in a “No Kings Day” protest against President Trump. The president portrays him as an ambitious monarch who violated democratic norms as he clashed with California leaders over the deployment of the military to close the violent protests sparked by the Immerjute attacks.
Image – Signs referring to crossed crowns, founded in 1776. Flags of America, Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador. And the phrase “Protest is patriotic” was a stark contrast to the Washington, DC display. Trump’s birthday coincides with carefully organized concerts and exhibitions, featuring an exhibition celebrating the 250th birthday of the US Army, as well as a parade and a tank and seller of fatigs up to $45 million.
“All our rights are infringed,” said Michel Verne, 56. She had a laminated copy of the constitution shredded at the bottom. “We expelled other administrations, but this wasn’t what it was,” she said. She referenced this month’s immigration enforcement, which wiped out families at home, at work and at vehicles.
“We love our country, that’s clear,” Verne said. “We’re fighting for our rights.”
Protests (more than 2,000 people are scheduled nationwide, with dozens of the largest downtowns in Southern California. In Los Angeles County, marches were planned in Woodland Hills, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, Pasadena, Whittier, Thousand Oaks, South Bay, and many other areas.
Several social media posts and photos shared among friends showed the Saturday crowd, sometimes in a festive mood. In downtown LA, Sen. Maria Elena Durazo danced with protesters at Plaza Orvera.
We lined up Torrance Boulevard for thousands of people past Maple Avenue for about a mile from Hawthorn Boulevard. There, a 9-year-old Torrance Elementary School student and his father were deported to Honduras after being detained at an immigration hearing in Los Angeles last month.
“When I saw the fourth-grade boy who was taken from his family, it gave me chills thinking how scary he was,” said Laurie Pisano, retired school librarian for Rancho Palos Verdes. “Democracy is important and it’s not what’s happening.”
There were also splatters of pro-Trump counter-protesters who said they supported the president’s stated mission to carry out the “largest domestic deportation operation in the country” in US history. Hundreds of immigrants have been detained around Los Angeles so far after nine days of immigration raids.
The Trump administration portrays its actions as a matter of safety, law and order, referring to several individuals with violent criminal history that they have taken online. Opponents of the sweep say many immigrants are the only legal violation that the status of the immigrant is being swept. They note that the action has created a widespread sense of fear, even among citizens, visa holders and permanent residents.
At Republican home to Huntington Beach, a crowd of pro-Trump protesters and anti-Trump protesters headed out at the corner opposite the intersection of Maine and the Pacific Coast highways. Signs of “Make America Great Again” and “Trump 2024” were widely available. “Please support the local ice raid,” he read the sign the teenager had. This used epithet to explain how people should treat “foreign friends.”
In West Hollywood Park, the rainbow flag was a common place. It includes pushing with transgender teens who fit their gender identity as activists opposed many of the president’s policies.
“He portrays us as non-Americans, and he portrays us as people who hate this country just because we are against him,” said Magdalena Jamieson, 29, of West Hollywood. “The reality is, we stand up to the way he breaks the rules and hurts people. His anti-LGBTQ+ policies, his anti-DEI policies, his extreme way of treating immigrants and using the military here.”
Many of the people who came out throughout the region said they were there to support undocumented immigrants who feared they would exist. In multiple interviews, individuals described protest as a democratic duty.
“How else do you intend to express yourself in our society that something is wrong? The moment we are afraid of becoming ourselves outside, that’s when tyranny takes over.”
By mid-afternoon Saturday, a crowd of hundreds of protesters was surrounding the federal building in downtown. There, dozens of US Marines were protected by the entrance, clutching their guns and shields. The crowd chanted “shame,” “leave,” “We don’t want you.”
After news spreading of potential immigration attacks southeast of downtown rapidly expanded, the Los Angeles protests that began on June 6th quickly expanded to civic centers and pockets in other regions, such as Santa Ana. The incidents over the past few days included simple blocking of 101 highways, virus images of Waymo vehicles regarding the fire, and vandalism and theft incidents at a downtown business, including Little Tokio.
Overall, there were about 500 arrests.
At a press conference on Saturday morning, Mayor Karen Bass pleaded for a peaceful protest, warning that the “eye of the world” is in Los Angeles.
“Please, please, don’t give the administration any excuses to intervene,” she said. The bus said the 8pm curfew was in effect Saturday night and would plead protesters to stay away from violence and vandalism.
“Don’t try,” she warned.
The mayor stressed that there was no cooperation between the Los Angeles Police Department and the federal government, and local leaders estimated where federal forces would appear on Saturday between the California State Guard Forces and hundreds of US Marines.
“We’re working based on rumors we’ve heard…I’m still waiting for the President to ask if I’ll make a call,” she added. Officers said it was deployed “strategically” and will continue to operate under unified orders with the California Highway Patrol, the Sheriff’s Department and the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Tensions between California leaders and Trump have been high since the protest broke out.
This week, a federal judge said the White House must bring back the control of the National Guard to Gov. Gavin Newsom. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals immediately suspended the order. A hearing on the matter is scheduled for Tuesday. Trump has also suggested that Newsom should be arrested for his response to the protest.
In another incident, the FBI handcuffed California Sen. Alex Padilla and temporarily took him into custody after attempting to question Homeland Security Secretary Christie Noem at a press conference this week in Los Angeles.
On Saturday, the Senate Democrat Caucus joined Padilla and urged President Trump to remove National Guard and US Marines from Los Angeles, writing the deployment in a letter equivalent to “surprising abuse of executives.”
The development “continues to inflam the ground situation and undermine the constitutional balance of power between the federal government and the state,” the letter read. “We encourage you to immediately withdraw all military personnel deployed in Los Angeles unless expressly requested by the governor and local leaders.”
Officials in Padilla’s office said the letter “means a significant push as the senators have found ways to unite Democrats in the fight against Donald Trump’s overreach and power abuse.”
Trump is defending federal government action.
“If I hadn’t sent the troops to Los Angeles, the city would be burning to the ground right now. We’ve saved LA,” the president wrote in his true social account. Local law enforcement and politicians are challenging the portrayal.
Speaking to reporters at the White House on Thursday, Trump briefly spoke to the “No Kings Day” event.
“I don’t feel like a king. I have to go through hell to get what is approved,” he said. “No, no, we are not kings. We are not kings. Thank you very much.”
Washington Director Michael Wilner was a contribution from Washington, DC, staff writer Dakota Smith and Carla Marie Sanford of Los Angeles and Sean Green of Thousand Oaks.
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