Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass announced Tuesday at a press conference that she would impose a curfew along a small part of downtown to “stop the vandalism and looting” that occurred after five days of protests against ICE raids.
The curfew covers about one square mile and is scheduled to begin at 8:00 p.m. and end at 6:00 a.m. Bass said police will arrest anyone who violates the order, with the exception of residents, business travelers and accredited journalists. The arrangement is expected to last for several days.
Many of the most intense demonstrations in recent days have taken place near a number of federal buildings in downtown Los Angeles, including the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building, a detention center and the courthouse. The mayor also stressed that the area under curfew, however, is only a small portion of the vast local area.
“I think it is important to point this out not to minimize the vandalism and violence that has taken place there; it has been significant,” Bass said. “But it is extremely important to know that what is happening in this one square mile is not affecting the city. Some of the imagery of the protests and the violence gives the appearance as though this is a city-wide crisis, and it is not”.
The curfew, in any case, comes at a decidedly complex time for L.A, with President Trump deciding to deploy 4,000 National Guard troops there, necessary, in his view, to deal with the violence provoked by clashes between protesters and law enforcement triggered by Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations. The Pentagon also deployed 700 Marines to the Los Angeles metropolitan area to protect federal buildings and officials.
Later, California Governor Gavin Newsom and state Attorney General Rob Bonta sued the administration over the decision to send National Guard troops, calling it an unprecedented power grab. ““The Founders enshrined these principles in our Constitution — that a government should be accountable to its people, guided by the rule of law, and one of civil authority, not military rule”, they explained.
