Over 1,000 people massed in America\u2019s second biggest city for sixth day of protests, with crowd peaceful
\n LOS ANGELES
\nProtests over hardline immigration tactics ignited across the United States on Wednesday after days of demonstrations in Los Angeles, as California prepared for a legal showdown with the White House over US President Donald Trump\u2019s deployment of the military.
\nOver 1,000 people massed in America\u2019s second biggest city for a sixth day of protests, with the crowd peaceful as they marched through the streets.
\nA second night of curfew was expected as city leaders try to get a handle on the after-dark vandalism and looting that scarred a few city blocks in the 500-square-mile (1,300 square kilometres) metropolis.
\n\u201cI would say for the most part everything is hunky dory right here at Ground Zero,\u201d protester Lynn Sturgis, 66, a retired school teacher, told AFP.
\n\u201cOur city is not at all on fire, it\u2019s not burning down, as our terrible leader is trying to tell you.\u201d
\nThe mostly peaceful protests ignited over a sudden escalation in efforts to apprehend migrants who were in the country illegally.
\nPockets of violence \u2014 including the burning of self-driving taxis and hurling stones at police \u2014 were nothing the 8,500 officers of the Los Angeles Police Department had not dealt with before.
\nTrump won the election last year partly on promises to combat what he claims is an \u201cinvasion\u201d by undocumented migrants.
\nHe is now seizing the opportunity to make political capital, ordering the California National Guard to deploy despite Governor Gavin Newsom\u2019s objections, the first time a US president has taken such action in decades.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re going to have a safe country,\u201d he told reporters on his way into a theatre performance.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re not going to have what would have happened in Los Angeles. Remember, if I wasn\u2019t there… Los Angeles would have been burning to the ground.\u201d
\nAround 1,000 of the 4,700 troops Trump deployed were actively guarding facilities and working alongside ICE agents, said Scott Sherman, Deputy Commanding General Army North, who is leading operations.
\nThe rest \u2014 including 700 active duty Marines \u2014 were mustering or undergoing training to deal with civil disturbances, he said.
\nThe Pentagon has said the deployment will cost taxpayers $134 million.
\nGovernor Newsom, a Democrat, has charged that Trump is seeking to escalate the confrontation for political gain.
\nHis lawyers were expected in court on Thursday to demand a temporary restraining order that would prevent troops from accompanying immigration officers as they arrest migrants.
\nAdministration lawyers called the application a \u201ccrass political stunt\u201d.
\nNewsom said the unprecedented militarisation would creep beyond his state\u2019s borders.
\n\u201cDemocracy is under assault right before our eyes,\u201d he said on Tuesday. \u201cCalifornia may be first, but it clearly won\u2019t end here.\u201d
\nNationwide protests growing
\nDespite Trump\u2019s threats to deploy the National Guard to other Democratic-run states over the objections of governors, protesters appear undeterred.
\nDemonstrations were reported in St Louis, Raleigh, Manhattan, Indianapolis and Denver.
\nIn San Antonio, hundreds marched and chanted near city hall, reports said, where Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott has deployed the state\u2019s National Guard.
\nA nationwide \u201cNo Kings\u201d movement was expected on Saturday, when Trump will attend a highly unusual military parade in the US capital.
\nThe parade, featuring warplanes and tanks, has been organised to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the founding of the US Army but also happens to be the day of Trump\u2019s 79th birthday.
\n\u2018Inflamed\u2019 situation
\nThe Trump administration is painting the protests as a violent threat to the nation, requiring military force to support regular immigration agents and police.
\nBut Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said the crisis had been manufactured in Washington.
\n\u201cA week ago, everything was peaceful in the city of Los Angeles,\u201d she told reporters.
\n\u201cThings began to be difficult on Friday when raids took place… that is the cause of the problems.
\n\u201cThis was provoked by the White House.\u201d
\nArrests by masked and armed men continued on Wednesday.
\nA pastor in the LA suburb of Downey said five armed men driving out-of-state cars grabbed a Spanish-speaking man in the church\u2019s parking lot.
\nWhen she challenged the men and asked for their badge numbers and names, they refused.
\n\u201cThey did point their rifle at me and said, \u2018You need to get back,\u2019\u201d Lopez told broadcaster KTLA.
\nFootage seen by AFP shows what appears to be federal agents ramming a car in the Boyle Heights area of Los Angeles.
\nSome kind of smoke device is deployed and masked men with assault weapons order a man from the car, leaving what witnesses said was his wife and children badly shaken.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Over 1,000 people massed in America\u2019s second biggest city for sixth day of protests, with crowd peaceful LOS ANGELES Protests over hardline immigration tactics ignited across the United States on Wednesday after days of demonstrations in Los Angeles, as California prepared for a legal showdown with the White House over US President Donald Trump\u2019s deployment […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":483928,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-483903","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n