Los Angeles police say they have made “mass arrests” after a fifth day of protests over US President Donald Trump’s immigration raids.
Mayor Karen Bass declared an overnight curfew within a relatively small area of the city’s downtown district, saying businesses were being vandalised and looted.
Elsewhere, the immigration raids that triggered the protests last Friday have continued, with deployed National Guard troops now protecting border control agents on enforcement operations.
Trump’s row with state officials ramped up after he deployed troops to LA. The president has now vowed to “liberate” the city, but has been accused by California Governor Gavin Newsom of an “assault” on democracy.
On Tuesday, Trump defended his decision to send 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines, saying it was to prevent the city being “conquered by a foreign enemy”.
These troops lack the authority to make arrests, and have instead been tasked only with protecting federal property and personnel.
Newsom hit back at the president: “He again chose escalation; he chose more force.” The California governor, who is seen as a potential presidential contender for the Democratic Party, warned that “other states are next”.
After the LA curfew entered force at 20:00 local time on Tuesday (03:00 GMT on Wednesday), police moved through downtown areas, firing rubber bullets to try to disperse crowds.
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) later said “multiple groups” were still congregating in the district.
Officers did not confirm in their evening update how many people had been detained. The mayor earlier said nearly 200 people had so far been arrested on Tuesday, in addition to the dozens of others in previous days.
Explaining the curfew, Bass said she wanted “to stop the vandalism, to stop the looting”. She added: “We reached a tipping point.”
The order affects an area of about one square mile in America’s second-largest city.
