Hundreds of protestors were jailed in Los Angeles on Tuesday after the city enforced a curfew to stop five days of chaos caused by federal immigration sweeps. Anti-ICE protests have also broken out in Atlanta, Chicago, and Seattle.
In 35 locations across 19 states, thousands of people have taken to the streets to oppose the surge of mass detentions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and to show sympathy with the disturbance in Los Angeles.
Conflicts with police escalated Tuesday during the most recent wave of protests, according to local sources, even though no other city has matched the size of the tense protests in the City of Angels, where 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines have been deployed.
After police in Atlanta imposed a curfew to manage a boisterous throng that threw rocks at policemen and lit off fireworks, tear gas was used to put an end to the mayhem, and roughly six agitators were placed in handcuffs.
When hundreds of people gathered outside the Chicago Police agency headquarters to protest ICE’s alleged assistance in crowd control during raids in the Windy City—a claim the agency disputes—the gathering descended into violence.
A driver sped through the mass of protesters after disobeying police instructions to stop, while other crowd members attacked officers and destroyed patrol cars. The terrifying episode did not result in any reported injuries.
To express sympathy for the civil disobedience occurring in Los Angeles, a few dozen demonstrators gathered outside the Henry M. Jackson Federal Building in Seattle.
The action came after a larger demonstration the previous day, when around 300 people marched to Seattle City Hall to protest the detention of David Huerta, a local labor leader who had been detained during the California ICE raids.
Protesters outside the federal building attempted to bar e-bikes and scooters from entering the facility while yelling anti-ICE slogans in both Spanish and English.
In Los Angeles, Mayor Karen Bass imposed a curfew from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. on a one-square-mile area of downtown, and more than 200 people were jailed for not leaving.
While 17 other people were arrested for violating the curfew, agitators were charged with failing to disperse.
Others were arrested for possessing a firearm, attacking a police officer with a lethal weapon, and shooting a laser at a police aircraft.
As the 8 p.m. curfew drew closer, a confrontation broke out between demonstrators, the LAPD, and ICE agents, injuring two officers as well.
Demonstrators reportedly sought refuge in the parking garage of a high-rise of affluent apartments after the disturbance caused them to escape.
Related Story: At Least 65 Arrested in Chaotic NYC Anti-ICE Protest as Thousands Take to Streets
Bass claimed that Trump’s “unnecessary” decision to send a heavy military presence to the city to restore order, circumventing California Governor Gavin Newsom, produced a “drastic and chaotic escalation” of tensions that turned into a hotbed of disturbance.
The White House told the Los Angeles Times that since federal agents arrived in the city last week, immigration raids in Los Angeles have increased and that 330 individuals have been arrested.
According to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, 113 people with prior criminal histories were among those arrested.
ICE has targeted agricultural farms and Home Depots, including one in Ventura County early on Tuesday morning when footage of federal officers pursuing workers trying to escape at an Oxnard farm was released online.
