LA protests live: California governor Newsom urges Trump to withdraw ‘unlawful’ National Guard amid clashes

During a press conference on Sunday, LA Mayor Karen Bass told protesters that throwing things at officers or blocking a freeway was going too far.

“You’re going to suffer the consequences of doing that,” she said.

“I don’t want people to fall into the chaos that I believe is being created by the administration,” Bass added.

Donald Trump in a social media post on Sunday, called the demonstrators “violent, insurrectionist mobs” and said he was directing his cabinet officers “to take all such action necessary” to stop what he called “riots”.

Speaking to reporters in New Jersey, he threatened violence against demonstrators who spit on police or National Guard troops, saying “they spit, we hit”. He did not cite any specific incidents.

“If we see danger to our country and to our citizens, it will be very, very strong in terms of law and order,” Trump said.

California National Guard troops deployed to the streets of Los Angeles on Sunday to help quell a third day of protests over president Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement is unlawful, said the state’s Democratic governor.

Gavin Newsom said he requested the Trump administration withdraw its order to deploy 2,000 National Guard troops in Los Angeles County, calling it unlawful.

The governor accused Trump of trying to manufacture a crisis and violating California’s state sovereignty.

“These are the acts of a dictator, not a President,” he wrote in a post on X.

The White House disputed Mr Newsom’s characterisation, saying in a statement that “everyone saw the chaos, violence and lawlessness”.

The president took to Truth Social on Sunday, where he promised that “the Illegals will be expelled” and that the city would be “set free,” as troops confronted demonstrators on the streets of downtown LA – using tear gas and “less lethal munitions” to disperse crowds.

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Former vice president and 2024 Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris said in a statement that she was “appalled” by what’s going on on the streets of Los Angeles, her hometown.

She argued that deploying the National Guard was a “dangerous escalation meant to provoke chaos.”

James Queally, a reporter for the LA Times, noted on X at about 7pm ET that “In the last 20 or so minutes I’ve seen LAPD officers shove women to the ground without provocation, rip a sign out of a man’s hand and then swing a baton into his leg and raise a less-lethal launcher to aim directly at a protester’s head (which I’m 99% is a policy violation).”

He also noted that two motorcyclists were detained after they “ended up near the skirmish line.”

LA Mayor Karen Bass argued on CNN on Sunday that there was “no need to federalize troops.”

“To have this here is really just a provocation and something that was not needed in our city,” she added.

U.S. Northern Command said in a statement on Sunday that by the direction of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, “approximately 2,000 California Army National Guard soldiers have been placed under federal command and control in a Title 10 status to support the protection of federal personnel and federal property in the greater Los Angeles area.”

“At this time, there are approximately 300 members of the California Army National Guard’s 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team deployed at the following locations in the greater Los Angeles area: Los Angeles, Paramount, and Compton, California,” Northern Command added in the press release.

They said that about 500 Marines are “in a prepared to deploy status” should they be needed to protect federal property and personnel.