Tensions flared outside Los Angeles City Hall Sunday evening as a volatile crowd clashed with a grim line of police officers armed with “less lethal” riot guns—launchers that leave bruising welts on impact.
For the third night in a row, protesters filled downtown Los Angeles. Some rallied against federal immigration raids across L.A. County, while others appeared hell-bent on destruction. Among them, young men hunched low in the crowd, concealing objects that turned out to be eggs, which they hurled at officers. Police responded by firing foam rounds into the dispersing crowd.
Independent journalist Jonas March, 21, was filming when he was shot while trying to crawl to safety. “As soon as I stood up, they shot me in the a—,” he said.
LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell pointed fingers at a separate faction of masked “anarchists” who, he claimed, thrive on mayhem. “They’re hooded up, masked, and move from one riot to another,” McDonnell said. “They break things, attack police, and they’re connected.”
What began as protests over ICE sweeps in predominantly Latino neighborhoods like Paramount, Huntington Park, and Whittier, has shifted the spotlight to violent clashes downtown. Dramatic scenes unfolded: Waymo taxis set ablaze, masked vandals defacing buildings, and rocks thrown at California Highway Patrol officers guarding the 101 Freeway.
Some rioters even smashed cinder blocks to make projectiles and launched commercial-grade fireworks at officers. “That can kill you,” McDonnell warned.
Over the weekend, LAPD arrested 50 people, including a man accused of ramming a motorcycle into a line of cops and another who allegedly threw a Molotov cocktail. Investigators are now scouring footage from bodycams and social media to identify additional suspects.
The city’s civic heart is on edge, with police promising to root out the agitators behind the chaos.
