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Protesters in Los Angeles were filmed burning and spitting on American flags as they chanted anti-Trump slogans over the weekend.
Footage from the incident shows a circle of dozens of people, many wearing masks, surrounding an American flag burning on the ground. Several of the individuals then spit on the flag or sprayed flammable liquid to continue the blaze before a second flag was added to the fire.
A number of the protesters held high the flags of South American countries like Mexico as the U.S. flag burned on the ground. They also chanted “F-Trump.”
The footage from this weekend’s riots also shows officers with the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department moving in to disperse the crowds, shooting flash bangs as they went.
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The Los Angeles Police Department declared an “unlawful assembly” Sunday night as protesters failed to disperse in the downtown area.
“Agitators have splintered into and through out the Downtown Area,” the LAPD’s Central Division wrote on X. “Residents, businesses and visitors to the Downtown Area should be alert and report any criminal activity. Officers are responding to several different locations to disperse crowds.”
“An UNLAWFUL ASSEMBLY has been declared for the Downtown Los Angeles area,” the department added.
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Protesters marched into the L.A. Live area, an entertainment complex in the heart of downtown Los Angeles that sits adjacent to Crypto.com Arena and the Los Angeles Convention Center, and were blocking lanes on Figueroa and 11th streets, police said.
President Donald Trump sent in the National Guard this weekend after Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were reportedly attacked on the streets of L.A. as they conducted raids to catch and deport illegal immigrants. Seeing that neither California Gov. Gavin Newsom nor L.A. Mayor Karen Bass were moving aggressively enough to stop the attacks, Trump signed a presidential memorandum to deploy 2,000 National Guard troops to “address the lawlessness that has been allowed to fester,” the White House said in a statement.
Newsom objected immediately even as the riots spiraled.
“I have formally requested the Trump Administration rescind their unlawful deployment of troops in Los Angeles county and return them to my command,” Newsom wrote on X on Sunday alongside his letter to President Trump. “We didn’t have a problem until Trump got involved. This is a serious breach of state sovereignty – inflaming tensions while pulling resources from where they’re actually needed.”
Fox News’ Louis Casiano contributed to this report.
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