A battalion, of around 500 US Marines, stationed at Twentynine Palms in California has been mobilised in the streets of Los Angeles, California, in response to ongoing protests and riots against the detention of illegal immigrants by ICE officers. The Governor of California, Gavin Newsom accused the US President of deploying the troops without any preparations for food, water, fuel and lodging and shared photos of them lying on the ground in an unmarked location waiting to be deployed in the streets.
Governor Newsom is also accusing the US President of inflaming tensions in California by deploying troops which he also describes as unnecessary after the Los Angeles Police Department did their work successfully, noting that they also protected federal buildings including the Metropolitan Detention Centre. The US Defense Secretary had threatened to deploy the US Marines if violence persisted.
This is the first time that US troops have been deployed on American streets against US civilians since the 1992 Rodney King riots in Los Angeles. However, the current unrest in Los Angeles pales in comparison to the 1992 riots, during which at least 63 people lost their lives.
US citizens and migrants in Los Angeles started protesting against the arbitrary detention of illegal migrants by ICE officers at the start of the weekend, with protests soon turning violent in some areas with some protesters throwing rocks at the police and torching cars. No police officer was seriously injured, but several protesters were wounded. A police officer was also filmed shooting a rubber bullet at the journalist, Lauren Tomas of 9News, Australia.
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