Los Angeles protests updates: Clashes as Trump deploys National Guard

Thank you for joining our live coverage of the protests in Los Angeles.

Read our news piece on the protests here.

We’ll be closing this live page soon. Before we go, here’s a recap of the main developments:

• Security personnel in Los Angeles clashed with protesters rallying against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, arresting at least 27 people and using flashbangs, rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse crowds.
• Protesters shut down the 101 Freeway and threw fireworks, Molotov cocktails and even a scooter at security forces, damaging several police vehicles.
• About 300 National Guard troops deployed to Los Angeles guarded federal government buildings as the clashes took place.
• Trump branded the protesters “paid insurrectionists” as FBI Director Kash Patel pledged to restore law and order in the second largest US city, which he said was “under siege by marauding criminals”.
• California Governor Gavin Newsom said he would sue the Trump administration over its decision to deploy the National Guard without consulting him first.
• Violent clashes also took place in the city of San Francisco in northern California, and police there said they arrested at least 60 people.

Trump’s order banning citizens from 12 countries has taken effect during the crackdown in LA.

The order applies to citizens of Afghanistan, Chad, Eritrea, Equatorial Guinea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Myanmar, the Republic of the Congo, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

Heightened restrictions were also placed on people from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.

The order revives similar measures rolled out during Trump’s first term when travellers from several mostly Muslim countries were blocked from entering the US. Many of the countries affected by the new order are afflicted by war and large-scale displacement.

A British news photographer has undergone emergency surgery after being struck by non-lethal munition during the protests, PA Media has reported.

Nick Stern was hit in the leg with a 14mm sponge bullet while covering a confrontation between protesters and police in Paramount, a municipality of greater LA, according to PA Media.

“My initial concern was, were they firing live rounds?” Stern was quoted as saying by PA Media.

“Some of the protesters came and helped me, and they ended up carrying me, and I noticed that there was blood pouring down my leg.”

Stern, who has lived in the US since 2007, is recovering at Long Beach Memorial Medical Centre following the surgery.

As LA faced a third night of unrest amid protests against Trump’s immigration crackdown, Al Jazeera’s Phil Lavelle joined us with the latest developments from the scene.

Watch below:

View more pictures from today here.

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie has condemned the “violent and destructive” behaviour of some protesters in the city.

“Everyone in this country has a right to make their voice heard peacefully, and local law enforcement will always protect that right and the rights of everyone in our city to be safe. But we will never tolerate violent and destructive behavior, and as crowds dwindled, a group that remained caused injuries to police officers, vandalized Muni vehicles, and broke windows of local businesses,” Lurie said in a post on X.

Lurie’s statement comes after the San Francisco Police Department announced earlier that it had made approximately 60 arrests after anti-ICE demonstrations turned violent.

My first priority as mayor is, and has always been, the safety of everyone who lives or works in San Francisco. I have been coordinating with local law enforcement and city departments throughout the weekend to keep everyone safe during this evening’s protest, and I am with our… https://t.co/tDNeuZsouz

— Daniel Lurie 丹尼爾·羅偉 (@DanielLurie) June 9, 2025

More from Marc Christopher, the immigration lawyer.

He says the current moment in the US, with people being “indiscriminately rounded up” in immigration raids, and the deployment of the National Guard to Los Angeles over the objections of the state governor, is “unprecedented”.

“We’re seeing for the very first time since 1965, since the civil rights movement, the National Guard being deployed to a state without the request of the governor or of the local officials,” he told Al Jazeera.

The deployment is a bid by Trump to show “as much strength as possible”, the lawyer said.

“But the problem is, it’s not really strength. It’s overstepping his constitutional bounds. It’s being inhumane to people… What Trump is doing is trying to play to this base, but I think he’s overstepping his bounds. And when people are seeing this with their own eyes, they’re rejecting it. They’re upset. That’s why we’re seeing what we’re seeing in Los Angeles. And I think it’s going to escalate to other parts of our country.”

The San Francisco Police Department says it has declared an unlawful assembly and arrested approximately 60 people following protests in the city.

Police officers were monitoring demonstrations at about 7pm local time when individuals “became violent and began to commit crimes ranging from assault to felony vandalism,” the SFPD said in a statement.

“Individuals are always free to exercise their First Amendment rights in San Francisco but violence – especially against SFPD officers – will never be tolerated,” the SFPD said.

SFPD statement on unlawful assembly tonight: pic.twitter.com/qhJ4Nk9XF1

— San Francisco Police (@SFPD) June 9, 2025

Bass has shared a photo of her meeting with Newsom and other top officials while reiterating her call for residents to refrain from violence.

“Don’t give the administration what they want,” Bass said in the post on X.

Earlier today I met with @CAgovernor, @LAPDPoliceChief, @LAPDHQ, and @LACoSheriff to discuss how we keep all Angelenos safe.

Angelenos — don’t engage in violence and chaos. Don’t give the administration what they want. pic.twitter.com/d2RRpP0krV

— Mayor Karen Bass (@MayorOfLA) June 9, 2025

The City of Glendale, a municipality of greater LA, has announced that it is terminating an agreement with the federal government to house immigration detainees.

The city made the decision due to the “divisive” public perception of its contract with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the city manager said in a statement posted online.

“Since 2007, the City has maintained a highly regulated, locally controlled facility that is maintained to the highest standards, extending basic dignities to those temporarily held – ensuring access to clean accommodations, on-call medical care, family visitation, and legal counsel. By offering local access, detainees were given due-process proximity that is too often lacking in more remote or privately-operated detention centres,” the statement said.

“Nevertheless, despite the transparency and safeguards the City has upheld, the City recognizes that public perception of the ICE contract – no matter how limited or carefully managed, no matter the good—has become divisive. And while opinions on this issue may vary—the decision to terminate this contract is not politically driven. It is rooted in what this City stands for – public safety, local accountability, and trust.”

Hundreds of people in the city of San Francisco in northern California have gathered outside an ICE building to protest Trump’s immigration crackdown in Los Angeles.

The protest turned violent, with some demonstrators vandalising vehicles and buildings, according to the local ABC 7 News broadcaster.

The city is about 559km (347 miles) north of Los Angeles.

Business owners are reporting looting in the downtown area, according to the LAPD.

The LAPD says officers are en route to investigate following reports of shops being targeted in the vicinity of the intersection of 6th Street and Broadway.

Business owners are reporting stores are being looted in the area of 6th St and Broadway.

Officers are enroute to the location to investigate.

— LAPD Central Division (@LAPDCentral) June 9, 2025

NBC News is reporting that police have arrested at least 27 people in downtown Los Angeles so far today.

That’s 10 arrests by the LAPD and 17 by the California Highway Patrol.

Another 29 were arrested yesterday, the broadcaster reported.

It is now nightfall on day three of the protests here in Los Angeles.

There’s still a very active presence from the Los Angeles Police Department, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the California Highway Patrol.

The choppers are still overhead as the authorities try to bring these protests to an end.

Over the course of the last few hours, we have seen hundreds and hundreds of people gather and the police coming under attack. During those attacks, they had fireworks thrown at them as well as Molotov cocktails and scooters.

We also understand one officer was taken off a horse by a firework.

This all comes as other protesters tried to keep things non-violent because they know that this is a very tense situation. We’ve had the White House get involved, with Trump sending in the National Guard against the wishes of the governor.

The LAPD has also said it is overwhelmed by the amount of protesters here.

This is, of course, a political situation.

Trump says Los Angeles has fallen into anarchy and only he can save it. But Newsom, the governor, and Bass, the mayor, are saying this is simply grandstanding, and the governor adding that there wasn’t even a problem here until the president got involved.

And all of this as more than 100 undocumented migrants have been rounded up.

The California governor says he will sue the Trump administration over its decision to deploy the National Guard without consulting with him first.

“Under his executive order… they had to coordinate with the governor of the state,” Newsom said in an interview with MSNBC.

“They never coordinated with the governor of the state.”

Newsom said his administration would file the lawsuit on Monday.

“There’s a protocol, there’s a process. He didn’t care about that,” he said.

Donald Trump is putting fuel on this fire. Commandeering a state’s National Guard without consulting the Governor of that state is illegal and immoral.

California will be taking him to court. pic.twitter.com/51rNyYFGl3

— Governor Gavin Newsom (@CAgovernor) June 9, 2025

Trump has fired off a series of social media posts calling for an escalation of force to quell the unrest.

“Jim McDonnell, the highly respected LAPD Chief, just stated that the protesters are getting very much more aggressive, and that he would ‘have to reassess the situation,’ as it pertains to bringing in the troops,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.

“He should, RIGHT NOW!!! Don’t let these thugs get away with this. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”

“Looking really bad in L.A. BRING IN THE TROOPS!!!” Trump said in a follow-up post, after which he wrote another calling for the immediate arrest of people in face masks.