Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass announced that a curfew would go into effect on areas of the city’s downtown as riots reached their fifth consecutive day.
“I have declared a local emergency and issued a curfew for Downtown Los Angeles to stop the vandalism, to stop the looting,” Bass said during a press conference.
Looting has been seen in areas like Compton; Bass said that 23 businesses had been looted the night before across the city. She also cited graffiti in areas affected by the riots that had caused “significant damages to businesses and a number of properties.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom delivered remarks on the ongoing riots, condemning the strong presence of federalized National Guardsmen and Marines as unnecessary.
Newsom said the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids on criminal illegal immigrants that prompted the protests had been “very different than anything we’ve seen before,” and said that state and local law enforcement would have been sufficient to keep the peace.
“Angelenos came out to exercise their constitutional right to free speech and assembly to protest their government’s actions,” Newsom said. “In turn, the state of California and the City and County of Los Angeles sent our police officers to help keep the peace, and with some exceptions, they were successful.”
The curfew on Downtown will begin at 8 p.m. local time and last until 6 a.m. Bass said that the duration of the curfew will be decided by consultation with other city leaders, “but we certainly expect for it to last for several days.”
“If you do not live in Downtown LA, avoid the area,” she said, warning that those who violate the curfew will be prosecuted.
The curfew affects only a small portion of the Downtown area, circumscribing the areas of the city between Interstate 5, Interstate 10, and Interstate 110, including neighborhoods like Skid Row, Chinatown, and the Fashion District.
Bass noted that this comes out to around one square mile, contrasting that with the 502 square miles which Los Angeles encompasses.
“I think it is … extremely important to know that what is happening in this one square mile is not affecting the city,” she said. “Some of the imagery of the protests and the violence gives the appearance as though this is a city wide crisis, and it is not.”
U.S. North American Command has said that of those guardsmen ordered to the city, around 1,700 are currently active as part of a coalition, dubbed Task Force 51, which also includes the Marines that have been deployed to the city.
Over the weekend, protesters were seen breaking off pieces of cinder blocks and cement structures to throw at law enforcement vehicles, tossing scooters and debris from freeway overpasses onto police cruisers, setting vehicles ablaze, setting off fireworks aimed at officers, and blocking roads.
Some masked protesters waved Mexican flags.
The Los Angeles Police Department arrested more than 150 protesters through the night of June 9. Some of the charges included attempted murder with a Molotov cocktail, assaulting a police officer with a deadly weapon, looting, and failure to disperse. Several police officers have been injured.
