The president’s goal was not to calm the streets in Los Angeles, but rather a deliberate provocation to turn the city into a battlefield.
On Friday, June 6, the American Immigration and Customs Agency (ICE), the Ministry of Internal Security (DHS) and the Federal Investigation Office (FBI) carried out a series of raids across Los Angeles.
The federal officers were armed with military -style rifles, wearing tactical clothes and moving into caravans of armored vehicles and combat vehicles (Bearcats), which transformed the city’s streets into a military square while they were arrested by dozens of migrants working hard.
Individuals were arrested in front of the “Home Depot” store, where workers line up daily in search of work. In the city’s downtown neighborhood, more than 40 people were arrested in the “Ambance Abaril” rapid fashion warehouse, including Jose Ortz, who worked 18 years until he became a manager of pink.
When members of society went out to the streets in solidarity with their friends, families, and neighbors who were arrested, federal customers used sound bombs and tear gas to disperse the crowds, and the streets soon turned into a conversation with tension. What started as a local story in Los Angeles quickly issued news headlines in the United States and the world.
After the arrest of David Heareta, head of the International Services Employees Union (SEIU), his exposure to violence and his placement in handcuffs; Because of his filming of raids, members of the union from the state began arriving at Los Angeles to participate in a major peaceful demonstration in “Grand Park” in the city center on Sunday. The Farm Workers Union joined the protests, calling on people to join them, while emphasizing the peaceful nature of the demonstration.
Los Angeles is the second largest city in the United States, where those of Latin and Hasbani origin constitute about half of the population, generate 35% of the population outside the country, and the number of immigrants unregistered in it is estimated at one million, or about 10% of the population.
As a declared “Malaz City”, the city’s police did not participate in the operations (ICE), and refused to engage in Trump’s political agenda to target non -citizens, practices that Amnesty International considered a violation of human rights, and to implement mass deportation campaigns without a fair trial.
In a video posted on Instagram, masked young men showing bricks on police cars. They did not resemble the other demonstrators who appeared without head covers, and one of them heard in the clip saying with fear: “Oh my God, they throw the police with bricks!”
It is not possible to know whether they were real demonstrators or from Trump’s supporters who came as incitement agents- an old trick that is often used to discredit peaceful protests and justify official violence against citizens who have their right to demonstrate. The same applies to the looting that affected the “Apple” store and other stores.
It is noteworthy that the destruction of property is always considered an unacceptable “violence”, and is often used as a justification to attack isolation demonstrators. This controversy was raised on the means of communication when a class of officers protested to protect the Donat store, which sparked mockery and cynicism on the priorities of the deployment of forces.
The city’s mayor, Karen Bass, referred to the “degree of fear and terror” that Los Angeles residents feel, accusing Trump’s raids of “fueling tensions in the city” and planting chaos.
Detecting the true story
Gradually, the true story began to start the raids.
The “Latin Times” website reported that Stephen Miller, Vice -President of the White House employees, expressed at the May 20 meeting his anger at the ICE agency for not achieving “deportation quotas”, and criticized its focus on the former immigrants.
He said, “What does it mean that you are chasing criminals? Why don’t you go to Home Depot? He also told Fox News that he is seeking to raise the number of arrests to “at least 3 thousand per day”, stressing that President Trump “will continue to pressure this number.”
The raids in Los Angeles are not then for “public security”, as Trump promised during his 2024 election campaign. Comedian John Stewart said that Trump’s promises to arrest “criminals, murderers and drug dealers” contradicted the reality when the raids were carried out in a parking lot of the “Home Depot” store. He mocked, “One of the worst worst to Home Depot? Oh my God, these people were looking for work!”
It is an authoritarian campaign. It was described by the governor of California, Gavin Newsum, as “inflammatory discourse”, and the mayor of the city said that the city “is used as a laboratory of experiments” for the federal authority. Legally, the president may not publish the National Guard, which falls within the jurisdiction of the states. For this reason, California filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration calling for the announcement that this measure is unconstitutional.
According to reports, Trump was following the viewer on TV, before he was declared enthusiastically: “It is time to call the soldiers.” It was a media play aimed at causing panic and chaos, and paved his authoritarian moves.
Future of the press
During the raids, freedom of the press was also violated. A rubber bullet was fired on the correspondence “Lauren Tomasi” from TV 9, and it was not the only one. The correspondent of the newspaper “La Daily News” and an independent journalist were wounded by pepper and tear gas.
British photojournalist “Nick Stern” underwent an emergency surgery to extract a plastic bullet from the leg. The Los Angeles Press Club has documented more than 30 cases of attacks on journalists since the protests began.
After sending 700 naval infantry soldiers to Los Angeles and strengthening the number of National Guard members, Trump succeeded in militarizing the city’s streets.
Art and music protest
On Monday evening, June 9, BET Awards were held for the black entertainment network, and they were broadcast directly from Los Angeles. In her speech, the singer “Duchi”, winner of the award for the best hip -hop artist, denounced Trump’s “brutal attacks”, saying: “Trump uses the military forces to suppress the demonstration, and I would like you to think: What kind of government uses the army every time we practice our democratic right?”
Then I linked what is happening in Los Angeles to what is going on in Gaza, saying: “People are extracted from their families … and as an artist, I would like to take this moment to speak in the name of all the oppressed: black, Latin, transgender, and the people of Gaza.”
By Tuesday evening, the title of the New York Times is the title of “Law Scientists: Trump declares false emergency situations to collect power in his hand.” After the protests considered a “rebellion”, which seemed ridiculous given his personal support for the January 6 rebellion, and pardoned 1500 participants in it, his actions were only an attempt to seize power. As some jurists emphasized: “The president’s procedures are not authorized according to the laws that are based on it.”
“Passive emergency situations” that Trump undermines the constitution and destroy civil freedoms.
The opinions in the article do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Al -Jazeera.