Protesters gathered after immigration agents took dozens of people into custody during raids across Los Angeles.
There have been tense confrontations in Los Angeles as riot police and demonstrators – protesting federal immigration raids – squared off in the downtown area.
Earlier on Friday, United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents took dozens of people into custody during raids across Los Angeles city.
Caravans of unmarked military-style vehicles and vans loaded with uniformed federal agents streamed through the city as part of the operation.
The ICE agents raided several locations, including an apparel store in the city’s Fashion District, a Home Depot in Westlake District, and a clothing warehouse in South Los Angeles, according to the Los Angeles City News Service.
In response, crowds of demonstrators protesting the raids massed outside a jail where some of the detainees were believed to be held and spray-painted anti-ICE slogans on the walls of the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles.
Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers – who did not take part in the immigration raids – were called in to quell the unrest. Wielding batons and tear gas rifles, LAPD officers faced off with the demonstrators after authorities ordered them to disperse on Friday night.
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Some protesters hurled broken concrete towards the LAPD officers, the Reuters news agency reports. Police responded by firing volleys of tear gas and pepper spray.
LAPD spokesperson Drake Madison said police on the scene declared the gathering an unlawful assembly, meaning that those who failed to leave the area were subject to arrest, according to Reuters.
It’s not immediately clear how many arrests have been made.
Stoking fear and terror
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass condemned the federal immigration raids, saying they “sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city”.
Caleb Soto, of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, told Al Jazeera that between 70 and 80 people had been detained, but only three lawyers have been allowed access to the detention centre where they were being held to provide legal advice.
“The chaotic manner of the raids that we saw today happening throughout Los Angeles and different day-labour worksites and garment worker work sites was an example of the purpose of what this Trump administration has set out to do, which is create as much fear as possible,” Soto told Al Jazeera.
He said the ICE agents conducting the raids did not obtain a judicial warrant required under US law, and granted by a judge if there is probable cause to carry out an arrest because of suspected criminal activity.
Soto said ICE agents were showing up at work sites “where they know that there are a lot of immigrant workers” and “people without documents”, and if someone starts running they use that as “reasonable suspicion” that the person is undocumented.
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“They use that as the pretext to start arresting people who are there in that area and around them. We find that to be pretty unconstitutional,” he said.
The Los Angeles raids are the latest sweeps in several US cities over recent months as part of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
Trump, who took immediate steps to ramp up immigration enforcement after taking office in January, has promised to arrest and deport undocumented migrants in record numbers.
In late May, his administration stated it would revoke the temporary legal status of 530,000 people in the country, including Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans.