LA protests: Curfew set as Trump lambasts 'foreign enemy'

06/11/2025June 11, 2025

LA mayor issues night curfew in downtown

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass announced on Tuesday an overnight curfew in the downtown area.

"I have declared a local emergency and issued a curfew for downtown Los Angeles to stop the vandalism, to stop the looting," she told reporters.

The curfew will begin at 8 pm local time (0300 GMT/UTC on Wednesday) on Tuesday and last until 6 am local time on Wednesday and apply to a 1-sqaure-mile area in downtown.

06/11/2025June 11, 2025

LA protests continue for a fifth day

A fifth day of protests unfolded in Los Angeles as hundreds of people gathered at a building where detained activists from the previous days of demonstrations against US President Donald Trump's immigration crackdowns were being held.

Los Angeles police pushed the crowd away from the building, making arrests in the process. 

Elsewhere, about 100 people briefly halted traffic on a freeway. 

New York, too, saw a protest against Trump's immigration plans, as several thousands of people marched through the streets of Manhattan.

Earlier today, President Trump called the protests a "full-blown assault on peace, on public order and national sovereignty." 

He also called the protesters "rioters bearing foreign flags with the aim of continuing a foreign invasion of our country."

06/11/2025June 11, 2025

US, China agree on 'framework' of trade agreement

High trade talks between the US and China ended in London late on Tuesday, with the two sides agreeing on a "framework" to move forward on trade.

"The two sides have, in principle, reached a framework for implementing the consensus reached by the two heads of state during the phone call on June 5th and the consensus reached at the Geneva meeting," China's Vice Commerce Minister Li Chenggang told reporters.

US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said that the trade "framework" and implementation plan agreed should resolve restrictions on rare earths and magnets.

The plans reached in London following the two-day talks will need to be approved by Washington and Beijing.

"The idea behind all this is to increase our trade with China," Lutnick said.

This comes after a tariff war prompted by Donald Trump imposing %145 tariffs on China, with Beijing striking back with %125 tariffs. An earlier round of trade talks in May helped bring the mutual tariffs significantly down.

06/11/2025June 11, 2025

US army bases to return to Confederate names, Trump announces

US President Donald Trump said that the country's military would rename bases whose names had been changed after the racial justice protests in 2023, in the wake of George Floyd's 2020 killing by police in Minneapolis. 

"We are also going to be restoring the names to Fort Pickett, Fort Hood, Fort Gordon, Fort Rucker, Fort Polk, Fort AP Hill and Fort Robert E. Lee," Trump said, while speaking at Fort Bragg, which had already been reverted to its original name earlier this year, from Fort Liberty.

"We won a lot of battles out of those forts. It's no time to change," he added.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth sidestepped a Congressional provision banning bases having Confederate names, using the old names of the bases while saying they were renamed after people with the same names of the Confederate officials.

For example, Fort Lee was initially named after Civil War-era Confederate commander Robert E. Lee and renamed Fort Gregg-Adams in 2023.

Under Trump's new orders, it would be renamed after Private Fitz Lee, a Medal of Honor recipient from the Spanish-American War.

Many Americans see Confederate flags and base names as symbols of white supremacy. The Confederacy was the group of US states which fought against ending slavery, among other things, and lost in the US civil war.

06/11/2025June 11, 2025

Trump claims to fight 'a foreign enemy' in Los Angeles

US President Donald Trump called the protesters against his immigration enforcement in Los Angeles "animals" and "a foreign enemy" during a speech on Tuesday.

"We will not allow an American city to be invaded and conquered by a foreign enemy. That's what they are," Trump said, while calling Los Angeles a "trash heap" with "entire neighborhoods" under the control of criminals.

In a speech that was supposed to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the US Army, Trump condemned the protesters, while also repeating his false claims that the 2020 presidential elections, which he lost to Joe Biden, had been rigged.

"What you're witnessing in California is a full-blown assault on peace, on public order and national sovereignty, carried out by rioters bearing foreign flags with the aim of continuing a foreign invasion of our country," the US president said.

Trump linked the protesters to what he called "uncontrolled migration" and said that Europe must act against it as well.

"We will liberate Los Angeles and make it free, clean, and safe again," he said.

06/11/2025June 11, 2025

More than 100 arrested at LA protests, police say

Dozens of people were arrested as part of the anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles, local police (LAPD) said in a statement. 

According to LAPD, 96 people were arrested for failing to disperse, while one arrest was made due to the alleged assault with a deadly weapon, one for resisting arrest and one for vandalism.

Fourteen more were arrested for looting, the LAPD said regarding the situation on Monday and the morning of Tuesday.

06/10/2025June 10, 2025

Mexican president rejects allegation of 'encouraging violence'

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum criticized Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, calling her comments "absolutely false."

Earlier Tuesday, Noem spoke to reporters at the White House, saying "Claudia Sheinbaum came out and encouraged more protests in LA and I condemn her for that. She should not be encouraging violent protests that are going on."

In response, Sheinbaum took to X, saying Noem "mistakenly mentioned" that she encouraged violent protests, which was "absolutely false." 

The Mexican president reposted a video of her daily news conference the previous day, when she had condemned violent demonstrations and urged Mexicans living in the United States "to act peacefully."

"We have always been against" violent protests, Sheinbaum wrote on X.

"On the other hand, our position is and will continue to be the defense of honest, hardworking Mexicans who support the United States economy and their families in Mexico," she added.

06/10/2025June 10, 2025

California asks court to block troop deployment

The state of California is seeking a restraining order to prevent US troops being deployed on the streets of Los Angeles.

"Sending trained warfighters onto the streets is unprecedented and threatens the very core of our democracy," Governor Gavin Newsom said. 

"Donald Trump is behaving like a tyrant, not a President. We ask the court to immediately block these unlawful actions."

California's government accuses Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth of seeking "to bring military personnel and a 'warrior culture' to the streets of cities and towns where Americans work, go to school, and raise their families," according to the court filing, AFP reported. 

"To put it bluntly, there is no invasion or rebellion in Los Angeles; there is civil unrest that is no different from episodes that regularly occur in communities throughout the country, and that is capable of being contained by state and local authorities working together," the filing said.

It added that "nothing is stopping the President from enforcing the laws through use of ordinary, civilian mechanisms available to federal officers."

According to US Broadcaster CNN, the case has been assigned to senior US District Judge Charles R. Breyer of the federal trial-level court in San Francisco.

06/10/2025June 10, 2025

California lawmakers decry 'manufactured crisis' in LA

Democratic members of California's congressional delegation in the US House of Representatives organized a press conference at the US Capitol on Tuesday morning to address the situation in their home state.

The lawmakers accused President Donald Trump of creating a "manufactured crisis" in Los Angeles.

"It's a deliberate attempt by Trump to incite unrest, test the limits of executive power and distract from the lawlessness of his administration," said Representative Jimmy Gomez.

Representative Nancy Pelosi, former House speaker, criticized Trump's actions today with his handling of the January 6th insurrection at the US Capitol in 2021.

"We begged the president of the United States to send in the National Guard. He would not do it," Pelosi said.

"And yet, in a contra-constitutional way, he has sent the National Guard into California. Something is very wrong with this picture," she added.

Representative Jimmy Panetta said that Trump's decision to send in the military was designed to "give him the image and give him the fight and give him the pictures that he wants."

06/10/2025June 10, 2025

Pentagon: Los Angeles troop deployment to cost $134 million

The Pentagon's acting comptroller, Bryn MacDonnell, said that the deployment of National Guard troops and Marines to Los Angeles
will cost at least $134 million (€117 million).

MacDonnell said the figure would cover travel, housing and food expenses for the troops while they are on site. The money is expected to be drawn from operations and maintenance accounts.

Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said those troops would stay in Los Angeles for 60 days. In total, the Pentagon has said that 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines will be deployed.

"We stated very publicly that it's 60 days because we want to ensure that those rioters, looters and thugs on the other side assaulting our police officers know that we're not going anywhere," Hegseth told members of the House appropriations defense subcommittee during a congressional hearing.

06/10/2025June 10, 2025

Defense Secretary Hegseth says focus is to 'secure the homeland'

Jenipher Camino Gonzalez | Zac Crellin

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth testified before the HouseImage: Josh Morgan/USA Today/picture alliance

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth appeared before members of the US Congress, where he was asked about President Donald Trump's deployment of National Guard troops to quiet immigration protests in Los Angeles.

Hegseth defended the move, saying it was meant to safeguard officers from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), whose roundups of alleged immigration offenders have triggered violent clashes.

"We believe ICE agents should be allowed to be safe in doing their operations, and we have deployed National Guard and the Marines to protect them in the execution of their duties," he said.

Hegseth suggested that the National Guard use for homeland defense will expand, saying that under the Trump administration it would become "a critical component of how we secure that homeland."

The Pentagon chief earlier refused to answer a lawmaker's questions on how much a deployment of active duty US Marines to Los Angeles will cost.

06/10/2025June 10, 2025

Donald Trump Jr. criticised for 'reckless' social media post

Kang Hyung-won, a photojournalist who covered the 1992 Los Angeles race riots for the Los Angeles Times, said a photo he took and was shared by Donald Trump Jr. on social media was used without his permission.

The son of the US president posted a photograph of a man with a rifle on a rooftop saying, "Make Rooftop Koreans Great Again!" 

In 1992, some armed community members, feeling abandoned by law enforcement after the Rodney King beating, took to store rooftops and reportedly fired on looters.

Trump Jr. posted the photo in light of the current protests in the city against immigration enforcement action.

Kang told the Reuters news agency that his photograph depicted a different situation, where law enforcement was not providing adequate protection.

"(The) current situation of people expressing a widespread disagreement about an excessive and aggressive enforcement by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, while LAPD is present and keeping the city in order is not even remotely similar to the dire situation for Korean Americans of those dark hours during the 1992 LA Riots," he said.

06/10/2025June 10, 2025

Protests against ICE raids spread to more US cities

Demonstrations in support of the Los Angeles protests over federal immigration raids have sprung up in other parts of the United States.

Most notably in Austin, Texas, where police fired teargas at protesters who refused orders to disperse.  

Texas Governor Greg Abbott said more than a dozen protesters were arrested.

"Peaceful protesting is legal. But once you cross the line, you will be arrested," he warned.

There were also demonstrations in other US cities, including New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco.

06/10/2025June 10, 2025

Newsom sues over deployment of federal troops

California Governor Gavin Newsom sued the Trump administration to block the deployment of the National Guard and the Marines.

He argues it violates federal law and state sovereignty.

"This is a red line — and they're crossing it," he said in a post on social media.

"The Courts and Congress must act. Checks and balances are crumbling."

Trump said Monday that the city would have been "completely obliterated" if he had not deployed the Guard.

Although the Guard is present, their interactions with protesters have remained minimal, as local law enforcement continues to manage crowd control."

06/10/2025June 10, 2025

Australia raises issue of injured journalist with US

Australia has raised concerns with the United States government after a reporter was seemingly targeted and shot with a rubber bullet while covering protests against immigration raids in Los Angeles, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.

"We don't find it acceptable that it occurred," Albanese said.

The incident during which Australia's Nine News US correspondent Lauren Tomasi was shot live on camera.

Albanese said he also spoke to Tomasi.

She wrote on Sunday that she was a "bit sore" but otherwise well, adding it was "important we keep on telling the stories that need to be told."