Downtown L.A. hit by widespread vandalism, damage as city struggles to calm unrest
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A standoff between California officials and the Trump administration over immigration raids intensified Monday as the federal government said it was sending 700 Marines to Los Angeles and as local police worked to quell several days of unrest in downtown Los Angeles.
The Marine deployment comes even though California officials have said federal assistance is not needed and is actually inflaming tensions. There have been intense but isolated clashes between protesters and authorities for several days after a series of high-profile immigration arrests.
Late Sunday and early Monday some businesses were vandalized and burglarized downtown, concluding hours of unrest that saw Waymo cars burned, police cruisers crushed with rocks and electric scooters, and various forms of vandalism downtown and in the Civic Center. While most of the problems occurred within a few blocks, they have taken on worldwide attention after President Trump deployed the National Guard to L.A.
On Monday, a senior Trump administration official told The Times that the deployment of 700 active-duty U.S. Marines from Camp Pendleton to Los Angeles would occur “in light of increased threats against federal officers and federal buildings.”
So far, the Guard has been mostly stationed at federal buildings while local police handle the protests.
California officials have decried the violent activities on the streets of L.A. and said that illegal behavior will not be tolerated. Officers have made at least 40 arrests linked to vandalism and violence during the Los Angeles protests, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday.
Mayor Bass announced a curfew for downtown Los Angeles following four nights of sporadically chaotic protests. Also, ICE has expanded into rural communities following days of coordinated raids in urban areas of Los Angeles County.
Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said Sunday that violence in the city has only escalated since protesters clashed with officers Friday outside a federal detention center in downtown L.A. He described the violence as “disgusting.” Law enforcement stopped short of implementing a curfew in the city, which it has done during past protests.
“These past few nights we’ve seen a level that disgusts every good person in this city,” he said.
Nine people, including Service Employees International Union California leader David Huerta, have been federally charged in connection with the protests, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles.
On Monday — a day of gray, June gloom and chill — downtown Los Angeles bore the vulgar graffiti of a weekend of chaos and protest. In the blocks surrounding City Hall and LAPD headquarters, buildings were scrawled in spray paint. The epithet “F— ICE” was ubiquitous.
In front of the federal building on Los Angeles Street, yellow city street sweepers rolled back and forth between blooming jacarandas and scores of police vehicles.
Graffiti marred the exterior of City Hall, an Art Deco landmark built in 1928. “F— ICE,” “F— LAPD,” and “F— Trump” were all spray-painted on walls and stairs, along with a rendering of excrement radiating stink lines. The former Los Angeles Times building bore many of the same vulgarities, and the words: “Immigrants rule the world.”
Spent rubber rounds and broken glass were scattered along Spring Street, remnants of a chaotic night in downtown.
Octavio Gomez, a supervisor with the DTLA Alliance, quickly rolled black paint on a wall next to Grand Central Market, covering the words “LA IS NOT SAFE!” and others.
“Today’s a bad day because of… last night,” Gomez said. “It’s all going to come back right? Because there’s still protests.”
The T-Mobile store on South Broadway had several windows boarded up and glass strewn across the sidewalk. Some nearby stores typically open on Mondays remained shuttered, including Blue Bottle Coffee. Others, including Grand Central Market, were already busy with customers.
Standing at the edge of Grand Park as police helicopters buzzed overhead, Harry Vartanian said he was incredibly frustrated to see downtown covered in graffiti on Monday morning. He complained that protesters seemed to be damaging property at random for no reason.
“These are hoodlums, man. This is how society is going to function?” the 59-year-old Angeleno asked. “They’re just enforcing the law and you’re setting things on fire.”
Eric Wright and his wife, Margaux Cowan-Banker, vacationers from Knoxville, Tenn., were jogging downtown — past scores of police vehicles — Monday morning when they paused to take a few photos of the graffiti-covered federal building.
It was bizarre, they said, seeing the city portrayed on the news and social media as a place of total chaos when most of Los Angeles was carrying on like any other day.
“People back where we live are going to completely be horrified,” said Cowan-Banker, a 42-year-old personal trainer. “I’m sure they think it’s a war zone here. ”
Many downtown residents seemed completely unbothered by the protests and aftermath. Los Angeles has seen large-scale protests in the past, such as in 2020 following the death of George Floyd.
“It’s kind of the usual, we always have protests,” Eileen Roman said as she walked her dog near Grand Central Market.
She wasn’t home Sunday when protests escalated and some violence broke out but she said the situation didn’t worry her. As the daughter of Guatemalan immigrants, she understands why people were out.
“I think we all are concerned about what’s going on,” Roman, 32, said of the federal government’s immigration crackdown.
Thomas Folland, a downtown resident and art history professor at Los Angeles Mission College, also said he wasn’t particularly concerned by the graffiti and minor vandalism he saw Monday morning as he walked near his apartment building.
“I’m not that offended by graffiti…. this is at least a genuine community expression,” Folland said. More troubling, he said, is the direction of the country.
Folland, a Canadian, said he became a dual citizen during Trump’s last administration, but is still anxious about a trip out of the country in a few days. He understands why so many are so outraged.
“Even if I have a passport, I don’t feel 100% safe,” he said.
LAPD Chief McDonnell demurred over the weekend when asked if the city needed National Guard troops, whom Trump deployed over the wishes of the governor and mayor.
“Do we need them? Well, looking at tonight, this thing has gotten out of control,” he said. Still, McDonnell said he needed to know more about how the troops could help maintain order before he decides if their presence was necessary.
How one chaotic demonstration at a Paramount Home Depot spurred Trump to send in the National Guard. What really happened?
During a news conference on Sunday, Bass called Los Angeles a “city of immigrants” and pushed back on the federal government’s assertion that immigration officials had targeted criminals and violent individuals during the raids at workplaces and Home Depot parking lots in recent days.
“What we’re seeing in Los Angeles is chaos that is provoked by the administration,” Bass said. “When you raid Home Depot and workplaces, when you tear parents and children apart, and when you run armored caravans through our streets you cause fear and you cause panic.”
Waymos were vandalized and set ablaze during L.A. immigration protests
Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis said Trump appeared to be intentionally escalating the situation. She emphasized that burning cars and other non-peaceful protests were not appropriate, but said local law enforcement has the capacity to deal with such matters.
“There’s no reason to send in the National Guard other than to show a flex of strength,” Kounalakis said in an interview Sunday evening. “Typically that is one of the ways things will start to escalate. So my conclusion is that he announced sending in the National Guard not because there was a need, but because he wanted to take the opportunity of the protests to have a demonstration of his own strength and ruthlessness.”
Sunday was filled with dramatic images across downtown.
Protesters converged on the Civic Center area of downtown L.A. on Sunday morning, spilling onto the 101 Freeway around 3:30 p.m. The roadway was then closed to traffic for several hours as California Highway Patrol officers worked to push demonstrators back, detaining several in the process.
A group of demonstrators then descended on five Waymo taxis lined up on Los Angeles Street between Arcadia and Alameda streets around 5 p.m.
Tires were slashed, windows smashed, and anti-ICE messages spray-painted over the self-driving taxis, three of which were then set on fire.
Protesters swarmed around vehicles, tearing the doors off and stomping on windshields. One man with a mask smashed car windows with a skateboard. Another appeared to use a makeshift flamethrower to set the interior of a car ablaze.
As the cars were consumed by flames, some people were seen throwing Lime electric scooters into the burning shells, while others stood back from the fiery scene. At one point, the besieged Waymos began honking their horns in coordinated cacophony, punctuated by the chants of protesters and the whirring of police helicopters overhead.
Some in the crowd milling above the 101 lobbed rocks and chunks of concrete down toward CHP who had detained people who protested on the freeway. One struck a police cruiser with a thud, prompting a big cheer. CHP officers responded by firing flash-bang rounds above the crowd.
Maria Patiño Gutierrez lives in East L.A. but was back downtown Monday morning to join the rally in support of Huerta, the union leader arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Friday. As a U.S. citizen, she feels safe enough to join the rallies, knowing that many others in her community feel too vulnerable to be as vocal.
While she noticed graffiti as she walked to Grand Park, she said it was barely a concern compared with the recent ICE roundups that have had devastating consequences.
“Graffiti is going to be painted over, but family’s lives are impacted,” she said. “I’m just trying to stay hopeful, but I’m also really worried, really scared, really sad.”
“Everyone in L.A. is impacted one way or another — or everyone should be impacted,” Patiño Gutierrez said. “This is not business as usual.”
Times staff writers Hailey Branson-Potts, James Queally and Rachel Uranga contributed to this report.
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