LAPD says more than 50 people detained during protests against ICE tactics

Damian Kevitt spent Saturday afternoon on a 10-mile bike ride with hundreds of other cyclists, a sticker displaying Alex Pretti’s photo stuck to his jersey.

“These are just cyclists, clubs, bike shops and individuals who have come together and said, ‘Hey, Alex was one of us,’ ” said Kevitt, while riding on Broadway in Santa Monica. “He was an ICU nurse, he loved the outdoors, he loved cyclists and he loved cycling.”

The so-called Unity Ride was one of hundreds of demonstrations across the country throughout the weekend in response to federal immigration raids and the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by immigration enforcement officers in Minneapolis.

In Los Angeles, the demonstration in remained largely peaceful through the day, but by 9 p.m. police said federal authorities deployed tear gas on a crowd that gathered on Alameda Street between Aliso and Commercial streets. The Los Angeles Police Department said that there were “bottles, rocks and industrial size fireworks” and that orders to disperse were issued.

The LAPD declared a tactical alert at 10 p.m., the department’s public information office reported Sunday morning. Officers made one arrest on suspicion of felony evasion and detained, cited and released 47 adults and three juveniles for failure to disperse. Reports were taken — but no arrests made — for felony assault with a deadly weapon on an officer and vandalism, and one officer sustained a leg injury, the LAPD said.

Protesters gather outside City Hall in L.A. for an anti-ICE protest Saturday.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

The nationwide demonstrations began Friday with organizers calling for people to avoid shopping and participate in a “national shutdown” they hoped would convince the Trump administration to tone down aggressive immigration enforcement tactics and actions toward protesters.

“What [Pretti] was doing was not a terrorist activity — he was exercising his right as a citizen and he was killed,” said Kevitt, executive director of Streets Are For Everyone, an organization that aims to make streets safer for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers. “We shouldn’t be in fear of being killed by exercising our rights. … Even if you don’t agree with someone’s political stance, you shouldn’t be penalized for having a political stance.”

In downtown L.A. on Saturday afternoon, hundreds of people gathered outside the steps at City Hall and across the street at Gloria Molina Grand Park.

Speakers drew cheers as demonstrators made noise with plastic horns and held up posters, cars honking as they drove by.

“I like my ice crushed,” one sign read.

“Mothers, don’t let your sons grow up to be ICE holes,” read another.

A comedian told vulgar jokes about President Trump and those in his administration.

Protesters gather in downtown L.A. on Saturday.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

In between speakers, the crowd chanted: “When we fight, we win!”

Vendors sold buttons and hats — some with the slogan “resistance is beautiful” — while others collected signatures for various ballot measures. Music blasted from speakers. Clusters of friends and families sat on the grass in Grand Park.

City resident Lisa Keller stood with two of her friends, one wearing a sign around his neck that read, “Another peaceful protester.”

When asked why she showed up Saturday, she let out a heavy sigh.

“I’ll try to keep it PG,” said Keller, 64. “I think it’s really important to stand up for the rights of all people living in this country, no matter your immigration status.”

Anna Obropta, dressed as Lady Liberty, joins hundreds in the “ICE Out Of Everywhere” protest in Los Angeles on Saturday.

(Carlin Stiehl / For The Times)

After disturbances during Friday’s protest in downtown, Trump posted on his social media platform that the federal government will not “participate in various poorly run Democrat Cities with regard to their Protests and/or Riots unless, and until, they ask us for help,” but warned it will “guard, and very powerfully so, any and all Federal Buildings that are being attacked by these highly paid Lunatics, Agitators, and Insurrectionists.”

Trump’s post said, “There will be no spitting in the faces of our Officers, there will be no punching or kicking the headlights of our cars, and there will be no rock or brick throwing at our vehicles, or at our Patriot Warriors. If there is, those people will suffer an equal, or more, consequence.”

First Assistant U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli posted on his X account that he had ordered a surge federal officers and authorized the probable cause arrest of anyone engaged in violence against federal property and that they would face federal charges.

“We’re not playing around,” Essayli said.

During a news conference while the Friday protest was still going on, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass urged participants to be peaceful and not engage in vandalism.

“This just hurts the city,” Bass said. “That does not impact the administration in any kind of way that is going to bring about any type of change. What can happen, when the protest is violent, that is exactly what this administration wants to see happen because don’t be surprised if the military reenters our city.”

Friday’s demonstration ended with law enforcement pushing into a crowd of about 200 people and spraying a chemical agent on demonstrators. The LAPD issued a dispersal order for the area of Alameda between Union Station and 1st Street.

Police Officer Kevin Terzes, a spokesperson for the LAPD, said Saturday morning that eight people were arrested: six people on suspicion of failing to disperse, one on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer and one for an alleged curfew violation. Terzes did not have details on the circumstances of the alleged assault or whether there was any property damage during the event.

Times staff writer Doug Smith contributed to this report.