For the second day in a row, people protesting without a permit have shut down Los Angeles roadways and assaulted police officers, and for the second day in a row Mayor Karen Bass has publicly ignored the situation and privately told officers to stand down and retreat.
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The lawbreakers, many of them holding flags from Mexico and other Latin American countries, say they’re there to protest ICE raids, which they claim are picking up sweet little abuelas and whisking them off to concentration camps. Seriously. Listen to this man interviewed live during Fox LA’s Five O’Clock News:
The unidentified man said, when asked why he was there:
“For La Raza, for the race. Like, people been working hard, they’ve been doing their thing out here in this country, L.A. specifically, and — just to get thrown out? Come on, man. Like, you just — it’s like going back to Auschwitz. Come on. He’s separating people from their kids, from their family. No warning shots. Just taking them away.”
The anchor, Elex Michaelson, then set the record straight on that:
“Yeah, of course, he compares this to Auschwitz. Auschwitz was a situation with German citizens who were taken to death camps where they were exterminated, a term of 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust. This is a situation of potentially enforcing United States immigration law. Nobody is being taken to a death camp. There may be a disagreement over what’s happening here, but that comparison does not have anything to do with actual history of what happened in World War 2.”
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Why would people think there was any connection between Auschwitz and what’s happening? That’s the propaganda leftists are spreading.
Mass demonstrations in Los Angeles, more that 10,000 people showed up to protest against Trump’s ethnic cleansing and concentration camps. They gathered to protect the immigrant community which is being hunted down by ICE. (@BTnewsroom) #3E #USprotests #ICE
“we shout for those… pic.twitter.com/IMf97qJEpf
— Anonymous (@YourAnonCentral) February 2, 2025
Monday’s protests, just like Sunday’s, quickly turned violent, though U.S. 101 through downtown wasn’t shut down since the California Highway Patrol had the forethought to shut down the freeway entrances and exits in that area so the protesters couldn’t get there.
Although a dispersal order was announced at 5 PM, protesters escalated their actions until about 9 PM, and by 10:15 PM a small number had been cuffed and escorted out of the area – without even being cited. According to scanner traffic and independent journalists on the ground, early in the evening mass arrests were authorized, then officers were told to cite and release, and eventually people were just released.
LA Mayor Karen Bass finally said something about what was happening, with a brief post on X, and was promptly ratioed to the moon by frustrated Angelenos who told her that the protesters weren’t safe and lawful and asked if she was monitoring this event the same way she “monitored” the fires from Ghana.
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My office is actively monitoring the protests downtown.
Angelenos have the right to express their First Amendment rights, but it must be in a safe and lawful way.
L.A. is a city of immigrants and we will protect all Angelenos.
— Mayor Karen Bass (@MayorOfLA) February 4, 2025
Bass promises that the city will protect all Angelenos? What about the officers assaulted by “protesters”? What about the three people injured during street takeovers associated with the protest? One woman was thrown from a moving vehicle and landed face first on the pavement, according to local television channel KCAL. Shutting down the protests might have prevented these injuries.
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Independent journalist Anthony Cabassa has been following the riots and provided crucial footage of the violence.
BREAKING 🚨: The protest has turned violent, police are being confronted by thousands of protestors and dozens of objects are seen thrown at officers to include glass bottles as they are trying to keep control of the escalating situation. pic.twitter.com/ISGqTVv7pw
— Anthony (@AnthonyCabassa_) February 4, 2025
UPDATE 🚨: LAPD so far are releasing all protestors one by one, and the people are beginning to go home. No reports of anyone arrested, after a group of about 150 were detained earlier. pic.twitter.com/u5PHWwzGoX
— Anthony (@AnthonyCabassa_) February 4, 2025
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This is ridiculous. These people have zero reason to believe any threats or warnings from law enforcement. They know that their comrade, Karen Bass, won’t enforce any laws against them. It’s a little surprising that Gavin Newsom hasn’t yet sent in the National Guard. It took him a few days to do so after the George Floyd riots started in 2020, and at that time he said he didn’t do it sooner because then-Mayor Eric Garcetti hadn’t asked. We’ll see if that changes now, since another day-long protest is supposed to occur on Wednesday. However, Los Angeles is supposed to receive up to an inch of rain on Wednesday, so if law enforcement can’t keep the protesters away, perhaps the rain can.
