(The Center Square) – More protests were expected Tuesday on the fifth day of demonstrations in Los Angeles, which saw looting overnight.
Large crowds of peaceful protesters Monday gathered outside the Robert Young Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles. There were occasional minor clashes between protesters and police, according to local media reports. As happened during the weekend, some people threw fireworks toward law enforcement. Officers deployed smoke-fill cannisters toward the crowd. A car outside a church was set on fire, according to CBS Los Angeles. Five Waymo self-driving taxis were set on fire.
About 30 people smashed the glass doors to enter a CVS store at midnight and steal from it, as seen in videos on local TV newscasts. Goods were also stolen from five other stores including Apple and shoe outlets.
The Chinese American Museum and the historic Italian American Museum were among the buildings vandalized. Buildings tagged with graffiti included the Los Angeles Police Department headquarters.
President Donald Trump said Monday he would send 700 Marines from Twentynine Palms in nearby San Bernardino County despite objections from California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who sued Trump over his deployment of the 2,000 National Guard troops Saturday night. On Monday, Trump said he would deploy another 2,000.
Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said his department could handle law enforcement without the Marines’ help and that their presence would be “a significant logistical and operational challenge for those of us charged with safeguarding this city.”
“The Los Angeles Police Department, alongside our mutual aid partners, have decades of experience managing large-scale public demonstrations, and we remain confident in our ability to do so professionally and effectively,” McDonnell said in a news release posted Monday on X. He also said the LAPD had not received formal notification that the Marines would be arriving.
LAPD said 50 people were arrested over the weekend. They included 29 arrested Saturday evening for failure to disperse and 21 arrested Sunday for charges varying from attempted murder with a molotov cocktail to assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer, looting and failure to disperse.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office will start analyzing police arrest reports Tuesday, District Attorney Nathan Hochman told NBC Los Angeles
“You want to put officers’ lives in danger, damage public property, we are going to hold you accountable,” Hochman said.
Estimates of property damage had not been announced as of Tuesday morning, according to media reports.
Cleanup from the weekend demonstrations started Sunday and is continuing. Maintenance workers Monday painted over anti-U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement graffiti painted on Los Angeles City Hall.
