After days of immigration protests, downtown L.A.’s first night under curfew ended Wednesday morning with dozens of arrests, but less destruction and fewer clashes between protesters and authorities.
The curfew went into effect at 8 p.m. Tuesday and lifted at 6 a.m. the following day. The Los Angeles Police Department reported that at least 25 people were arrested for violating the curfew in its first hours.
The curfew encompasses the downtown civic center, including City Hall, the main county criminal courthouse, LAPD headquarters and federal buildings that have been the target of protests leading to property damage and hundreds of arrests.
Shortly before the curfew went into effect, Mayor Karen Bass and faith leaders marched to the federal building on Los Angeles Street, walking through an area that had for days been covered in shattered glass, graffiti and spent police munitions.
Bass said that she expects the curfew to remain in place for several days and will consult with law enforcement and elected leaders before lifting it. She said it was necessary to curb the actions of “bad actors who do not support the immigrant community.”
Although no demonstrators were arrested by local law enforcement during initial confrontations with federal immigration authorities on Friday, tensions escalated over the course of the weekend, leading to larger gatherings punctuated by episodes of violence, theft, graffiti, and property destruction.
L.A. police said they made 27 arrests on Saturday, 40 on Sunday and more than 100 on Monday. An additional 205 protesters were arrested Tuesday before Bass announced the curfew at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Over the last few days, people have been arrested for an array of alleged crimes including failure to disperse, throwing a Molotov cocktail at an officer, driving a motorcycle into a line of police, destruction of property and theft.
“Many businesses have now been affected by vandalism,” said Bass on Tuesday. “Last night there were 23 businesses that were looted. If you drive through downtown, the graffiti is everywhere and has caused significant damages to businesses and a number of properties.”
Parts of the city were last put under a curfew during the George Floyd protests in 2020.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said hundreds of people have been taken into custody during the raids since Friday. But it’s not clear exactly how many people have been arrested. An immigrants rights leader in Los Angeles said about 300 people have been detained by federal authorities in California since sweeps began last week.
Angelica Salas, director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, said her group used interviews with family members, conversations with elected officials and direct reporting from the ground to confirm detentions.
“Our communities are being terrorized. We’re in a state of terror. People are outraged at what’s happening,” she told the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday.
Staff writer Noah Goldberg contributed to this article.
