(Los Angeles) Calm returned Tuesday in Los Angeles, where the mayor decided to lift the nightlife held for a week, while the Governor of California has tried to regain control of the National Guard sent by Donald Trump in the face of demonstrations disputing his migration policy.
A wave of muscular arrests of undocumented migrants by the immigration police (ICE) has caused indignation in the Californian megalopolis in recent days.
The demonstrations against these punch operations degenerated into violence and degradations in places.
The American president then accused local democratic authorities of having lost control of the city, and sent 4,000 soldiers from the California National Guard, as well as 700 soldiers of the Navine.
A decision widely denounced by local officials, who accused her of instrumentalizing the situation.
Despite spectacular images of burnt downy Robotaxis, looting and clashes with the police, the incidents focused on a few house pies in the city center. Mayor Karen Bass established a curfew on June 10 in the area, covering 13 km2 of this sprawling city.
Photo Eric Thayer, Associated Press Archives
A protester in front of Robotaxis burned on June 8 in Los Angeles
This measure “has largely contributed to protecting stores, restaurants, businesses and residential communities against criminals who make fun of the immigrant community,” said the Democrat on Tuesday, announcing her lifting.
Controversial military presence
Since this weekend, where the “no Kings” walking (“no kings”) has seen thousands of people protesting calm, tension has largely fell to Los Angeles.
On Tuesday, the city center was populated by passers-by circulating in the middle of many businesses still barricaded and sometimes covered with graffiti, according to an AFP photographer.
But the mayor said he was ready to “reinstate” a curfew if necessary.
By intensifying his anti-immigration offensive Los Angeles, Donald Trump attacked California, a sanctuary state for undocumented migrants, with a large immigrant population.
Its deployment of the National Guard, without the consent of the Governor of the State-who also has authority over this military body-has been a first since 1965 in the United States.
Governor Gavin Newsom denounced an authoritarian maneuver and launched legal proceedings to recover control.
Last week, a federal judge agreed, considering this illegal deployment and that the violence noted, limited to a few districts, is “far” from the “rebellion” invoked by the federal government.
But the execution of his decision was immediately postponed, until a court of appeal of San Francisco could examine the appeal of the Department of Justice.
During a hearing before the court on Tuesday, the representative of the department, Brett Shumate, estimated that “members of the National Guard are essential” in Los Angeles.
“Common sense”
Their mission is to “protect federal buildings against new violations and violent riots involving fireworks, Molotov cocktails and pieces of concrete launched on the police” of the immigration police, he insisted, recalling that they have “no mission to maintain order”.
For his part, the representative of California, Samuel Harbourt, said that the local police “do their job” and manage the situation.
Los Angeles police have carried out nearly 600 arrests since the start of the demonstrations and Tuesday, the local prosecutor announced prosecution against around thirty people.
Under these conditions, the deployment of the National Guard is an “extreme measure” and unjustified, according to Mr. Harbourt. It risks “further worsening tensions and the risk of violence in the city of Los Angeles”.
Expected in the coming days, the decision of the Court of Appeal will be scrutinized closely.
The case will have important consequences on the power of an American president to use the army on national soil, and could go back to the Supreme Court, with a majority of conservative.
“I am convinced that common sense will prevail here,” Newsom said on Tuesday in a statement on the sidelines of the hearing. “The American army has its place on the battlefield, not in the American streets. »»
