The Voice News: Donald Trump has ordered police and National Guard members to arrest individuals actively participating in protests while wearing masks in Los Angeles, the main city of the western U.S. state of California.
In a message posted Monday on his social media platform Truth Social, the U.S. President stated: “Arrest people hiding their faces with masks. Do it now.”
Earlier, Trump had posted on Truth Social, “From now on, wearing masks during protests will not be allowed. Anyone wearing a mask during protests or demonstrations will face action.”
On Friday, June 6, California police and U.S. Customs enforcement agency ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) launched a crackdown in Los Angeles to identify and detain undocumented immigrants. During this operation, clashes broke out between immigrants and law enforcement in the Paramount suburb of Los Angeles.
Notably, Paramount is predominantly inhabited by immigrants from Mexico and Latin American countries. Most of them do not possess legal residency documents and primarily speak Spanish among themselves.
As time passed, the scale and intensity of the clashes increased, spreading beyond Paramount into other parts of the city. Before the situation could escalate further, on Saturday, 2,000 members of the U.S. military-affiliated paramilitary force, the National Guard, were deployed in Los Angeles.
However, this did little to improve the situation. National Guard members have been stationed around government buildings and offices to prevent potential attacks by protesters. Although no attacks on government buildings have occurred due to their presence, several vehicles have been set on fire since Saturday.
To disperse protesters, tear gas shells are being fired and baton charges carried out. Over 200 protesters have been arrested so far for attacking police and National Guard personnel and damaging government property.
Officials from the Los Angeles Police Department have confirmed that the arrest operations are ongoing.