Warning from California Governor as marines come to Los Angeles: "Uphold the Law"

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California governor Gavin Newsom said “democracy is under assault” in a broadside against United States President Donald Trump, who has ordered the state’s national guard and marines to control protests against immigration raids.

Newsom’s speech came on Wednesday AEST after Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass declared a curfew in the downtown area of the US’ second-largest city, after several nights of unrest and vandalism.

The unrest started on Saturday AEST after federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested at least 44 people from locations across the city on alleged immigration violations.

Newsom said local police were dispatched to “help keep the peace” amid subsequent protests and they were largely successful. But, he said, the situation took a dramatic turn when Trump ordered the national guard in without consulting California authorities.

US national guard troops standing at the top of the stairs.

The national guard was activated under orders from US President Donald Trump — a move that has been criticised by state and local authorities. Source: AAP, EPA / Allison Dinner

‘Theatrics over public safety’

Newsom said: “This brazen abuse of power by a sitting president inflamed a combustible situation … putting our people, our officers, and the national guard at risk.”

“That’s when the downward spiral began. He doubled down on his dangerous national guard deployment by fanning the flames even harder.”

Newsom said Trump was choosing “theatrics over public safety”, and that his administration was “traumatising” communities rather than protecting them.

He warned that although Trump might be focused on California, “other states are next”.

“Democracy is under assault right before our eyes, this moment we’ve feared has arrived,” Newsom said.

“He’s taking a wrecking ball to our founding fathers’ historic project: Three coequal, independent branches of government.

“The rule of law has increasingly given way to the rule of Don.”

In a filing with the US District Court in Northern California, Newsom requested an injunction preventing the use of troops for policing.

US marines arrive in Los Angeles

About 700 US marines arrived at a staging area about 30km south of Los Angeles on Tuesday AEST after orders from Trump. A US official told the Reuters news agency they were awaiting deployment to specific locations.

The marines don’t have arrest authority and will protect federal property and personnel, according to military officials.

There were approximately 2,100 national guard troops in greater Los Angeles, with more on the way, the official said.

State and local officials have labelled the moves an extreme overreaction to mostly peaceful demonstrations.

Speaking at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, Trump defended his decision, telling soldiers: “Generations of army heroes did not shed their blood on distant shores only to watch our country be destroyed by invasion and third-world lawlessness.”

“What you’re witnessing in California is a full-blown assault on peace, on public order and on national sovereignty, carried out by rioters bearing foreign flags,” he said, adding his administration would “liberate” Los Angeles.

Two women holding up signs during a protest. One sign reads: "ICE: Not cool", the other reads "dad, aunt, uncle, human over the words "innocent".

Protesters have clashed with police for four days over federal immigration raids. Source: AAP / Michael Nigro/Sipa USA

Demonstrators have waved the flags of Mexico and other countries in solidarity for the migrants rounded up in a series of intensifying raids.

Bass said at a press conference that unrest has been limited to a few downtown blocks and she drew a distinction between the majority of demonstrators protesting peacefully and a smaller number of agitators she blamed for violence and looting.

She later told another briefing a curfew had been considered for several days but decided to impose one starting Tuesday night local time after 23 businesses were looted a day before.

In what has become a ritual each afternoon, police have started forcing demonstrators away from the streets outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, where many detained migrants are held. Multiple groups of protesters meandered through downtown Los Angeles, monitored or followed by police armed with less lethal munitions.

Police said they arrested 197 people, more than doubling the total number of arrests in the region since Saturday.

— With reporting by the Reuters news agency