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In Los Angeles, tear gas was deployed and numerous arrests were made in response to a “No Kings” demonstration, one of many held over the weekend across the U.S. and Europe against President Donald Trump’s policies and the conflict in Iran.
According to Los Angeles police, 74 individuals were arrested on Sunday after failing to comply with a dispersal order post-rally on Saturday. Additionally, one person faced charges for allegedly carrying a weapon identified as a dagger.
These arrests were notable amid predominantly peaceful demonstrations. Event organizers reported that more than 3,100 protests were registered across all 50 states in the U.S.
At a federal complex in downtown Los Angeles, tensions escalated as hundreds of protesters clashed with authorities. Some demonstrators hurled rocks, bottles, and pieces of broken concrete at officers, as stated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Saturday night.
Two officers were injured by concrete blocks and required medical treatment, according to DHS officials.
Andre Andrews Jr., a Navy veteran and independent journalist, had walked the entire route of the Los Angeles rally and captured video of the event. He said after authorities gave the dispersal order, they deployed tear-gas canisters when protesters didn’t comply. Some protesters wearing shields and gas masks on the other side of a fence at the federal complex picked up the canisters and tossed them back at police. Andrews said some people also smashed concrete barriers into smaller pieces and threw them at authorities.
“Does it make L.A. look bad? No. They’re bad actors causing problems, for sure,” Andrews said. “The peaceful protest was good for the cause. You have the right to do that. But the other people, they were definitely causing problems.”
Police said those arrested included eight juveniles. Also detained was a woman dressed as the Statue of Liberty, smiling as she chatted with an officer who led her away.
In Denver, the police department said on the social platform X that it declared an unlawful assembly and deployed smoke canisters after a small group of protesters blocked a road and did not leave as asked. At least eight people were arrested, as was a ninth person later who police said was throwing objects.
Nationwide, people rallied from New York City, with almost 8.5 million residents in a solidly blue state, to Driggs, a town of fewer than 2,000 people in eastern Idaho, a state Trump carried with 66% of the vote in 2024. In Minnesota, a flagship event on the Capitol lawn in St. Paul drew Bruce Springsteen as its headliner to celebrate resistance to Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement.
Demonstrations also were held in more than a dozen other countries, according to co-executive director Ezra Levin of Indivisible, which spearheaded the events.
U.S. organizers have estimated that the first two rounds of No Kings rallies drew more than 5 million people in June and 7 million in October. Levin estimated at least 8 million participants showed up Saturday.
“It was powerful. It was historic. It was joyful. It was boisterous,” Levin said Sunday. “I’d say it went pretty well.”