Activists continue to demonstrate around the clock outside the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, protesting President Donald Trump administration’s ongoing mass deportation agenda.
For the last two weeks, starting July 11, protesters have been rotating day and night shifts to keep a 24-hour watchful eye on the vehicles entering and exiting the Department of Homeland security (DHS) local headquarters at LA’s downtown Detention Center.
“We’re tired of protests at City Hall on a Saturday when there’s no one inside. What is the point of that?” said Eddy, a protester who did not want to share his last name due to safety concerns.
“This is the building where we see the actual evil happening,” he continued. “This is where we can see when they try to hide them, loading women and children into buses in the middle of the night.”
Their protest captured wider attention when they were able to videotape arriving children and adults handcuffed and tethered together in a line being walked from the parking lot to the inside of the Detention center.
The protests have mainly been peaceful, with visitors sharing literature, art, live music and conversations with strangers, said Eddy, who participates during the daytime shift. The evolution of the exhibition has been organic, he added, with people donating tents, canopies, food, medical supplies and generators.
One demonstrator, who goes by Jersey, works full-time as an architect during the daytime and comes in the evening to help with the night watch.
“I’ve been active doing ICE [immigration and Customs Enforcement] watch, documenting, and just really trying to protect the community from thes illegal operations – as we don’t really know who’s picking up our community members,” said Jersey, who is the child of immigrants.
Many of the raids across LA County have been carried out by unidentified masked men, detaining people without questioning or presenting a warrant.
Since the protesters have been documenting the activity coming in and out of the downtown facility, authorities have erected fences and barriers to try and shield their actions, protesters said. But that has not deterred them from keeping watch and disrupting ICE raids in whatever way they can.
“We want to disrupt.That’s the whole point of protesting,” said Eddy. “We want to make these people’s lives a little miserable. They’re [expletive] doing evil. So yes, we’re gonna scream at you as you’re [expletive] kidnapping people off the street.You’re separating families. We’re angry.”
Although Eddy said they sometimes try and de-escalate situations when someone poses a threat, they are not there to regulate how people are showing up.
The past week,protesters have occasionally clashed with the LA Police Department (LAPD).
“LAPD is trying to shut us down,” said Eddy, claiming that for four consecutive days, LAPD officers have thrown away tarps, tents and canopies the protesters use for shade, told protesters they could not use tables or congregate in the area and even tried to confiscate a bubble machine.
Jersey noted that LAPD has been citing Ordinance 41.18, a controversial law that prohibits sitting, lying or sleeping in public spaces, as well as storing personal property in the public right-of-way.
“The weaponizing legislation [41.18] that was passed, saying that it’s gonna keep our community safer by disappearing houseless folk,” said Jersey. “Now they’re using that piece of legislation against activists and suppressing our constitutional rights.”
Protesters claim both federal and local authorities have aggressively dispersed and removed demonstrators, using kettling tactics, throwing protesters to the ground and deploying less-then-lethal weapons such as flashbangs and pepper spray.
According to authorities, on Friday night, protesters blocked the road at Aliso and Alameda streets around 10 p.m. and were cleared from the area by 1 a.m. One night earlier, at least one person was injured and four people were arrested when protesters clashed with LAPD officers at the same location.
“Late in the evening and into the morning hours, Central Division officers were called to the area [of] Alameda south of Aliso due to federal officers requesting assistance due to protesters trespassing, obstructing and becoming violent,” an LAPD news release said. “When Central officers arrived, they were confronted by a large group of people in the middle of Alameda.”
As officers responded, they “were met with one individual swinging a 6-foot rope with metal bolts on the end of it, hitting officers.”
others in the crowd did not disperse as ordered and resisted efforts to remove them,according to the LAPD.
One person was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, two were arrested on suspicion of resisting or obstructing officers and one was collared on suspicion of battery for allegedly spitting on or at officers, police said.
Many organizations and demonstrations make it a point to pass the detention center when marching.
Saturday’s “March for Humanity,” organized by RefuseFascism.org,began at La Placita Olvera,moved past the detention center and into Boyle Heights before ending at Hollenbeck Park.
“We stopped for about 30 minutes at the detention center and read about a dozen of the names of the thousands and thousands who’ve been disappeared and kidnapped by ICE,” said Amina Gonzalez, an organizer with the group.
“People are really angered over the fact that this is continuing to happen, which is why [the detention center] has become a symbol for people to come and express their discontent over what is happening by this fascist Trump regime in a sanctuary city like Los Angeles.”
The march happened amidst a permit battle with the city,which denied the organization a special event permit for a protest that was scheduled on July 17.
“This is a violation of the Constitution,” said Gonzalez, adding that the organization took to the streets on Saturday as it is indeed their constitutional right. “We’re not going to stand quiet while this terror is still happening.”
In an email Sunday, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson wrote: “The Trump Administration is committed to keeping the promises President Trump made to the American people: enforcing federal immigration laws and deporting criminal illegal aliens. the opinion of an organization founded by self-proclaimed communists is irrelevant.”
