(AFP) – Just blocks from where a handful of die-hard protesters faced police in Los Angeles on Wednesday, residents were enjoying lunch in the sun and shrugging off Donald Trump’s claims their city was burning. Six days after unrest began — prompting the US president to send soldiers into the streets, over the furious protests of local officials — life in the City of Angels was going on largely as normal.
“Everything is hunky dory right here at Ground Zero,” Lynn Sturgis, a retired teacher who was protesting outside the federal complex that has been at the heart of the demonstrations in Downtown Los Angeles, told AFP. “Our city is not at all on fire, it’s not burning down, as our terrible leader is trying to tell you.”
The demonstrations began Friday as immigration authorities carried out raids on undocumented migrants in the sprawling metropolis. They have continued each day since — mostly peacefully, but tarnished by several spectacular incidents of violence, including torched cars and sporadic clashes with law enforcement. Trump has insisted that if he had not taken the extraordinary step of sending troops into Los Angeles over the weekend, “it would be burning to the ground right now.”
– ‘Manufactured’ –
“Not at all… this is very calm,” protester Ellen Carpenter, a retired federal worker who was demonstrating alongside Sturgis, told AFP. “I lived in Washington, DC for a long time, so I was part of very large protests there, you know, millions and millions of people. This is a little wimpy by comparison.”
“This whole thing has been manufactured by the current administration,” Sturgis said. Trump’s promises to crack down on illegal immigration helped propel him back into the White House. He seized the opportunity presented by the Los Angeles rallies to order the California National Guard to deploy along with hundreds of Marines — a move state governor Gavin Newsom called “dictatorial.”
Los Angeles real estate agent Tracey, who declined to give her last name, said the deployment was a “mistake.” “I don’t feel safe” with the military presence in the city, she said, even as she admitted that the protests had at times been “scary.” Retired actor Thomas welcomed the troops, however.
– Not taking chances –
“As soon as it gets dark, thugs come out and cause trouble,” the 69-year-old told AFP downtown. It is the National Guard that has calmed things down, he argued — “bringing in more force. That’s all they understand… You have to step in and put your foot down.”
Restaurants in the streets surrounding the protest area were packed at lunchtime Wednesday. Workers cleaned graffiti sprayed by protesters on federal buildings as curious passers-by stopped to watch and snap photos. But there were some signs of apprehension as a handful of businesses were boarding up, worried that protests planned for the weekend could spiral into more violence.
Trump will hold a military parade in Washington for his birthday on Saturday that coincides with planned protests in more cities across the country. “There’s lots of expensive glass behind these boards that we’re worried about, so we’re not going to take any chances,” Chis Gonzalez, who was overseeing the boarding up of one downtown business, told AFP. “Saturday, you know, seems like it’s going to be a big protest. We’re just anticipating the worst… Not saying the protests are bad, but it’s definitely scary when you have a business to protect.”
– Sarah TITTERTON
© 2024 AFP
