LA residents surprised by violence
Hope future protests aren't as destructive
By: Terry Collins
and Josh Peter
USA Today
LOS ANGELES - A day after downtown protests against President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown turned fiery, the typically bustling thoroughfare of Los Angeles street showed the chaotic remains.
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A heavy police presence stretched for blocks as matching black-and-white police squad cares lined up form neighboring cities, including Montebello, Campbell and Alhambra. Profanity laced graffiti sprawled on several downtown buildings targeting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, spray-painted in many colors.
..... They were mixed in with several "Return the Homies" messages and the phase "when tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty." Scattered shards of glass showed where windows had been shattered, including at the Los Angeles Police Department Metropolitan Detention Center and a nearby federal buildings.
..... And, not far from where the police fired tea gas and rubber bullets and where protesters hurled rocks and concrete, onlookers took photos of the charred remains of five self-driving Waymo vehicles.
..... The visual reminders were evident after tensions escalate in Los Angeles between law enforcement and protesters on June 8 [2025] as National Guard troops arrived to quell demonstration. Residents who surveyed the damage and vandalism were disillusioned by what unfolded in their city and feared what might come text.
'A group of bad seeds'
..... The condition of the Waymos surprised local photographer Raymond Delgado, who stopped by again to take photoed of them.
"I though (the Waymos) would be ashes, I didn't think it would be bones, "I'm surprised to see the skeletons still here," he said.
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Delgado, 38, sadist's a rarity that so many of the driver-less vehicles wee parked along the street after police moved protesters away form the federal building as the June 8 [2025] protest turned chapitc.
..... He saw "a group of bad seeds" among the protesters who became violent. According to Delgado, they initially threw things at the police, then destroyed property, including spray-painting, stomping on and eventually setting ablaze the Waymos that were called to the scene.
..... Delgado said he got hit with a rock during the skirmishes," "dodged couple of rubber bullets" and missed getting tear-gassed as the rogue protested were exploiting the protest's premise. He said a young women who came to pretest peacefully got struck with a rubber bullet and may have suffered a broken finger.
..... "I think they were causing chaos and making its Angelenos look horrible, to be honest with you, Delgado said. "That's what we dong want, people getting shot last night, to be honest with you."
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But he expects more violence to occur in future protests.
Mesmerized by the destruction
..... Kate Williams, an artist and photographer in town for work,was walking on the peaceful streets where the protesters erupted the previous night to investigate the aftermath.
..... She said she approached the police officers by the ICE building and asked if she should be concerned and if they were expecting anything on June 9. [2025]
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"And they said, "I would order in. It's probably going to be bad tonight,' " Williams said. "I saw they were putting up barricades for the roads around City Hall as I walked over here."
..... Near the intersection of Los Angeles and Arcadia streets, Williams encountered the burned-out Waymos. all five cars were lined up, one after the other, as people took photos with their phones.
..... "I am pretty speechless, Williams said.
..... She said she came to document the aftermath.
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"I was pretty mesmerize at the level of destruction," she said. "I'm just reminded of that when I see, something like this that took so much anger, so much passion to get to this point."
Museums vandalized
..... About 20 feet from the Waymos stood the Chinese American Museum, covered with graffiti, its windows smashed.
..... It wasn't the only museum vandalized during the protests, said Mariana Gatto, the co-founder and executive director of the Italian American Museum of Los Angeles.
..... "We sustained significant damage," Gatto said. "The building is historic. It's listed on the National Registry of History Places. So the historic brick, our windows, the entry, are all seriously vandalized. This is the second time in six months."
..... "We appreciate people's right to express their First Amendment freedoms. But this is not peaceful demonstration,: Gatto said. "It destroys our communicates."
..... Other saw the defiant destruction as a direct message to Trump and ICE.
..... "My city don't play,: said Trinity Clay, 21, a Los Angeles native who now levels in woodland Hills. "We didn't play during Rodney King, we went crazy after George Floyd and now you're sending the National Guard against my people. that's a violation of our civil rights."
..... Clay said she's had to tell her 7-year-old daughter what's going on if some of her Latino classmates don;t show up at school.
..... "I had to warn her about ICE and not to be scared if they may come to her school and take her friends away," Clay said. "It's that real."
..... But Clay said she doesn't want to see escalating violence if the protests persist "because they want us to hurt each other."
..... As a group of protesters waving combined Mexican and United States flags offered them a piece of advice.
.... "Hey y'all," Clay said. "Try to keep it peaceful. OK?"