The skies are clear over Los Angeles, regardless of what Republicans want you to think.
Los Angeles knows the difference between a peaceful protest and a riot. Over the many decades, the city has seen everything from racist riots in the late 1800s to anti-racist riots in the 2020s. People in Los Angeles are tired of Donald Trump's brownshirts, ICE. Family, friends, and neighbors are having their lives shattered. Everyone suffers. Rather than stand by, Angelenos have been finding out where ICE is gathering and surrounding them. Forcing them to stop doing what they are doing, and in many cases, hide or try elsewhere—protesting outside their hotels, surrounding their fleets of cars, and making it difficult for them to arrest people—surrounding detention centers and Federal buildings.
The masked villains here are ICE and LAPD, not the people of Los Angeles. When they think the cameras aren't looking, LAPD seems to be still engaging in some police brutality. Using a horse to stomp a person doesn't seem "less lethal."
Here, LAPD aimed at and shot a reporter who was even moving out of the way. Because you are using less lethal rounds does not mean you can willy-nilly shoot at members of the press corps, but this officer does:
Officers also seem to be willing to use the rounds to inflict long-term damage, if not outright kill someone. A headshot with those things is likely to change someone's life, not just leave a bruise.
Here is an interview with a reporter shot in the face by Minneapolis police in 2020; she is dying from the injury. The less lethal round is just taking longer to kill her. The Mayor and Police Chief claim LAPD is not cooperating with ICE, so this is just LAPD being LAPD.
Angelenos, however, are surrounding hotels where ICE is known to be staging, and forcing the owners to kick them out. Making it hard for ICE to do their job seems to be the goal, and lots of medium-sized protests all over the city do that better than a single large one.
Of course, the Orange Menace is using this as an opportunity to try to stretch Presidential powers. With the Governor of California, the State Attorney General, and the Mayor of Los Angeles all stating that there is no emergency, Trump is seizing control of the State's National Guard. Reportedly, 2,000 service personnel were called up, but only 300 have responded.
Protestors have kept their violence mainly to non-human Waymos. The Trump Administration wants to send in the Marines.
