Speaker 1: You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2: Mark Thompson on this troubling Sunday in southern California, even
Speaker 2: as the weather is so gorgeous, it's a beautiful day,
Speaker 2: And honestly that's not a completely incidental, irrelevant point, because
Speaker 2: in the weather that favors being outside, there are growing
Speaker 2: crowds of people in downtown Los Angeles. And as these
Speaker 2: ice sweeps in La continue, the resistance is fierce and
Speaker 2: there are so many I was saying facets to all
Speaker 2: of this.
Speaker 3: One of them is the breaking news.
Speaker 2: That is, you know where people are, how many people
Speaker 2: are there, Where authorities are, how many of them are there?
Speaker 3: Where is the National Guard? What are they doing?
Speaker 2: I mean, these are all sorts of details that are
Speaker 2: critical to an unfolding, dynamic situation. But of course they
Speaker 2: all exist against a backdrop of an immigration policy that
Speaker 2: is being protested and is being executed. Some would say
Speaker 2: in a reckless way, some would say in an overly
Speaker 2: aggressive way, and some would say in an appropriate way.
Speaker 2: But the facets of this thing we will pull away
Speaker 2: and focus on in the hours ahead. And we have
Speaker 2: Michael Monks, who is in the rugby scrum of it
Speaker 2: all in downtown Los Angeles, and we will give you
Speaker 2: the overview here. I mean National Guard troops have arrived.
Speaker 2: As you know, the President ordered their deployment. There were
Speaker 2: two days of to be fair, I mean, again to
Speaker 2: be fair to the volatility of the situation, two days
Speaker 2: of occasionally violent protests. In the main, it would seem
Speaker 2: based on all the reporting, and I'm sure you have,
Speaker 2: if you have any interest in your city or any
Speaker 2: interest in this subject, have taken in news reports. Local
Speaker 2: news has been great, Kafi has been great. We've had
Speaker 2: again or embedded in all of this television has given
Speaker 2: you some literal view of things. And as I watched everything,
Speaker 2: I saw a couple of things. And first of all,
Speaker 2: you know, remember you're seeing everything through the prism of
Speaker 2: the lens that shows you the action, right, But a
Speaker 2: lot of the live broadcasts of what's happening in downtown
Speaker 2: LA show you that in the main, it's a collection
Speaker 2: of people angered, without question, that's why they're there. But
Speaker 2: they're not all violent protesters. But again, to be fair,
Speaker 2: there are violent protesters or violent agitators within that huge
Speaker 2: flank of protesters. So with a situation as dynamic and
Speaker 2: volatile as you have. It only takes a bit in
Speaker 2: the way of agitators to create a situation that spills.
Speaker 3: Over, and now you have a real problem on your hands.
Speaker 2: The question becomes, do you really needtional Guard troops? I mean,
Speaker 2: National Guard troops by their mere presence can help quell
Speaker 2: a situation, or National Guard troops by their mere presence
Speaker 2: can actually create an adjutant to a situation. I mean,
Speaker 2: it's believe me, we're all wanting everything peaceful. We want
Speaker 2: the demonstrators peaceful, we want the cops, we want the military,
Speaker 2: we want everybody to just be to behave, if I
Speaker 2: can use the word, I mean just to be peaceful.
Speaker 2: But what happens is all of these elements get shook
Speaker 2: together in this mix of today's protests and bad things happen.
Speaker 2: Three hundred soldiers separately dispatched in the Greater LA area,
Speaker 2: the US Command posting this this morning. They're conducting safety
Speaker 2: and protection of federal property and person. Now, the line
Speaker 2: of armed National Guard troops protecting the federal building this morning,
Speaker 2: which was heavily defaced with graffiti, hasn't made a move
Speaker 2: toward protesters. And again i'd suggest they're mere presence, and
Speaker 2: I maybe hope that their mere presence chills everybody out.
Speaker 2: But it was Washington, it was the President on the
Speaker 2: White House website who ordered the deployment of the National Guard.
Speaker 2: He said, quote in light of numerous incidents of violence
Speaker 2: and disorder which threatened to continue in response to the
Speaker 2: enforcement of federal law by US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement ICE.
Speaker 3: Right, these.
Speaker 2: Agents of the United States government are performing federal functions
Speaker 2: and supporting the faithful execution of federal immigration laws. And
Speaker 2: just to remin mind you, we've seen National Guard troops
Speaker 2: on the streets of LA before. I believe we saw
Speaker 2: them during George Floyd and all of those protests which
Speaker 2: seemed to sweep the city. And I remember quite distinctly
Speaker 2: that the National Guard was deployed across the city in
Speaker 2: the wake of the Rodney King riots. And in the
Speaker 2: wake of the Rodney King riots, you had Governor Pete Wilson,
Speaker 2: who was a Republican, who called for the National Guard
Speaker 2: to be deployed.
Speaker 3: And at the time, I mean, you.
Speaker 2: Really had violent protests and rioting across the city of
Speaker 2: Los Angeles. You had fires, you had looting, you had
Speaker 2: clashes between protesters and federal law enforcement. This doesn't seem
Speaker 2: to rise to that level. And again, I'll remind you
Speaker 2: in ninety two it was the governor p. Wilson who
Speaker 2: called them in in this case. And this is the
Speaker 2: other facet to all of this. As I was saying,
Speaker 2: this is so many different layers to this, this is another.
Speaker 2: The governor of California, Gavin Newsom, is saying, hey, when
Speaker 2: I need the National Guard, I'll call the National Guard.
Speaker 3: I don't need you.
Speaker 2: The President of the United States calling in the National
Speaker 2: Guard on a city in California when local authorities are
Speaker 2: able to handle this. The mayor of Los Angeles, and
Speaker 2: as you know, if you've heard me before, I'm no
Speaker 2: fan of the mayor of Los Angeles, but the mayor
Speaker 2: of Los Angeles is saying exactly the same thing. We
Speaker 2: have things under control. We don't need the National Guard.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: The concern is that the National Guard again whips up
Speaker 2: emotions and their mere presence creates issues. It escalates the situation.
Speaker 2: I think the Newsom even used the word escalates. But
Speaker 2: these things that scate and agitate, and you can argue
Speaker 2: both sides of this. You might be thinking no, I
Speaker 2: want the National Guard there because I feel that they
Speaker 2: protect the federal building and they essentially help keep the
Speaker 2: peace in a situation that could easily spill over. Again,
Speaker 2: you might be right, but the governor typically is the
Speaker 2: first one to, even in connection and communication with the
Speaker 2: President of the United States, perhaps call in the National Guard.
Speaker 2: That wasn't the case here. Donald Trump and this administration
Speaker 2: bigfooted this. So that already creates a bit of an adjutant.
Speaker 2: And again you might have thought that Trump did the
Speaker 2: right thing. I'm just saying that that creates one more layer. Now,
Speaker 2: the detention of David Huerta is a big, big deal.
Speaker 3: He's the he's the union.
Speaker 2: Head, and he is a very high profile figure in
Speaker 2: the union community. I mean, but what I was saying
Speaker 2: before is the union community in California is different than
Speaker 2: union communities elsewhere. Union community in California is made up
Speaker 2: of who largely Latinos. Yeah, you'll just find within the
Speaker 2: world of the unions here in California a different demographic
Speaker 2: makeup than you'll find elsewhere in the country. So when
Speaker 2: you look at David Wareta, this president of the SEIU USWW,
Speaker 2: you find somebody who has a tremendous amount of support
Speaker 2: within this community. Here is the quote, and I believe
Speaker 2: this is the statement condemning his detention. We strongly condemn
Speaker 2: the detention of SEIU California and SEIU USWW President David Awareta.
Speaker 2: I won't read it the whole Stephen, but I'm just
Speaker 2: going to give you a feel for how this is
Speaker 2: going to become a rallying cry. We strongly condemn his
Speaker 2: detention by ICE while he exercised his constitutional right to
Speaker 2: peacefully protest ICE's indiscriminate immigration raids in Los Angeles. President
Speaker 2: where To has long championed immigrant rights, civil liberties, and
Speaker 2: economic justice. His arrest during a lawful act of civil
Speaker 2: disobedience is an attack on free expression and the labor movement.
Speaker 2: That he remains in ICE custody even after being hospitalized
Speaker 2: is both unacceptable and alarming. And this is the last
Speaker 2: part I just wanted you to hear. The labor movement
Speaker 2: will not tolerate retaliation against those who speak out against injustice.
Speaker 2: We demand where does immediate release. We urge elected leaders,
Speaker 2: advocacy groups, and all who believe in justice to condemn
Speaker 2: this action and stand with us in protecting the rights
Speaker 2: and dignity ball workers. So you begin to see this
Speaker 2: as a rallying cry. This isn't just somebody. This is
Speaker 2: a somebody around whom there will be a lot of support,
Speaker 2: and that support is going to take a lot of
Speaker 2: different I would think, a lot of different faces. So
Speaker 2: just the mere presence of those supporters will escalate things.
Speaker 2: We've got Michael Monks, who's in the middle of it all,
Speaker 2: who in the last hour was talking about the fact
Speaker 2: that the crowds are swelling. So again, you know where
Speaker 2: to is. It's the Service Employees International Union of California.
Speaker 3: And he was injured.
Speaker 2: While documenting this enforcement rate in downtown that happened on Friday.
Speaker 2: He's almost sixty years old, this guy. So he was
Speaker 2: treated at the hospital and then they moved him to
Speaker 2: detention center in downtown a land Apparently that's overflowing. So
Speaker 2: they are all sorts of questions about the detention centers,
Speaker 2: everybody getting water, people being to you know, there's a
Speaker 2: there's a quality of chaos. I might use that word
Speaker 2: about this. All that is disturbing to everyone. And when
Speaker 2: you take a community leader like that and you detain him,
Speaker 2: I'm saying that that ripple effect will be felt in
Speaker 2: protests and in presence in downtown LA today. So even
Speaker 2: as maybe you listening don't know who this guy is,
Speaker 2: the people who are most affected by these ice raids
Speaker 2: and immigration raids and the pushback on the immigration community,
Speaker 2: they know this guy. So that again is one facet
Speaker 2: of what is happening. I want to talk to Michael Monks,
Speaker 2: who is embedded in all of this, when we come
Speaker 2: back and get a sense of what's happening right now,
Speaker 2: and then we'll talk a little bit about what the
Speaker 2: governor is doing and how this all games out.
Speaker 3: So there's a lot to do.
Speaker 2: By the way, if you have thoughts on this, we
Speaker 2: do have the talkback feature available on iHeartRadio. If you
Speaker 2: go to iHeartRadio. Many of you are streaming this right now.
Speaker 2: On iHeart you can go I think it's in the
Speaker 2: upper right hand portion of the screen on your phone,
Speaker 2: click that some little microphone and you can leave us
Speaker 2: a thought about what's going on. I'm curious to know
Speaker 2: we've got the full weekend crew in. That's right, Robin, Nikki,
Speaker 2: Ritchie Monks all here. As we continue.
Speaker 1: You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2: Mark Thompson on this gorgeous Sunday in southern California that
Speaker 2: really belies everything going on in downtown LA.
Speaker 3: There's a tremendous amount of.
Speaker 2: Tension, I guess, I would say based on what happened
Speaker 2: last night, based on the growing crowd in downtown, all
Speaker 2: pushing back on the ice raids, aggressive ice raids that
Speaker 2: have swept the Los Angeles area. More on that as
Speaker 2: we continue right now, I want to get to Michael Monks,
Speaker 2: who is embedded in it in it all, and from
Speaker 2: what I was hearing Michael, it sounded to me like
Speaker 2: the crowd was growing at a pretty impressive pace. I mean,
Speaker 2: there's just been a growth in that group downtown of
Speaker 2: a sort that is concerning.
Speaker 4: I've been broadcasting down here since twelve o'clock mark, and
Speaker 4: originally there were maybe about one hundred people, That's what
Speaker 4: I estimated. It was like a one for one protester
Speaker 4: National guardsman slash federal law enforcement officer. But throughout the
Speaker 4: afternoon it really started to grow in size, and just
Speaker 4: with my naked eye, I'm guessing that we're somewhere around
Speaker 4: six seven hundred people at this point, possibly more, and
Speaker 4: there has been a rally scheduled at LA City Hall
Speaker 4: for two o'clock, and I was curious about whether that
Speaker 4: would be skipped in favor of coming down here since
Speaker 4: we saw a little bit of action involving the National
Speaker 4: Guard and the protesters. But there's a huge crowded LA
Speaker 4: City Hall as well in an anti ice pro immigrant
Speaker 4: rally at that building as we speak, So eight ton
Speaker 4: of people in downtown Los Angeles for this issue right now.
Speaker 4: It got harry here though, mark about an hour and
Speaker 4: a half ago, when the National Guard decided they needed
Speaker 4: to make way for some federal vehicles to make their
Speaker 4: way into.
Speaker 5: This parking garage here, and they turned to force. They
Speaker 5: used their shields to push everybody into the street.
Speaker 4: Flash bangs went off, Tear gas that I also was
Speaker 4: hit by, was deployed, and this crowd was dispersed so
Speaker 4: that those federal cars could make their way into the
Speaker 4: parking garage here. But as soon as the cars made
Speaker 4: their way in, the protesters reconvened in the street.
Speaker 5: They've now closed.
Speaker 4: The LAPD has announced the south found lanes of Alameda Street,
Speaker 4: but traffic is still moving very slowly on the northbound side,
Speaker 4: and despite the fact that there are hundreds of protesters
Speaker 4: in the middle of the road.
Speaker 2: Wow, yeah, that is a mean As I was saying,
Speaker 2: the folliable situation to say the least I want.
Speaker 4: It sounds like some folks are leaving this site right
Speaker 4: this moment. I just heard over a bullhorn. I'm seeing
Speaker 4: a lot of movement from folks in the crowd.
Speaker 2: They're announcing that it's an UNA assembly. Probably I would
Speaker 2: guess something like that.
Speaker 4: Folks look to be headed towards City Hall now. It's
Speaker 4: actually huge crowd there for that rally. I'm going to
Speaker 4: monitor this for the time being to see if everyone
Speaker 4: disperses here and heads up to rally at City Hall.
Speaker 4: This has pretty much been an eyeball standoff outside of
Speaker 4: that bit of action that we had that lasted about fifteen.
Speaker 5: Minutes in the one o'clock hour.
Speaker 4: Mostly it's just been some shouting, some chanting, you know,
Speaker 4: holding placards, and the National Guard just stoically.
Speaker 5: Silently standing on the side of the.
Speaker 4: Federal property, whereas the protesters are here on the public
Speaker 4: sidewalking in the middle of the road.
Speaker 2: I have to guess that the National Guard doesn't want
Speaker 2: you know, they don't want a situation where they have
Speaker 2: to become involved in anyway. You know, these are human beings.
Speaker 2: I mean, they're not happy to be there. I mean
Speaker 2: in the main, there might be one or two or
Speaker 2: like you know, I know, whatever, But I'm just saying
Speaker 2: in the main, these National Guard troops they don't want
Speaker 2: any trouble, and so has their presence affected things in
Speaker 2: any way as you look at it.
Speaker 4: Look, these protesters are irritated that immigration officials have shown up,
Speaker 4: So when you add another layer to that, it has
Speaker 4: certainly escalated the tension in that respect, especially when you
Speaker 4: consider who.
Speaker 5: Called for this.
Speaker 4: I mean, this is not a crowd that is sympathetic
Speaker 4: to President Trump naturally, and so with President Trump sending
Speaker 4: the National Guard here in a way that the governor
Speaker 4: and the mayor don't agree with, that has certainly made
Speaker 4: this crowd angrier. So we have seen some signs, you know,
Speaker 4: most of them are just simply anti ice, but there
Speaker 4: have been plenty that want the National Guard to go
Speaker 4: as well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it sounds raucous and chaotic down there.
Speaker 3: I mean, is that a lot.
Speaker 4: Of horns, A lot of horns, you know, clearly showing
Speaker 4: support for the message here from the protesters, but also
Speaker 4: some general LA traffic horns people that maybe didn't get
Speaker 4: the news and got stuck in this mess and downtown street.
Speaker 5: But these sound to me like horns of support.
Speaker 4: And I got to tell you, Mark, just in a
Speaker 4: few minutes since you and I have been dialoguing here,
Speaker 4: it has thinned out considerably, okay, so that it looks
Speaker 4: like people are heading to City Hall, which is probably
Speaker 4: what I will do.
Speaker 5: I'm going to keep an eye on this for a
Speaker 5: few more minutes.
Speaker 4: But just in the past few minutes that we've been talking,
Speaker 4: this crowd of about six or seven hundred has thinned
Speaker 4: to about two hundred in an instant, and I believe
Speaker 4: that's because these folks are headed to that rally at
Speaker 4: Los Angeles City Hall.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that is the plan.
Speaker 2: By the way, just because it was noted along the way,
Speaker 2: they the Federal building is graffitiized. I mean there, do
Speaker 2: you see it defaced in a lot of sort of
Speaker 2: noticeable ways or how much has that been talked about
Speaker 2: and is accurate and how much of that.
Speaker 3: Is just hype.
Speaker 4: It has been heavily defaced, certainly on the building, which
Speaker 4: means that protesters, at some point we're in this parking
Speaker 4: lot that we are not able to access at this
Speaker 4: point because of the skirmish line formed by the National
Speaker 4: Guard and the Department of Homeland Security police.
Speaker 5: That are here as well.
Speaker 4: So there are spray paint messages across every side of
Speaker 4: this building right now with profanity aim towards Ice and
Speaker 4: the President.
Speaker 5: And you know, when you're in downtown LA, you see
Speaker 5: a lot of graffiti.
Speaker 4: This doesn't ever seem to be a priority for the
Speaker 4: city to clean up, so it's often.
Speaker 5: Hard to distinguish new and old graffiti.
Speaker 4: Sure, but this is a little different because the messages
Speaker 4: are so current to what the current issue is. This
Speaker 4: is clearly brand new from the past few days.
Speaker 2: The last thing I'll ask you, and then I'll let
Speaker 2: you go if you can hear me. The last thing
Speaker 2: I'll ask is about the balance between La riot gear
Speaker 2: clad cops and National Guard troops. You talked about the
Speaker 2: fact that the National Guard presence is there and it's
Speaker 2: sort of just a standoff. Nothing's happening. The riot gear
Speaker 2: clad cops who are LAPD. I'm wondering if you can
Speaker 2: speak to their presence, are they now going to.
Speaker 3: The other location, the.
Speaker 2: City Hall location or are they remaining there at the
Speaker 2: Federal Building Mark.
Speaker 5: I talked about this with Chris a bit.
Speaker 4: It's been strange, and I'm not an expert on law enforcement,
Speaker 4: but there hasn't been a single LAPD officer on the
Speaker 4: ground here that I have seen. We have seen their
Speaker 4: helicopter hovering above since the beginning of this thing. It's
Speaker 4: still there as we speak, monitoring from the air. But
Speaker 4: even when the traffic situation in Alameda Street got flat
Speaker 4: out dangerous, not just disrupted for commuters, but dangerous for
Speaker 4: drivers and pedestrians and protesters alike, there was no one around.
Speaker 4: I saw a tweet from one of the LAPD offices
Speaker 4: that said the southbound lanes were now closed on Alameda,
Speaker 4: but never did I see any traffic enforcement officers show up. Now,
Speaker 4: traffic enforcement is often done in the city by the
Speaker 4: Department of Transportation, but certainly those.
Speaker 5: Have a role to play in that as well.
Speaker 2: Well, you've just seen a a You've done heroic work
Speaker 2: so far. I know you took some tear gas earlier.
Speaker 2: I mean it's still it's so potent.
Speaker 4: I mean it's been over an hour since that happened,
Speaker 4: and you can still kind of taste it in the air.
Speaker 2: It's a rough day, Michael, and it is not over.
Speaker 2: I appreciate you being in touch with us. We'll look
Speaker 2: to check in with you as you make your way
Speaker 2: to city Hall. With so many of those who are
Speaker 2: resisting the presence of ice, Michael Monks with the KFI
Speaker 2: News down in it all as downtown La Royals, with
Speaker 2: the protests that have accompanied these ice raids and the
Speaker 2: presence of ICE, and now National Guard troop presence that
Speaker 2: apparently is around a defaced federal building. But once again,
Speaker 2: based on everything I've seen, with moments of definite agitator
Speaker 2: dictated throwing of stones, rocks, hurling of bottles, I saw
Speaker 2: a lot of that last night. I'd say, in the
Speaker 2: main it's a presence of protesters as opposed to violent
Speaker 2: protests that are spilling over. Now again, these are dynamic
Speaker 2: situations that could easily spill over into something more serious,
Speaker 2: but we right now are seeing a somewhat controlled environment
Speaker 2: and we're watching it.
Speaker 3: Of course, our to hour for you here on KFI.
Speaker 1: You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2: Mark Thompson here on a Sunday in southern California, and
Speaker 2: this is. As you just heard, there a volatile situation,
Speaker 2: and with nightfall things become even a bit more voladile.
Speaker 2: The Mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, tweeting just now,
Speaker 2: we will always protect the constitutional rights for Angelinos to
Speaker 2: peacefully protests. However, violence, destruction, and vandalism will not be
Speaker 2: tolerated in our city and those responsible will be held
Speaker 2: fully accountable. So it's a message of strength from the mayor.
Speaker 2: Even as we know, and we note it already, the
Speaker 2: mayor doesn't want National Guard troops on this each of
Speaker 2: Los Angeles right now. And interestingly enough, Rick Caruso, who
Speaker 2: as you know, took on Mayor Bass in ma aoral
Speaker 2: contest and is a big part, I would say, and
Speaker 2: has a big footprint politically and in other respects economically
Speaker 2: in Southern California.
Speaker 3: He also tweeted.
Speaker 2: He also posted, now this is I think to Instagram
Speaker 2: there is no emergency. Rick Caruso says there is no emergency,
Speaker 2: widespread threat, or out of control violence in Los Angeles,
Speaker 2: and absolutely no danger that justifies deployment of the National Guard,
Speaker 2: military or other federal force to the streets of this
Speaker 2: or any other Southern California city. Local law enforcement is
Speaker 2: capable of handling the situation and should arrest anyone causing
Speaker 2: violence in the streets. We must call for colum in
Speaker 2: the streets, and deployment of the National Guard may prompt
Speaker 2: just the opposite. This is the point I was making
Speaker 2: to you before, and I give Rick Caruso great credit
Speaker 2: for the courage it takes to politically weigh in on
Speaker 2: this situation with an allegiance to fact, as opposed to
Speaker 2: the hysteria that can build up around this protest and
Speaker 2: this whole incident. I'm just viewing the entire pushback on
Speaker 2: ice as an incident as a whole, because it's really
Speaker 2: made up, of course, as many incidents. I'll talk about
Speaker 2: the home depot in Paramount in a second, and I'll
Speaker 2: mention a couple of other things. But Caruso, to his credit,
Speaker 2: doesn't take on Mayor Bass, doesn't say grateful for the
Speaker 2: National Guard to be here now, makes the very point
Speaker 2: that Bass and Newsom are both making, and that point
Speaker 2: simply is this is a situation that can be handled
Speaker 2: locally with local law enforcement and trained to handle situations
Speaker 2: like this one. By putting the National Guard here, by
Speaker 2: the federal government, Donald Trump and this administration, the FEDS
Speaker 2: escalate the situation, and so the presence of the National
Speaker 2: Guard has just the opposite effect. And this is exactly
Speaker 2: what Caruso said. He said, it has the opposite effect
Speaker 2: of encouraging calm and peaceful protest. So again, if you
Speaker 2: look at this entire situation and the volatility of it,
Speaker 2: you have to look on some level at the presence
Speaker 2: of the National Guard as stirring the pot as potentially
Speaker 2: creating even more unrest, and to that extent, you get
Speaker 2: pushed back across the political spectrum then of California. Again, Newsom,
Speaker 2: Bass and Caruso, they come from different places politically, but
Speaker 2: they all are in lockstep on this. The National Guard
Speaker 2: troops did arrive in downtown after President Trump ordered their deployment,
Speaker 2: and it happened over strenuous objection from those parties and
Speaker 2: local Democratic officials. So we watch with interest as many
Speaker 2: of those who collected around the Federal building are now
Speaker 2: going to city Hall. And again, this entire thing has
Speaker 2: been marked by incidents specifically across LA Yesterday at the
Speaker 2: Home Depot in Paramount, and I don't need to tell
Speaker 2: you what happens at the Home depot, various home depots everywhere. Right,
Speaker 2: you have day workers who are lining up and helping
Speaker 2: with improvements that people are doing, construction work that's going on,
Speaker 2: remodeling that's going on. These are day workers. Now, again,
Speaker 2: you could shift through those day workers, and I'm betting
Speaker 2: that the majority of them are not here legally, legally documented. Now,
Speaker 2: at the same time I say that, you may say, yeah,
Speaker 2: they're not here legally, but they're not a problem with
Speaker 2: the society. They're not violent criminals, they're not any of
Speaker 2: the things that are a blight on society. They're actually
Speaker 2: an important part of the economy of the construction business,
Speaker 2: and to that extent, they are valued members of California. Well,
Speaker 2: that's just not the way Ice sees it at this point.
Speaker 2: And as I showed up at this home depot in Paramount,
Speaker 2: the protests started. Protesters showed up there and that clash
Speaker 2: lasted for hours. Again, it was depending on who you
Speaker 2: speak to, it was not a violent clash. But I
Speaker 2: think it's fair to say that the dynamic there was
Speaker 2: less than completely peaceful. I mean, you're talking about situation,
Speaker 2: a situation where officers are clad in military ish outfits,
Speaker 2: they have military weapons, and they arrived there in a big,
Speaker 2: big way, and as the crowd gathered, flash bang grenades, etc.
Speaker 2: Began to essentially create a general sense of chaos. It
Speaker 2: was around nine am. This is horrible, said one witness.
Speaker 2: I don't know what they're doing inside, but I mean,
Speaker 2: why are they in Paramount? And on social media it
Speaker 2: got that word spread very very quickly, and you just
Speaker 2: begin to get more and more protesters, and again some
Speaker 2: are agitators as well. So this is a situation that's
Speaker 2: made up of multiple areas of chaos. And as I
Speaker 2: was saying, with nightfall comes even more of this kind
Speaker 2: of thing. One protester brought out a trash bag set
Speaker 2: it ablaze. A couple of others pushed a cart with
Speaker 2: concrete blocks from the home depot. They lined the road
Speaker 2: to block vehicles. One smashed the block and spread the
Speaker 2: broken pieces onto the road. Then a US Marshall bus
Speaker 2: pulled up from the freeway. The crowd surrounded the bus,
Speaker 2: trying to push it back, kicking at it until tear
Speaker 2: gas was shot, and that standoff continued into the afternoon,
Speaker 2: protesters recording a line of Sheriff's deputies. We're equipped with
Speaker 2: shields and weapons. This is all part of a situation
Speaker 2: that I think potentially we could see more of. As
Speaker 2: the crowd chance ice go home, no justice, no peace.
Speaker 2: You begin to see that a community that sees itself
Speaker 2: as being called out on some level randomly. I mean,
Speaker 2: if you aren't someone who is here violently, if you
Speaker 2: are someone who is here working in construction, in sanitation,
Speaker 2: you see yourself as a victim in all of this,
Speaker 2: and a community around you that sees you as a
Speaker 2: victim that way as well. So these crowds were fired
Speaker 2: on with what are being called less lethal projectiles. This
Speaker 2: all happened last night or late yesterday afternoon, early evening.
Speaker 2: They declared that assembly near the home depot as an
Speaker 2: unlawful assembly, and officials warren protesters in Spanish and English
Speaker 2: to leave. But by seven o'clock there were more and
Speaker 2: as I say, lobbing rocks and bottles. I had mentioned
Speaker 2: this before at La County Sheriff's deputy. So you begin
Speaker 2: to see that is not peaceful.
Speaker 3: That is.
Speaker 2: A kind of action that agitates a situation that's already volatile.
Speaker 2: And I think there was a lot of restraint on
Speaker 2: the part of sheriff's officers. Even as the situation became
Speaker 2: more intense, and as I say, flash bangrenades and the
Speaker 2: less than lethal but still very painful and you know,
Speaker 2: again potentially.
Speaker 3: Very injurious.
Speaker 2: They call it pepper Is it is a there's a
Speaker 2: there's a term for is it a pepper bullet or
Speaker 2: a pepper pepperbomb?
Speaker 3: Thank you? As those are fired.
Speaker 2: So I just I guess I'm going through a lot
Speaker 2: of these details just to make it clear. This isn't
Speaker 2: a situation that has just been all peaceful protesters and gosh,
Speaker 2: it's the cops who have been so nasty. No, no, no, no,
Speaker 2: I think the cops have exercised some restraint, but by
Speaker 2: the same token, as the situation becomes cranked up on
Speaker 2: the protesters side, and as agitators begin with the throwing
Speaker 2: of those bottles rocks begin blocking the road, then law
Speaker 2: enforcement takes a more aggressive posture as well, and you
Speaker 2: end up with the situation that we have today gathering
Speaker 2: at city Hall. Now we'll check back in with Michael
Speaker 2: Monks as he begins to figure out what the next
Speaker 2: moves are there. He is embedded in that crowd. He
Speaker 2: took some tear gas to the face earlier in his
Speaker 2: reporting this morning, and so yeah, we have a situation
Speaker 2: that could spill over. But again to return Caruso joins
Speaker 2: Bass and Newsom, saying National Guard should not be here
Speaker 2: in Los Angeles.
Speaker 1: You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2: Mark Thompson here on this Sunday with a volatile situation
Speaker 2: unfolding in downtown Los Angeles. Or Michael Monks from the
Speaker 2: KAFI newsroom has been embedded in. It'd always taken some
Speaker 2: tear gas earlier to the face, and it's a I mean,
Speaker 2: it's a situation that could easily spill over.
Speaker 3: I'm very curious.
Speaker 2: They've now moved from the Federal Building, which seem the
Speaker 2: bulk of those resisting the ICE presence in Los Angeles.
Speaker 2: Those protesters now to City Hall and let's bring in
Speaker 2: Michael Monks now, Hi, Michael Mark.
Speaker 4: This rally has turned into a major march through downtown,
Speaker 4: the largest I've seen. There were some pretty massive ones
Speaker 4: last year related to Palestine. This is huge, which this march.
Speaker 4: I am with these marchers right now on Temple Street
Speaker 4: and it stretches all the way from Alameda well past
Speaker 4: City Hall at this point, completely thick on every block.
Speaker 4: It's interesting to note that when the protest at the
Speaker 4: Federal Building involving the California National Guard started to thin
Speaker 4: out last time you and I spoke a little while
Speaker 4: ago that folks were heading this way.
Speaker 5: It was also the first time I saw Los Angeles
Speaker 5: police on the scene.
Speaker 4: They shut down Alameda entirely on both ends, would not
Speaker 4: let protesters walk to City Hall, force them to turn
Speaker 4: around and go the other way, because they were clearly
Speaker 4: preparing for what is now this massive march. So now
Speaker 4: LAPD is on the scene in force around multiple corners
Speaker 4: and trying to keep this crowd under control. The CHP
Speaker 4: is blocking some freeway entrances from downtown. We know some
Speaker 4: protests in LA tend to find themselves on the free ways,
Speaker 4: so they're trying to prevent that. But right now it
Speaker 4: is just a march full of thousands of people. We're
Speaker 4: back at Alameda now, Temple and Alameda. Looks like we're
Speaker 4: turning left on Alameda and Mark. Once we turn left
Speaker 4: on Alameda, we're going to be half a block away
Speaker 4: from that Federal building and those National guardsmen again, and
Speaker 4: we'll see what the mood of the crowd will be
Speaker 4: at that moment.
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is an interesting point. I mean, because the
Speaker 2: National Guard has been restrained. I mean, they've just based
Speaker 2: on your reporting, they just had a presence there without
Speaker 2: any kind of effort to confront protesters in any kind
Speaker 2: of aggressive fashion.
Speaker 3: And you're kindly when.
Speaker 4: They cleared out pretty pretty physically, clearly had to tear
Speaker 4: out for the entrance way to make those vehicles come in, Yes,
Speaker 4: and through some to your gases and flash banks.
Speaker 2: But I'm just you're sort of implying and saying that
Speaker 2: they're going to be getting back to that Federal building area.
Speaker 2: I think what I'm hearing is that is a situation
Speaker 2: and again could just be very already dynamic, and it's
Speaker 2: very hard to predict what would happened.
Speaker 4: Well, we're here and it looks like this is just
Speaker 4: a march that is continuing at this point, but we
Speaker 4: are about to move past where the earlier protest was.
Speaker 5: And that thing grew fast.
Speaker 4: I mean one hundred people were there six seven hundred
Speaker 4: people at least outside that federal building by the time
Speaker 4: it started to dissipate. But while you and I were
Speaker 4: talking just a half an hour ago, people started to
Speaker 4: thin out to make their way to City Hall, and
Speaker 4: it thenned out almost entirely, almost immediately. But folks were
Speaker 4: met by LAPD at the end of the street at
Speaker 4: Temple who said you can't go this way. So then
Speaker 4: dozens and dozens more LAPD cruisers were coming through to
Speaker 4: get ready for this march. This may have been planned,
Speaker 4: this may have been impromptu. This is clearly the folks
Speaker 4: who had gathered at City Hall, and now they are
Speaker 4: marching through the streets of downtown.
Speaker 3: LA and they're moving on Alameda.
Speaker 2: You said, primarily is that's kind of the main route
Speaker 2: of this protest.
Speaker 4: They came down Temple Street, Okay, and there's still people
Speaker 4: on Temple Street. This a long crowd of people. It
Speaker 4: is thick, it is deep, it is long. And these
Speaker 4: folks that I happen to be with in this part
Speaker 4: of the snake is now back on Alameda, very very
Speaker 4: close to where the protest was with the National Guard,
Speaker 4: and I will be there momentarily. I don't know if
Speaker 4: folks are going to stop and do anything, if there
Speaker 4: are any agitators or any plans to, you know, have
Speaker 4: this thing take a.
Speaker 3: Turn, but sure, sure, you know, it looks like.
Speaker 5: People are just kind of walking past.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's kind of what I wanted to get a
Speaker 2: feel for, was the crowd consistency, if you sense that
Speaker 2: there were, you know, those bent on a confrontation or
Speaker 2: those just wanting to make their presence felt.
Speaker 4: I think with the crowd of this size, it's different
Speaker 4: than what we saw in some of the smaller groups,
Speaker 4: where there was a lot more jib jabbing going on
Speaker 4: between people and law enforcement, and some of those altercations
Speaker 4: turned physical or even violent.
Speaker 5: This statement appears to be the size of the crowd.
Speaker 4: Sure in general that there are a lot of people
Speaker 4: here in LA who are not happy about the presence
Speaker 4: of federal immigration officers, the arrival of the California National Guard,
Speaker 4: and anti illegal immigration policy in general.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you're right. In the pure shige.
Speaker 4: Pushback, it looks like we're kind of being pushed back.
Speaker 4: I don't know if this is just a general crowd movement,
Speaker 4: but they have stopped at this federal building and they
Speaker 4: are now pointing and.
Speaker 5: Shouting shame, shame, shame. So the march has.
Speaker 4: Stopped back here at the federal building, and that is
Speaker 4: what is happening now, is that they have turned their
Speaker 4: attention back towards the Federal building and the California National
Speaker 4: Guard and some of the Department of Homeland Security police
Speaker 4: officers who are still here. And when this first started,
Speaker 4: around nude I noted that the number of protesters seem
Speaker 4: to equal the number of guardsmen. And then it grew
Speaker 4: and the protesters outnumbered down probably three to one.
Speaker 5: And now it's not even a contest. I mean there
Speaker 5: are thousands and thousands of people.
Speaker 4: Here on Alameda Street in front of the roy Ball
Speaker 4: Federal Building loading dock, and the National Guard still standing
Speaker 4: there holding the line.
Speaker 3: This is a huge area in downtown.
Speaker 2: I mean just that one block with the I think
Speaker 2: there's the Justice Department building down there, there's the Federal building.
Speaker 3: Takes up of a big.
Speaker 4: Chill layers of government buildings here. It's extraordinarily busy and
Speaker 4: government heavy. It's about a block from union stations, so
Speaker 4: a lot of commuters also making their way here on
Speaker 4: this Otherwise very okay. I think we heard a little
Speaker 4: bit of a bang there. I'm seeing some okay, LAPD
Speaker 4: pushing people back. We're being pushed back right now, a
Speaker 4: little bit of a okay, now you're hearing the bangs
Speaker 4: now you're hearing the bangs, and I'm trying to determine
Speaker 4: whether that's LAPD that is pushing the crowd back down
Speaker 4: Alameda towards Temple Street.
Speaker 5: And there are cars backing up as well.
Speaker 4: I don't know if these are with the marchers or
Speaker 4: these look like civilian vehicles.
Speaker 5: I don't want to get run over by them.
Speaker 3: Yeah, do take care of yourself right now.
Speaker 5: Absolutely, Okay, So now the LAPD. I believe that's the LAPD.
Speaker 5: I just want to confirm that. And they're right weapons drawn.
Speaker 4: These are probably the batons and the less Lethals as.
Speaker 5: They call them.
Speaker 4: I'm starting to back this crowd back up. This crowd
Speaker 4: is massive, absolutely massive, and if we caught it was
Speaker 4: interesting a few hours ago. It just amplified significantly. A huge,
Speaker 4: thousands deep crowd has emerged here on Alameda Street in
Speaker 4: downtown Los Angeles, outside the Federal building where many believe
Speaker 4: the legal immigrants are being detained by Ice.
Speaker 5: This is the first time.
Speaker 3: We lose Michael Monks.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, you could hear for yourself how incredibly fluid
Speaker 2: that situation is, and Monks is right in the middle
Speaker 2: of it all. I mean, it's a really it's becoming
Speaker 2: more and more courageous duty to be a member of
Speaker 2: the press in any of these situations. Let's face it,
Speaker 2: the kind of hands off attitude toward press that there
Speaker 2: used to be, it really doesn't exist anymore in many situations,
Speaker 2: this one perhaps being one of them.
Speaker 3: So we'll get monks back when we can.
Speaker 2: That gave you a sense of the texture and, as
Speaker 2: I say, the fluid nature of what's happening in downtown.
Speaker 2: And what I was mentioning when I first came on
Speaker 2: was the fact that we thought these crowds would grow,
Speaker 2: and we thought they'd grow quickly for many different reasons.
Speaker 2: There's anger, there's anger and resentment, and now we have
Speaker 2: them back. Great, let's get back down to monks in
Speaker 2: downtown La. Go ahead.
Speaker 5: My apologies, Mark, I don't know when you lost me.
Speaker 4: Some flash bangs have been going off and the crowd
Speaker 4: is being pushed back on Alameda Street, back towards Temple
Speaker 4: and away from that federal building. This is the first
Speaker 4: appearance the LAPD is made on Alameda Street. All day long,
Speaker 4: We've been talking about that for hours, about what is
Speaker 4: the protocol, what is the procedure for the LAPD to
Speaker 4: get involved. Especially when the earlier protests billed hundreds of
Speaker 4: people into this street. It took a couple of hours
Speaker 4: for them to close any lanes at all in part.
Speaker 5: Of the street.
Speaker 2: Do we lose them again, Yeah, Michael Monks with a
Speaker 2: again a dynamic situation in downtown Los Angeles. We'll get
Speaker 2: Michael back, and in fact, I want to touch base
Speaker 2: with Michael once again and plug back into what's going
Speaker 2: on in downtown Los Angeles. Even as the protests have
Speaker 2: been today primarily peaceful, you could hear the flash bangs,
Speaker 2: you could hear the sounds of law enforcement with a
Speaker 2: presence to push that crowd back. We'll get back in
Speaker 2: touch with Monks in just a few minutes. I also
Speaker 2: want to get down to Camp Pendleton. Bill Ferrar is
Speaker 2: down there for US, and Camp Pendleton is prepping for
Speaker 2: their own involvement in Southern California protests.
Speaker 3: Of course, that's the Marine base. So there's a lot.
Speaker 2: Going on in Southern California in a situation that seems
Speaker 2: to be picking up some momentum.
Speaker 3: Again.
Speaker 2: In the next hour, we'll touch base with all of
Speaker 2: these different areas that could very much be affected by
Speaker 2: what's going on and a part of our short term future.
Speaker 1: In southern California, KFI AM six forty on demand