The Military Occupied LA for 40 Days and All They Did Was Detain One Guy

While it is of DEEP concern that the military was sent in over the objections of California officials, there were definitely reports of violence that came from sources other than right-wing sites.

From abc7.com

Jun 09, 2025, 1:26 AM CDT

'Our officers are really under attack,' LAPD chief says

During a press conference on Sunday, Los Angeles Police Department Chief Jim McDonnell decried the escalation of violence in Los Angeles as "disgusting" as Molotov cocktails, fireworks, rocks and more were used to target officers.

"It's escalated now since the beginning of this incident," McDonnell said, calling the protests "increasingly worse and more violent."

"Tonight we had individuals out there shooting commercial-grade fireworks at our officers that can kill you," McDonnell said.

The police chief said implementing a curfew was discussed with the L.A. County Sheriff and that officials will reassess if necessary.

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Then PBS ran a story fact checking videos...

From www.pbs.org

Amid legitimate images showing people in Los Angeles waving Mexican flags, vandalizing self-driving cars and pelting rocks at California Highway Patrol vehicles, other videos populating social media news feeds are not what they claim to be.

One video shared June 8 showed a police car engulfed in flames. But the video dates to 2020, when people rallied against police brutality after the May 25, 2020, murder of George Floyd, a Black man, while in police custody.

Another video, shared June 8, showed a row of military vehicles driving down a street. Some users said the video is evidence that "Marines have arrived in Los Angeles!" But the video was from June 4, before the protests began, and it shows military service members reuniting with their families at Camp Pendleton, about 100 miles south of Los Angeles.

I can tell who's a phony sack of ----, pal.

They were there to back up the local police who were under attack by illegals and leftist nutzoids - not to arrest people.

"the local police who were under attack by illegals"

LOL

www.latimes.com

"They were deployed by the Trump administration to combat "violent, insurrectionist mobs" in and around Los Angeles, but in recent days the only thing many U.S. Marines and California National Guard troops seemed to be fighting was tedium.

"There's not much to do," one Marine said as he stood guard outside the towering Wilshire Federal Building in Westwood this week.

The blazing protests that first met federal immigration raids in downtown Los Angeles were nowhere to be seen along Wilshire Boulevard or Veteran Avenue, so many troops passed the time chatting and joking over energy drinks. The Marine, who declined to give his name because he was not authorized to speak to reporters, said his duties consisted mostly of approving access for federal workers and visitors to the Veterans Affairs office."
An estimated 90% of the National Guard troops stationed in the L.A. area over the last few days have not been deployed on daily missions, according to a source within Newsom's office who has knowledge of the military operation.

"For the most part ... they're sitting around," the source said.

The source, who spoke on condition on anonymity because they were unauthorized to speak publicly on the deployment, said an estimated 3% of the 4,000 troops " about 120 soldiers " were taking part in daily missions, mostly consisting of security at federal buildings.

An additional couple hundred were standing by for "quick response force" missions " ready to mobilize within a few hours for an immigration raid or a crowd control operation. But even if all those troops were used each day, the source said, that still left about 88% of the 4,000 troops " or about three-quarters of the remaining 2,000 " underutilized."
"

"When troops were first deployed to L.A., advocates for service members warned of low morale. The GI Rights Hotline received a flurry of calls voicing concern about immigration enforcement, Woolford said.

Some military personnel told the hotline that they did not want to support ICE or play any role in deporting people because they considered immigrants part of the community or had immigrants in their family, Woolford said. Others said they did not want to point guns at citizens. A few worried that the country was on the verge of turning into something like martial law, and said that they didn't want to be on the side of being armed occupiers of their own country.

Many were shocked that the deployment orders were for 60 days."

@#23 ... They were there to back up the local police ...

Did the local police ask for that back up?

Or did Pres Trump impose it upon them?

C'mon, you are usually better than that in your comments.

@#28 ... Really? ...

Yeah.

I have had conversations with that alias that were good.

Usually regarding those who defend the Country.

Politics, well, I may have a different opinion of what that alias proffers..

But, imo, that discussion of a different political opinion is something I view as something that makes the US great.

From what I've read, neither the police, nor any California official asked for military help.

Although they were NOT invited to do so, the military was not sent in to aid the police, but rather to guard federal buildings:
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www.nbclosangeles.com
Dozens of Marines were seen standing at the entrance to the 17-story Wilshire Federal Building midday Friday..."I would like to emphasize that the soldiers will not participate in law enforcement activities," Sherman said...Under federal law, active-duty forces are prohibited by law from conducting law enforcement.
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At one of the links posted above in #21, abc7.com , the LA police chief stated that the protesters themselves were peaceful, and the police were there to protect them. Regarding those throwing molotov cocktails, industrial fireworks and rocks at police:
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Jun 09, 2025, 2:42 AM CDT
McDonnell said those individuals are anarchists, and he made a distinction between them and the protesters who had participated in demonstrations earlier in the day.

He said it was "even more disgusting that many of the people who are doing this come in from other places just to hurt people and to cause havoc."
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Along with that, www.nbclosangeles.com reports that:
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It was approaching nightfall in Los Angeles on Sunday when black-clad demonstrators began to torch a row of self-driving Waymo taxis. Within minutes, videos of the fiery scenes began to pop up on social media.

Some of the groups behind the accounts express contempt for peaceful resistance and glorify acts of violence...[these groups] are typically decentralized with no leadership structures. But they can be highly adept at using social media, and some have been working hard to amplify and celebrate the acts of violent protesters in Los Angeles.

The unrest in Los Angeles follows a pattern that has played out in numerous cities over the past five years in which protests that break out remain mostly peaceful during the day, but at night agitators engage in fiery clashes with police.
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The LA police chief at no time said that the protestors themselves were violent, and he noted that the people doing violence, as noted in the PBS, ABC7 and NBCLOSANGELES links above and in #21 above, were extremist outsiders. But at no time did the police department ask for military assistance, and at least according to reports, the military did not do so. They guarded federal buildings, albeit completely uninvited.