US president Donald Trump has essentially waged a war of revenge on California after mass protests against illegal state abductions. And it true authoritarian style, one police officer even turned his gun on a nearby journalist in broad daylight.
LA protests: cops turn violent
Protests in LA began on Friday 6 June after a series of violent immigration enforcement (ICE) raids in Los Angeles.
One saw the highly provocative abduction and injury of union leader David Huerta, which added further momentum to the demonstrations at the weekend. Although the LAPD called the protests peaceful, the Trump regime decided on 7 June to send 2,000 “civilian soldiers” of the National Guard.
Cops and the National Guard have caused an escalation since:
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Academic Steve Vladeck called this “a significant (and, in my view, unnecessary) escalation of events in a context in which no local or state authorities have requested such federal assistance”. A legal officer for the ACLU civil rights group, meanwhile, said:
The Trump administration’s baseless deployment of the National Guard is plainly retaliation against California, a stronghold for immigrant communities, and is akin to a declaration of war on all Californians…
There is no rational reason to deploy the National Guard on Angelenos, who are rightfully outraged by the federal government’s attack on our communities
And as Australian journalist Lauren Tomasi filmed the LA protests, one LAPD officer surprised her with an unprovoked act of aggression:
Directly aims at her, as she is moving away, and clearly on air. No threat.
No one between them.
It wasn’t a missed shot.
It was purposeful! pic.twitter.com/x4gdpjJMAo
— Adam Cochran (adamscochran.eth) (@adamscochran) June 9, 2025
Australia’s Green Party called for action over the clearly “deliberate shooting“.
Tomasi’s own outlet, however, faced criticism for framing the incident as her being “caught in the crossfire”. Satirical website The Chaser reacted by posting:
"We are sad that the journalist didn't dodge the projectile that chose to go towards her" said her employer. pic.twitter.com/PxY4PK2XWS
— The Chaser (@chaser) June 9, 2025
How settler-colonial nations share their worst practices
Drop Site News, meanwhile, highlighted that, in the context of the current LA protests:
The LAPD has a history of training with Israeli forces, whose units systematically target and kill journalists.
Israel has killed hundreds of media workers during its ongoing genocide in occupied Gaza.
As the Real News Network has documented:
Between 2002 to 2009, the Los Angeles Police Department’s chief and deputy chief traveled to Israel for training multiple times.
This is common throughout the US, with “police exchange programs” sending officers to Israel “for training that advocates say further militarizes the police and exacerbates harm to marginalized communities”. And it goes both ways, with Israeli occupation forces learning techniques from US ‘enforcement’ officers too.
The US has a long record of settler-colonial genocide at home and abroad, including the current US-Israeli genocide in Gaza. And as journalist Kyle Kulinski has pointed out:
The same politicians that say flying a Mexican flag in LA is cause for deportation have an office like this pic.twitter.com/enCWC9s6XR
— Secular Talk ([email protected]) (@KyleKulinski) June 8, 2025
California governor Gavin Newsom and other politicians have insisted that Trump’s actions over the LA protests have been dictatorial:
– Inciting and provoking violence
– Creating mass chaos
– Militarizing cities
– Arresting opponents
In reality, it’s very much in keeping with a long tradition of racist settler governments using such tactics to exert control over the territory they occupy.
Featured image via the Canary
