Federal Agents Fire Tear Gas on 'No Kings' Protesters in Los Angeles as 70 Arrested Outside Detention Center

Los Angeles police and federal agents deployed tear gas and declared an unlawful assembly Saturday evening after a group of agitators attempted to breach the fence surrounding the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, turning one of the city's largest political rallies into a confrontation that resulted in more than 70 arrests and set off a citywide police emergency — even as 8 million people participated peacefully in No Kings demonstrations across all 50 states.

The trouble began around 5:30 p.m. local time when a subset of the crowd converged on the downtown federal detention facility, where immigration detainees are held pending deportation proceedings, and began hurling rocks, glass bottles, and chunks of concrete at federal protective officers monitoring the building's perimeter. Federal agents responded with chemical munitions. The Los Angeles Police Department immediately placed its entire force on tactical alert — a citywide emergency mobilization that cancels days off, recalls officers to duty, and signals an active public safety crisis. Officers in riot gear formed skirmish lines along Alameda Street as the department urged residents to avoid downtown.

The events in Los Angeles were a sharp contrast to the broader picture unfolding across the country. Organizers estimated that more than 8 million Americans took part in Saturday's third round of No Kings demonstrations, held in 3,300 locations across all 50 states and 14 countries, making it potentially the largest single-day act of nonviolent political protest in modern American history. The flagship rally was held in St. Paul, Minnesota, on the state Capitol grounds, chosen deliberately because of the January killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good during a federal immigration enforcement sweep in Minneapolis. Those deaths triggered the DHS funding shutdown and became the symbolic center of the movement's grievances. Governor Tim Walz addressed the crowd. Bruce Springsteen performed a new single titled 'Streets of Minneapolis' before tens of thousands who had traveled from across the region.

In Los Angeles, the vast majority of demonstrators had marched peacefully for hours before the downtown confrontation. At least nine juveniles were cited for failure to disperse and released to their parents. Dozens of adults were detained, handcuffed in a line along the street. A woman dressed as the Statue of Liberty was photographed under arrest. By 9 p.m., police reported the immediate area around the Metropolitan Detention Center had been cleared, though police helicopters continued circling downtown until after midnight. Dallas and Portland reported smaller-scale arrests during their No Kings marches.

The White House dismissed all the demonstrations as 'Trump Derangement Therapy Sessions.' Press secretary Taylor Budowich said in a statement that the protests proved Democrats 'have no positive vision for America, only rage, and the images from Los Angeles show exactly who is really behind these events.' Federal prosecutors said they were reviewing footage from the detention center confrontation for potential charges. The ACLU of Southern California announced it would monitor every charging decision for signs of selective prosecution. Organizers of the No Kings movement said the violence was the work of 'a small number of individuals' who did not represent the hundreds of thousands who marched peacefully in Los Angeles earlier in the day and the millions who participated nonviolently nationwide.

The movement, which has now staged three major protest cycles since January, has focused its demands on the end of mass deportations, the resolution of the DHS shutdown, the withdrawal of US forces from Iran, and accountability for the Minneapolis killings. Polling conducted in the weeks before Saturday's demonstrations showed approximately 54 percent of Americans expressing sympathy for the protesters' goals, with 61 percent opposing the ongoing US-Israel military campaign against Iran. The scenes from downtown Los Angeles were seized upon by conservative media as evidence that the movement harbored violent elements, while supporters argued that the presence of a small number of agitators did not define the character of millions of peaceful marchers.