Pallade Veneta - Trump deploys Marines as tensions rise over Los Angeles protests

The extraordinary mobilization of 700 full-time professional military personnel -- who join hundreds of National Guard troops already there -- looked likely to further stoke tensions in a city with a huge Latino population.

California Governor Gavin Newsom slammed the move as "deranged."

"US Marines have served honorably across multiple wars in defense of democracy," Newsom posted on X.

"They shouldn't be deployed on American soil facing their own countrymen to fulfill the deranged fantasy of a dictatorial President. This is un-American."

The deployment came after demonstrators took over streets in Downtown LA on Sunday, torching cars and looting stores in ugly scenes that saw law enforcement responding with tear gas and rubber bullets.

"The people are causing the problems are professional agitators and insurrectionists," Trump told reporters in Washington.

On social media he said he had deployed National Guard troops "to deal with the violent, instigated riots" and "if we had not done so, Los Angeles would have been completely obliterated."

He said protesters spat at troops and if they continued to do so, "I promise you they will be hit harder than they have ever been hit before. Such disrespect will not be tolerated!"

One small businessowner whose property was graffitied was supportive of the strongarm tactics.

"I think it's needed to stop the vandalism," she told AFP, declining to give her name.

"Everybody has the right to protest, but do it the right way. Don't vandalize or hurt your own town because you're hurting people that are trying to make a living."

Others were horrified.

"They're meant to be protecting us, but instead, they're like, being sent to attack us," Kelly Diemer, 47, told AFP. "This is not a democracy anymore."

-'Go home!' -

A fourth day of protest was unfolding in Los Angeles triggered by dozens of arrests of what authorities say are illegal migrants and gang members.

"Pigs go home!" demonstrators shouted at National Guardsmen outside a federal detention center. Others banged on the sides of unmarked vehicles as they passed through police containment lines.

A swelling crowd was converging on the center, where Los Angeles Police Department officers were forming containment lines seemingly aimed at separating demonstrators from federal agents.

Trump's border czar Tom Homan said Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was targeting members of cartels in Mexico and Colombia.

Many locals painted a different picture.

They are "people who are here earnestly trying to improve their lives (and) deserve a chance and don't deserve to be treated as criminals," Deborah McCurdy, 64, told AFP at a rally.

Overnight, vandals had set fires and smashed windows, adding to the scenes of damage left after five Waymo self-driving cars were torched. Obscene graffiti was daubed over many surfaces.

Despite isolated and eye-catching acts of violence, officials and local law enforcement stressed the majority of protesters over the weekend had been peaceful.

Schools across Los Angeles were operating normally on Monday, while the rhythms of life in the sprawling city appeared largely unchanged.

Mayor Karen Bass told CNN that in contrast to Trump's rhetoric, "this is isolated to a few streets. This is not citywide civil unrest."

At least 56 people were arrested over two days and five officers suffered minor injuries, Los Angeles Police Department officials said, while about 60 people were arrested in protests in San Francisco.

The National Guard is frequently used in natural disasters, and occasionally in civil unrest, but almost always with the consent of local authorities.

The former vice president and Trump's opponent in the 2024 election called it "a dangerous escalation meant to provoke chaos."

The United Nations warned against "further militarization" of the situation, in remarks likely to anger the White House.

O.Pileggi--PV