LOS ANGELES, UNITED STATES, JUNE 10 (AFP/APP/DNA):US President Donald Trump on Monday ordered active-duty Marines into Los Angeles, vowing those protesting immigration arrests would be “hit harder” than ever.
The extraordinary mobilization of 700 full-time professional military personnel — who join hundreds of National Guard troops already there — looked likely to 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 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 business-owner 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.”
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