Los Angeles arrests near 200, triggering massive troop deployment

Daily arrests in Los Angeles rose from 27 on June 7 to nearly 200 by the afternoon of June 10, prompting the deployment of 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines.

According to LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell, the number of daily arrests in Los Angeles has steadily risen over the past week, Caliber.Az reports per US media.

By June 10 afternoon—before that day’s demonstrations had even begun—nearly 200 people had already been taken into custody.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump described the situation in Los Angeles as a direct attack on peace and national sovereignty.

“What you’re witnessing in California is a full-blown assault on peace, on public order and on national sovereignty, carried out by rioters bearing foreign flags,” said Trump.

“My administration would liberate Los Angeles,” he added.

Speaking to U.S. troops at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, Trump defended his response to the unrest: “Generations of Army heroes did not shed their blood on distant shores only to watch our country be destroyed by invasion and third-world lawlessness.”

Despite calls from California officials urging restraint, the president has pressed ahead with a significant federal deployment. As of June 10 morning, approximately 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines had been dispatched to Los Angeles.

The move came despite local leaders characterising the demonstrations as largely peaceful and rejecting the need for additional federal intervention.

Moreover, at a congressional hearing on June 10, tensions flared over the cost of the deployment. The Pentagon disclosed that the operation would total $134 million. 

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin defended both the expense and the president’s decision to send troops, noting that the department had received a budget increase sufficient to absorb the cost.

He emphasised that the presence of federal forces was necessary to support and protect federal agents on the ground.

By Aghakazim Guliyev