As curfew takes effect in L.A., protestors — and the governor — say the military isn't needed at all

In the last minutes of daylight on Tuesday night in downtown Los Angeles, a police helicopter circled overhead and warned a crowd of people along Temple Street they were gathered in an unlawful assembly and would be arrested if they did not leave.

By then, an hour into the first night under curfew in a pocket of the downtown area, most people had backed up beyond the police perimeter. Some livestreamed the scene on TikTok or Instagram, while others taunted officers blocking the streets.

"Why you here, man? Why you here?" one shouted from the window of a car, as it pulled a U-turn past police at the edge of the curfew zone.

A curfew came into effect at 8 p.m. PT after five days of protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in the city. The weekday demonstrations have been been largely peaceful, but tension simmered in the city with freshly stationed marines and word the National Guard had been accompanying ICE agents on the job. 

Demonstrators gathered by the Metropolitan Detention Centre earlier Tuesday afternoon, including some teenagers and adults with young children on their shoulders. Organizers regularly reminded the crowd to keep the temperature down and avoid provoking the National Guard members blocking the entrance to the parking lot.

"We are here to protest, not to fight," said Delilah Franco, 22, before taking the mic to remind the growing crowd to stay out of the road and on the sidewalk.

Hundreds of U.S. marines joined a contingent of National Guard troops in Los Angeles Tuesday at the direction of U.S. President Donald Trump. Their arrival was swiftly condemned by state and city officials, while protesters said they believed the military presence was an attempt to antagonize lawful demonstrations that had shrunk since the weekend. 

"It's frightening, it's scary, but it's obviously used to instill fear in the citizens," Franco said of the marines and National Guard being deployed. 

"We're here chanting to let the people in that [federal detention] building know we're here for them and they're not alone … we gotta keep fighting until there's some change being made."

There were fewer clashes between protesters and police officers Tuesday than there were Sunday, when demonstrators briefly closed the 101 freeway.

Tuesday's protest was isolated to the block around the Metropolitan Detention Centre and the federal detention building. Elsewhere, the only signs of unrest were days-old "F--k ICE" graffiti and the husk of a sole burned-out car.

Members of the Los Angeles Police Department moved in on the crowd of about 200 people along Alameda Street mid-afternoon on Tuesday, corralling the protesters from both sides until most of the crowd had left.

Los Angeles police Chief Jim McDonnell later said officers made 197 arrests on Tuesday, including 67 people taken into custody for unlawfully occupying part of the freeway.

Late in the afternoon, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass announced at a news conference that the city would be imposing a curfew for parts of downtown from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. PT. She also declared a local emergency and said the curfew might last several days.