L.A. protests intensify after Trump deployed hundreds of National Guard troops

Tensions in Los Angeles escalated Sunday as thousands of protesters took to the streets in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's extraordinary deployment of the National Guard, blocking off a major freeway and setting self-driving cars on fire as law enforcement used tear gas, rubber bullets and flash bangs to control the crowd.

Some police patrolled the streets on horseback while others with riot gear lined up behind National Guard troops deployed to protect federal facilities including a detention centre where some immigrants were taken in recent days.

Police declared an unlawful assembly, and by early evening many people had left. Some protesters who remained grabbed chairs from a nearby public park to form a makeshift barrier between themselves and police and throw objects at them.

It was the third day of demonstrations against Trump's immigration crackdown in the region, as the arrival of around 300 federal troops spurred anger and fear among some residents. Sunday's protests in Los Angeles, a city of four million people, were centred in several blocks of downtown.

Outside the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, crowds chanted "shame" and "go home" at members of the National Guard, who stood shoulder to shoulder, carrying long guns and riot shields. After some protesters closely approached the guard members, another set of uniformed officers advanced on the group, shooting smoke-filled canisters into the street.

Minutes later, the Los Angeles Police Department fired rounds of crowd-control munitions to disperse the protesters, who they said were assembled unlawfully. Much of the group then moved to block traffic on the 101 freeway until state patrol officers cleared them from the roadway by late afternoon, while southbound lanes remained shut down.

Flash bangs echoed out every few seconds into the evening as some protesters threw objects down at the roadway and state patrol officers fired back.

Nearby, at least four self-driving Waymo cars were set on fire, sending large plumes of black smoke into the sky and exploding intermittently as the electric vehicles burned. By evening, police had issued an unlawful assembly order shutting down several blocks of downtown Los Angeles.

Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom requested Trump remove the guard members in a letter Sunday afternoon, calling their deployment a "serious breach of state sovereignty." He was in Los Angeles meeting with local law enforcement and officials. It wasn't clear if he'd spoken to Trump since Friday.

Their deployment appeared to be the first time in decades that a state's national guard was activated without a request from its governor, a significant escalation against those who have sought to hinder the administration's mass deportation efforts.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass echoed Newsom's comments.

"What we're seeing in Los Angeles is chaos that is provoked by the administration," she said in an afternoon news conference.

"This is about another agenda, this isn't about public safety."

Their admonishments did not deter the administration.