By Brad Brooks
(Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump says he sent in the National Guard and Marines to “liberate” Los Angeles from the violence of protesters, but some residents of Little Tokyo, a neighborhood hit hardest by the unrest say “no thanks” Mr President.
A dozen people who live, work or frequent the neighborhood, where Japanese is heard spoken as frequently as English in shops and restaurants, on Tuesday told Reuters that Trump’s use of the military was inflaming the protests against recent immigration raids in Los Angeles.
“The president sending in the National Guard and Marines has only made things worse, it’s made the protesters go crazy,” said Sulieti Havili, who lives nearby and helps run a Pokemon club with over 6,000 members that routinely plays in Little Tokyo. “They are doing nothing to protect this community.”
Havili, 25, who was out picking up trash in Little Tokyo with her Pokemon club partner Nolberto Aguilar, 42, said it was clear to her that Trump sending in thousands of military personnel had “brought out the worst in the protesters” and only served to aggravate the situation.
Aguilar added that Trump’s deployment of troops was thwarting the will of most Los Angeles citizens and local leaders, fanning the flames created by ICE immigration raids, that he said targeted law-abiding immigrants.
The Trump administration says its immigration raids are rounding up de facto criminals for lacking proper documents to stay in the United States.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has said the use of military personnel to combat the protests had “inflamed a combustible situation” and warned that “democracy is under assault.” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has said that Trump’s use of troops was a deliberate effort to create “chaos.”
The Trump administration strongly rejects the accusations and says their actions were needed in the face of local and state leaders inability to get the situation under control.
‘INSTIGATING’ ACTION
Little Tokyo, a charming neighborhood with shops selling Japanese goods and restaurants serving up some of the city’s finest sushi, abuts the federal buildings where protesters have gathered for five nights in a row.
For the past two nights, when police and National Guard troops have forcibly dispersed protesters in the early evening, demonstrators scatter into smaller groups into Little Tokyo, which has been covered with anti-ICE and anti-Trump graffiti.
Running skirmishes well into the night in the neighborhood has seen police use booming flash-bangs and firing other “less lethal” munitions at protesters.
Several of those interviewed in Little Tokyo asked that they not be named, saying they feared reprisals – from the federal government. Many were immigrants themselves or had family members who were not born in the U.S., and feared making themselves or their loved ones targets of ICE.
One of those was Anthony, who works at a tea shop in the neighborhood.
“There is no question that the president sending in thousands of National Guard and 700 Marines has done nothing but make the protesters more aggressive,” he said. “It’s instigating the protesters and making things worse.”
Samantha Lopez, a descendent of Filipino immigrants who works at a Korean ice cream parlor in Little Tokyo, said she felt empathy for the demonstrators but rejected any acts of vandalism or violence they carry out. Still, she blamed the use of military personnel for creating the unrest.
“It’s just poor handling of protests that stay peaceful until they’re confronted by officers,” Lopez said. “It’s bad for business, and it’s bad for this neighborhood.”
(Reporting by Brad Brooks in Los Angeles; Editing by Michael Perry)
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