Marines to deploy on LA streets within two days with authority to detain civilians

By Brad Brooks, Omar Younis, Idrees Ali and Tim Reid

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -U.S. Marines will join National Guard troops on the streets of Los Angeles within two days, officials said on Wednesday, and would be authorized to detain anyone who interferes with immigration officers on raids or protesters who confront federal agents.

U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the deployments over the objections of California Governor Gavin Newsom, sparking a national debate about the use of the military on U.S. soil and animating protests that have spread from Los Angeles to other major cities, including New York, Atlanta and Chicago.

Los Angeles on Wednesday endured a sixth day of protests that have been largely peaceful but occasionally punctuated by violence, mostly contained to a few blocks of the city's downtown area.

The protests broke out last Friday in response to a series of immigration raids. Trump in turn called in the National Guard on Saturday, then summoned the Marines on Monday.

"If I didn't act quickly on that, Los Angeles would be burning to the ground right now," said Trump at an event at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

State and local leaders dispute that, saying Trump has only escalated tensions with an unnecessary and illegal deployment of federal troops, while Democrats nationally have condemned his action as authoritarian.

Trump is carrying out a campaign promise to deport immigrants, employing forceful tactics consistent with the norm-breaking political style that got him elected twice.

"President Trump promised to carry out the largest mass deportation campaign in American history and left-wing riots will not deter him in that effort," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.

The U.S. military said on Wednesday that a battalion of 700 Marines had concluded training specific to the L.A. mission, including de-escalation and crowd control. They would join National Guard under the authority of a federal law known as Title 10 within 48 hours, not to conduct civilian policing but to protect federal officers and property, the military said.

"Title 10 forces may temporarily detain an individual in specific circumstances such as to stop an assault, to prevent harm to others, or to prevent interference with federal personnel performing their duties," the Northern Command said.

Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement: "If any rioters attack ICE law enforcement officers, military personnel have the authority to temporarily detain them until law enforcement makes the arrest."

U.S. Army Major General Scott Sherman, who commands the task force of Marines and Guardsmen, told reporters the Marines will not carry live ammunition in their rifles, but they will carry live rounds.

Newsom and the state of California have sued Trump and the Defense Department to stop the deployment, maintaining that none of the Title 10 conditions were met to justify military deployment - such as a when the U.S. is under threat from a foreign invasion or rebellion.

California is also seeking a temporary restraining order to immediately stop the National Guard and Marines from participating in civilian law enforcement.

A hearing on that restraining order is scheduled for Thursday in San Francisco federal court.

The Trump administration argued in a court filing ahead of the hearing that the president has the discretion to determine whether a "rebellion or danger of a rebellion" requires a military response.

PROTESTS SPREAD NATIONWIDE

In downtown L.A., shortly before the second night of a curfew over a one square mile (2.5 square km) area, relative calm was broken.

Police said demonstrators at one location threw commercial grade fireworks and rocks at officers. Another group of nearly 1,000 demonstrators were peacefully marching through downtown when police suddenly opened fired with less lethal munitions in front of City Hall.

Marlene Lopez, 39, a Los Angeles native, was demonstrating as flash bangs exploded just a few meters away.

"I am out here because of the fact that our human rights are being violated every day. If we give up, it's over. We have to stand our ground here in L.A. so that the nation will follow us," Lopez said.

Other protests have also taken place in Santa Ana, a largely Mexican-American city about 30 miles (50 km) to the south, as well as major cities such as Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Seattle, Boston and Washington and San Antonio, Texas.

New York police said an unknown number of people had been taken into custody on Wednesday. On Tuesday New York police said they took 86 people into custody, of which 34 were arrested and charged, while the others received a criminal court summons.

The protests are set to expand on Saturday, when several activist groups have planned more than 1,800 anti-Trump demonstrations across the country. That day, tanks and other armored vehicles will rumble down the streets of Washington, D.C., in a military parade marking the U.S. Army's 250th anniversary and coinciding with Trump's 79th birthday.

(Reporting by Brad Brooks, Omar Younis, Jane Ross and Arafat Barbakh in Los Angeles, Dietrich Knauth in New York, and Idrees Ali and Tim Reid in Washington; Additional reporting by Costas Pitas, Christian Martinez, Ryan Jones, Ted Hesson and Jasper Ward; Writing by Joseph Ax and Daniel Trotta; Editing by Ross Colvin, Rod Nickel, Lisa Shumaker and Michelle Nichols)