Fears of protests spreading loom in US

As Los Angeles enters a second night under curfew, the city and the nation watch closely to see if calm will hold or if protests will escalate further amid one of the most intense immigration enforcement efforts in recent US history.

More than 1,000 people massed on Wednesday in the US' second biggest city, for a sixth day of protests, with the crowd peaceful as they marched through the streets. Nearly 400 arrests have been made in Los Angeles during days of unrest sparked by immigration enforcement operations.

Activists across the US say they will hold even larger demonstrations in the coming days, with "No Kings Day" events across the country on Saturday to coincide with President Donald Trump's planned military parade in Washington, DC. "No Kings Day" is being organized by Indivisible, a nonprofit coalition of political action groups.

In Texas, Republican Governor Greg Abbott posted on social media that an unspecified number of National Guard troops "will be deployed to locations across the state to ensure peace & order".

In Spokane, Washington, a night curfew was declared after police arrested more than 30 protesters and fired pepper balls to disperse crowds, police chief Kevin Hall told a news conference.

Immigrant rights advocates sharply criticized the raids. "Our community is under attack and is being terrorized. These are workers, these are fathers, these are mothers, and this has to stop," said Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights.

She condemned the federal tactics, which include warrantless operations in homes, businesses and workplaces, as fueling widespread fear.

Speaking alongside 30 regional mayors at a news conference on Wednesday, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass directly blamed the protests on Trump's immigration raids, which she said had "provoked" residents by causing "fear" and "panic".

She suggested Los Angeles was caught in "part of a national experiment to determine how far the federal government can go in taking over power from a local government, from a local jurisdiction".Bass had previously called on the administration to end the raids.

Along with Bass, mayors from across the Los Angeles region banded together to demand that the administration stop the raids.

"I'm asking you, please listen to me, stop terrorizing our residents," said Brenda Olmos, vice-mayor of Paramount, who said she was hit by rubber bullets over the weekend.

"If there are raids that continue, if there are soldiers marching up and down our streets, I would imagine that the curfew will continue," Bass said. Bass imposed an 8 pm-to-6 am curfew on Tuesday within a 2.5-square-kilometer area of downtown after escalating vandalism and looting.

After the curfew took effect at 8 pm on Tuesday, police from the Los Angeles Police Department, or LAPD, moved through downtown, firing rubber bullets to disperse crowds.

At the White House on Wednesday, US Attorney General Pam Bondi told reporters that the curfew "helped a bit" in reducing unrest.

Trump said on Thursday morning that Los Angeles "was safe and sound for the last two nights" as he hailed troops for helping to restore order in the city after days of anti-deportation protests.

"Our great National Guard, with a little help from the Marines, put the LA Police in a position to effectively do their job," Trump said on Truth Social, adding that without the military the city "would be a crime scene like we haven't seen in years".

The total number of arrests since protests began has approached 400 in Los Angeles, including 330 undocumented migrants and 157 individuals charged with assault, obstruction and other offenses. Federal prosecutors have charged two men with throwing Molotov cocktails at police officers in separate incidents.

To assist in controlling the unrest and protecting federal facilities and personnel, the Trump administration has deployed over 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines throughout the Los Angeles region.

The Pentagon has said the deployment will cost taxpayers $134 million.

The military presence and federal actions have provoked a strong backlash and sparked legal challenges. In a televised address on Tuesday evening, California Governor Gavin Newsom said that Trump's decision to deploy military forces to respond to immigration protests in Los Angeles has brought the country to the brink of authoritarianism.

All 22 other Democratic governors signed a statement sent by the Democratic Governors Association on Sunday backing Newsom, calling the Guard deployment and threats to send in Marines "an alarming abuse of power" that "undermines the mission of our service members, erodes public trust".

However, the Justice Department on Wednesday dismissed Newsom's request to limit Trump's National Guard deployment in Los Angeles as a "crass political stunt that endangers American lives", according to a new federal court filing.

Agencies contributed to this story.

renali@chinadailyusa.com