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Clashes Erupt In L.A. As Trump Deploys National Guard; Interview With Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA). Aired 7-8p ET

Aired June 08, 2025 - 19:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[19:02:01]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jessica Dean in New York.

Breaking news tonight as we're seeing intense protests in Los Angeles. LAPD warning these protesters to clear that area immediately or face arrest, or possibly the risk of injury.

This is a live look at that scene now. And we are seeing people beginning to at least disperse in some parts of that area. We have seen tense clashes between protesters and police, with some protesters throwing objects at law enforcement and officers using rubber bullets and tear gas to try and clear those protesters out.

I spoke with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass just a few moments ago. She maintains that the National Guard that has been sent there by President Trump against the wishes of her and Gavin Newsom is not needed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR KAREN BASS (D), LOS ANGELES: It's a feeling here of intentional chaos in a situation that had not broken out to violence short of a few people, and there's nothing unusual about that. And our police departments can manage that. But it is as though troops were rolled out in a provocative manner, and I do not see how that is helpful to Los Angeles right now. It's not the type of resources that we need in the city.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: I want to go out to CNN's Kyung Lah, who has been live on the scene all afternoon.

Kyung, when we last spoke with you, they had declared that protest unlawful assembly. They told everyone that they had to get out immediately, or they could risk arrest, or potentially that they would be using things like rubber bullets or gas to get them to disperse.

What is the latest from your vantage point?

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Well, they've already been using some gas as well as some of these rubber bullets. They're actually kind of strewn all around me here. You can see some of what the LAPD has been using to try to disperse this crowd. And that was to push people back.

Let me tell you what's happening right now. This appears to be at a bit of a faceoff. The --

DEAN: Kyung, are you there? Kyung, we can hear you. All right. We're going to try to get Kyung back up. We're having a bit of a technical issue.

As we look at these live pictures, I do want to bring in some experts here. CNN chief law enforcement officer and intelligence analyst John Miller, and former D.C. chief of Homeland Security and Intelligence, Donell Harvin.

Great to have both of you here.

John, you and I have been talking over the last several hours as this has unfolded. It does appear, based on the images we're seeing right now that this crowd is spreading out. What is your assessment having spent years in law enforcement?

[19:05:03]

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, I think what they're starting to achieve is that they've broken up the core mass of the crowd and sent it in different directions, but now they're dealing with the fallout from that. You know what you can see from the aerial photo on the left, on the left hand side of the screen is, this is downtown L.A. so this is where they've cleared Alameda Street, where the jail is, but at Alameda and Temple, of course, it's where the 110 Freeway, the 101 Freeway, the 10 Freeway all come together.

And the protesters have taken the freeway there. So you have now between 250 and 300 LAPD officers there, probably 40 more from the Metro C Platoon. They're tactical people. And now you have dozens and dozens of California Highway Patrol people deploying on that highway to disperse that crowd so that they can get that highway moving again, get those people back up onto the streets.

So it's a little bit of a game of quicksilver where, you know, you start to move it around and it spreads out in different directions in terms of people and protesters. And they're trying to reorganize around that and get them moving in a direction away from downtown having declared it an unlawful assembly.

DEAN: Right.

MILLER: As you can see, the cars here literally strewn around on the highway trying to figure out if they can make a U-turn, get off the exit the other way, and CHP is trying to take charge of that and get this road open again.

DEAN: Yes. And look, any time that a major freeway is blocked in Los Angeles, that can cause huge problems.

Again, just reminding everyone, just backing out for one second. President Trump did send in the National Guard. Those troops are a little bit away from what you're looking at right now. They are around the federal detention facility there in downtown Los Angeles. In the last couple of hours, we have seen LAPD come in and try to create some distance between where those National Guard troops are, who, again, have been federalized.

The governor and the mayor have said they are not needed. The president and his administration have said they are and so they are just a bit away. And LAPD trying to move this crowd and now disperse this crowd.

Danielle, I want to go to you. It is currently 4:00 Los Angeles Time. It is summer, so they've got a fair amount of daylight left. But it will get dark at some point. Is that something that they're considering right now, and are they trying to plan ahead for that, or are you just in the moment right now, trying to get a handle on what's going on?

DONELL HARVIN, FORMER D.C. CHIEF OF HOMELAND SECURITY AND INTELLIGENCE: I'm glad you mentioned that because timing is really important and they're doing both, right? So there's a tactical operation as you see unfolding in front of you, but they're also planning on nightfall. My experience, you have people who are out there who may be very vociferous and loud, and they're basically taking part in the First Amendment protected activity.

What happens at nightfall is a different story. Usually the people who are law-abiding citizens will go home. They'll go to their families. Nightfall comes you have the criminal element come out. And that's what we saw in D.C. and other cities around the country in 2020. And that's a huge concern. That's where you see the flashpoints. That's where you're going to see some of the probably the more violent episodes on television.

DEAN: Yes. And John, again, as we're looking at this, we're seeing the freeway here, how do you get people off of the freeway like that? That seems like quite an undertaking.

MILLER: Well, you can see, well, you can't really see from here, but what we saw a moment ago is the California Highway Patrol. There you go. Forming a skirmish line from under that overpass. And they are going to move towards that crowd. What they've done is you can see the traffic is moving in the opposite direction on the other side. They've turned the cars behind them around as best they could and have them go in the same direction so going against traffic to find an exit and get off the highway in the wrong direction under CHP, California Highway Patrol supervision.

But they're going to start walking toward this crowd and they're going to start pushing this crowd back towards one of those exits and feed them back off the highway. Of course, this is a ground ball. There's no complication about declaring this an unlawful assembly under Section 409 of the Penal Code, because they are literally standing on a highway and blocking traffic. So they'll give that announcement. They'll say those who don't disperse will be arrested.

And they will start to move them off the highway. And those who refuse are going to be arrested, which is why you see so many California Highway Patrol cars gathering there. What they like to do is get them back up into the street, feed them back into the LAPD.

[19:10:04]

And you see something just thrown there.

DEAN: Yes.

MILLER: Hitting the ground.

DEAN: In the middle. Yes.

MILLER: And do this with a minimum of conflict, at least physical conflict.

DEAN: Yes. And Donell, we know that based on my conversation with Mayor Karen Bass just in the last little bit, she did confirm that LAPD is in coordination now with the federal -- with the National Guard troops. What does that tell you? And how might that shape what we're going to see?

HARVIN: That's a huge relief for me because I can -- I was basically having post-traumatic stress when I heard that they were deploying the National Guard. When they did that to us in D.C., there was no coordination that we basically were on lockdown, martial law. And so what happens is that law enforcement operates on certain frequencies with their radios. There's tactics, techniques and procedures. They have to coordinate. They have to deconflict.

You take this block, you take that block, you take the highway. And if they're not operating on the same page and what we call a unified command, then there's complete chaos. And that's where you have unfortunate opportunities for violence to, you know, that there'll be gaps in coverage possibly what we call blue-on-blue type of events where law enforcement and some other individuals may get tangled up together.

And so I'm glad that they're coordinating, but I'm going to go back to what the governor said and what the mayor said. They're really not needed. This is not a traditional National Guard deployment type of posture. LAPD has one of the preeminent CDUs, civil disturbance units, in the country, quite possibly in the world. They can handle this. And so, but I'm glad that they're coordinating to your point.

DEAN: All right. And we're seeing another bottle getting thrown there as well.

John Miller, Donell Harvin, thank you to both of you. We really appreciate your time.

We continue to keep an eye on what's happening, what's unfolding in Los Angeles. We're going to take a break and we'll be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:16:48]

DEAN: Welcome back. We're following breaking news out of Los Angeles. You are looking live at the freeway there. We're seeing the crowd being dispersed after they were told it was an unlawful assembly. This is just a little way away. Well, now we're seeing something else. But where that crowd is just a little bit away from where the National Guard troops are around that federal detention facility.

I want to go to CNN's Kyung Lah, who has been live on the scene all afternoon.

And, Kyung, we were just speaking with you. You're in the area where they have told the protesters you got to get out of here. You have to disperse. Tell us what you're seeing and hearing.

LAH: So the aerial images you've been showing, we're on the ground right at that intersection where the unlawful assembly was declared. They made the announcement right over here. And so what you're seeing is a bit of the people who have decided not to disperse yet. We have definitely noticed, even from our vantage point, that it does appear that some of the crowd has been thinning.

But law enforcement is here. You can see the line that the LAPD has made. And then on the other side are the demonstrators who are not leaving, who are not heeding that warning. The intersection where the unlawful assembly is, you're looking right at it. It's Alameda and Temple Street, and they have not been given a time. We didn't hear any specific timeline for how quickly they have to leave, but the warning has been given, it has been given multiple times.

And I just want to show you what's happened. The LAPD will start to pick some of the agitators out of the crowd. I'm going to weave this way over here. We can already see some of the people who have been detained for causing some type of problem. There have been four people who've just been held. We don't know what they're being charged with, if anything at all. But they have been plucked out of the crowd, and they're sitting here on the sidewalk.

And I just want to give you a little bit of context, too. The standoff is there. The unlawful assembly is over there. But where it all began is less than a block away. You can see where the police cars are down there. That is where we started out our day. That is the Metropolitan Detention Center. That is where the National Guard was standing, where we saw ICE, as well as DHS, and LAPD has taken over this street and pushed the crowd and cleared this entire area so that they could not be blocked.

Vehicles could not be blocked if they are trying to get in and out of the detention center. And so what we are left with now, Jess, is this situation. We're just watching and waiting to see what will happen as the LAPD has declared this an unlawful assembly, and we're trying to figure out how much time they have left. The people who are staying here don't look like they want to go anywhere as of this moment. And I did hear your earlier conversation about what happens when it

becomes nighttime. There is another gathering at L.A. city hall, and it is an interfaith protest. It's an interfaith demonstration. I actually know many of the reverends who will be gathering there on the steps of city hall.

[19:20:02]

These are people who are established in the community, and they're going to be gathering to pray. So as far as an established evening event, that is something that we do know that people will be gathering at city hall for -- Jess.

DEAN: OK, that is great context, Kyung. Again, as someone that lives in L.A., you are in great position to give us some of that. Thank you so much. Stick with us.

I do want to go back to John Miller and Donell Harvin, who are standing by.

And John, as Kyung was talking there, I guess the question kind of becomes now, at what -- it seems like there's kind of a lull as they're continuing to warn them, telling them to disperse. At a certain point, though, they're going to probably start arresting people and being more aggressive in trying to get those remaining protesters to disperse. What might that look like?

MILLER: Well, it will likely not be an all at one time thing. You know, there's a bit of a science to this, a bit of a rhythm. I think they're going to want to get those people off the highway at some point, obviously. But then the people in the streets, you know, they've already been warned. You may see the skirmish line move forward and push them back and then try to split them in two at different intersections.

You may see if there's someone who throws something or an assault on an officer or something like that, where they will, as Kyung Lah told us, pull somebody or pull multiple people out of the crowd. And what you'll see is over time, as they push them back, as they make additional arrests as warranted, the crowd will likely thin out over time. I don't think it's at the stage of disorder, which we're not seeing except for the blocking of the highway where they need to do anything so provocative as to charge into the crowd.

And I think you're going to want to see them de-escalate it. And then try to thin it out, try to dilute it, and that'll again take time.

DEAN: Yes. And Donell, for local law enforcement, John and I were talking about this earlier, too. You know, police force like Los Angeles, like LAPD, they are trained specifically for this sort of event because they're in a major city, right?

HARVIN: Absolutely. And the warning that you heard them give earlier is, you know, statutory. Right? So in every jurisdiction, they'll have to give several warnings over a certain amount of time before they start moving in and doing this. Now, they're not going to go in gangbusters, as John mentioned, and

start trying to like wrap people up. More than likely they're going to start, as John said, with the highways. And, you know, for the viewers, it's important. People may be sitting home saying, why? I don't see a whole lot of bad stuff happening. Why can't they just be out there? We would never issue a permit for this type of event because it's impacting what we call critical infrastructure.

You can't have tens of thousands of people on the highway clogging up emergency vehicle traffic, people trying to get to the hospital, emergency services or the roads. And so they're going to have to do this methodically and in a way that reduces any injury or risk to themselves as well as the public. But they're very good at doing this.

DEAN: Yes. No, that's a valid point in terms of what it takes to run a city and keep it operating.

John, I also want to ask you about something that Mayor Karen Bass told me a short time ago when I asked her if she was read in at all on the rules of engagement, the mission for those federalized forces that are there, the National Guard troops, the National Guard troops. She said that they are there to protect federal buildings and, in her words, not be out in the streets, kind of engaging with people.

Does that make sense to you? What do you think about that?

MILLER: Well, it does make sense in that, you know, ICE was out in operations. We saw all of those vehicles returning, which is what set off a little bit of the initial skirmishes at the protests. And we saw the National Guard not traveling back with them. We saw the National Guard guarding that building.

You know, in the George Floyd protests, protesters made targets of the federal buildings in Portland, in Seattle. And I think this is a response to we're going to have the National Guard here as the force protection for the federal building, for the federal detention center. The federal courthouse and the federal building way on the other side of town in west L.A. because they are looking to not have the agents interfered with coming and going with their prisoners on their operations, and not have the building defaced, attacked or destroyed.

So far, all we've seen is graffiti. But in those other protests we talked about from a couple of years ago, we saw attempts toward serious damage, window breaking, fires, vandalism and so on. So that may be the scope of their duties. We have to see. Do they end up in the field with ICE on operations doing perimeter protection when they go into a location but not taking enforcement action?

[19:25:08]

What the mayor told us is that's not what they've been informed that they'll be staying in place and guarding property.

DEAN: Yes. And I don't know if we can go back to Kyung's camera, but it appeared like we were seeing -- it looks like, Donell, these are like zip ties or rope or something that some of the law enforcement officers, the LAPD are getting out?

MILLER: Those are flex cuffs.

HARVIN: That's a common --

DEAN: OK.

HARVIN: Yes. Flex cuffs. Those are -- that's a common Civil Disturbance Unit or CDU piece of equipment. They just can't have handcuffs for, you know, hundreds of people. They're easy to put on. They're humane, they're easy to take off. And it just logistically, I mean, handcuffs weigh almost a pound. You can imagine an officer trying to, you know, hold 20 of those. And these weigh, you know, grams.

I did want to mention when you look back to that, I'm sure John noticed this, one of the things, one of the first times I've seen this is that there's several Palestinian flags and "Free Palestine" signs. And what it tells me is that there's a confluence or convergence of ideologies. Not everybody is out there clearly for just this kind of anti-immigrant type of sentiment. So it's something to watch because we've seen violence erupt in our cities around that type of protest.

DEAN: Yes, that is an interesting point.

John, what -- give me your thoughts on that as well.

MILLER: Well, I mean, speaking as the former deputy commissioner for intelligence in New York, as we went through series of protests to different issues, you know, what you see is you see regular organic protesters who are concerned with that specific issue. What we experienced in New York and we saw in L.A. and in Chicago is there are particular groups, anarchist groups, anti-government groups that have become quite expert at protesting, and they will find the protesters from any issue and say, hey, we don't like the police, we don't like the government, we don't like what's happening to you.

And they will basically work their way into a group that may have a completely different issue, and in some ways almost take over the cause. You know, when you see groups that have been involved in peaceful protest and suddenly that turns, you usually start to see those familiar faces from those other groups from those other issues showing up.

DEAN: Yes. All right. John and Donell, thank you so much. I do -- I need to get in a break here. But again, you're looking live at what's happening there on the freeway in Los Angeles.

We'll take a break. We're going to be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:32:24]

DEAN: We are following breaking news out of Los Angeles, where the LAPD has declared this gathering of protesters in downtown Los Angeles unlawful assembly. They've instructed everyone to disperse. What that has done is they've all begun to gather there. What you're looking at is on the freeway.

Now, this is nearby where those federalized National Guard troops have been deployed. Mayor Karen Bass telling me just in the last hour that LAPD and the National Guard is in communication, that is her understanding that the National Guard is there to protect the federal buildings and not, in her words, be in the streets.

We are, to that end, seeing Los Angeles Police there literally in the streets right now on one of the L.A. freeways where you see some of those protesters have gathered and we are continuing to see how this is going to play out.

I want to bring in Congressman Jimmy Gomez, who is joining us here. He is a Democrat from California. Congressman, thank you so much for being here with us.

REP. JIMMY GOMEZ (D-CA): Of course.

DEAN: What is your -- what do you know right now? What are you being told? What's the latest information you are getting?

GOMEZ: Well, the latest information is that the LAPD is meant -- and also CHP is meant to take care of any kind of crowd control to make sure that things don't get out of hand. These individuals who are currently on the streets, they will probably be cleared out. But that's who we want them to get cleared out by is the local police.

Because when you mix in the National Guard or ICE agents, things can get out of hand a lot easier and a lot quicker. So, one of the things is that we want to make sure that people stay calm if they want to show up and have their voice heard to engage in nonviolent civil disobedience so that the Trump administration doesn't have another -- has an excuse to try to not only send in the National Guard, but then to send in the active military as well.

DEAN: Yes and we have seen -- again, what you're talking about. We have seen peaceful protesters, we've also seen protesters who've been throwing things at police, banging on police cars. We've seen some arrests. We've seen police having to push back on them. And so, it is really a confluence of all of those things right now, it seems.

GOMEZ: Yes, I know. Exactly. But here's the thing, this is the way he kind of tries to portray, Donald Trump, is that just even just a few minutes ago or even about an hour ago, he said that we have been invaded by criminals and aliens and that he wants to liberate the city of Los Angeles. That kind of language inflames tensions, makes things worse when he has people that show up, not in normal ICE uniforms that they used to wear to you know, do a raid or do different things, but in kind of militarized uniforms, then that's what kind of sparks the increased tension.

So, we know that he's been planning on this for a while. They want this showdown between us, California, because they don't like what we represent. L.A. County alone is 34 percent foreign born, 34 percent. So, when he says they're going to liberate us, who is he going to liberate us from? Ourselves? So one of the things we want to do is to make sure that people know that its Donald Trump who is actually making the situation worse.

[19:35:34]

DEAN: Yes, and do you think what we're seeing today is a direct result of the National Guard being deployed there, being federalized that that has had turned up the heat in a way?

GOMEZ: I think partly it has, because remember, he deployed, he federalized the National Guards over the objections of Gavin Newsom, over the objections of Karen Bass and this is not normal. The last time this was done was in the 1960s in order to protect the civil rights of people in the south, not to try to crack down on undocumented immigrants.

So, one of the things that we know that this can inflame the situation that were seeing and we don't, you know, Donald Trump is not somebody who can be trusted. But unfortunately, he's the President of the United States at this time.

DEAN: Are you confident that LAPD can get this -- that has this and that the National Guard is not needed?

GOMEZ: I do. I believe that LAPD, as well as the Highway Patrol, they have it under control. You know, these situations, we've seen protests before, a lot larger protests in the past. And the one that, you know, the one -- the last time that was really, really bad was in 1992. But the Governor asked for the federalization of the National Guard at that time. So, there is a big, big difference and at the same time, you have a President right now that's just trying to fan the flames of the tension that's going on right now in the city of L.A.

DEAN: All right, Congressman Jimmy Gomez, we really appreciate your time. Thank you so much.

GOMEZ: Thank you.

DEAN: And again, you're looking live right now on one of the freeways in Los Angeles as police work to disperse protesters. And you see there on the front lines, there are clashes between police and the protesters. I just want to keep watching this for one second, because we are seeing an escalation here. We're seeing the canisters of gas that are being floated around.

Again, this is on a freeway in Los Angeles after they've been told to disperse. You see, police and protesters getting very physical there. And police clearly trying to move these protesters off of the freeway where traffic has been stopped. Again, as we were talking to our experts earlier, you cannot block a freeway like this. So, that is police are trying to make sure that they can clear this freeway, but that is that is there are a lot of people there. And again, you're seeing the canisters of gas being kicked back and forth -- protesters kicking it back toward police, throwing it back toward police. You're seeing there on the right side of your screen. I want to bring in John Miller, John, as were watching this, clearly they're trying to push this line ahead and clear out this freeway.

MILLER: Well that's right, they've formed their line. They're moving to try and get a much smaller group of people than they started with off that highway. They've also deployed CHP officers on the opposite side. They put out the word both from CHP, California Highway Patrol and LAPD to tell people to avoid the 101 Freeway North and Southbound if at all possible, altogether, while they spend some time trying to clear both of these.

At this point, they're both shut down because they don't want as they push these people back, them switching to the other side of the highway and they're going to try to move them towards an exit. One of the things they're going through is as they're deploying smoke or gas, whatever that is the wind direction is not acting in their favor. As the protesters kicked it back, the wind is blowing it their way as well.

But they're making slow progress. You see, they have this L-formation now, which narrows the protest line and they're closing that trying to move them into a smaller group, move them further back and incrementally get them off the 101 Freeway Southbound and get that highway going again.

DEAN: And you certainly called it. We do see -- well, there is another skirmish between a protester and officers there. But you -- we certainly do see that L-formation when they zoom out. And that you're right, it does kind of push everyone into one side as they're working to get -- previously, they'd been spread see that whole freeway.

[19:40:22]

MILLER: Right, I mean, they're trying to get them back on the sidewalk. They want to get the cars going again. If they can reopen that highway and kind of put this back in the hands of the LAPD in the streets and not the freeways, which is a difficult by any measure.

So, you also see that there are people throwing things from the back of the crowd and you will see occasionally you know, they will pick somebody out who they observe, throw something or push an officer and make those arrests. This is also part of the strategy, which is we're going to move you and we're going to move you with the least amount of force that we can do to get you to move, but we're also going to be making arrests as we go for certain individuals who cross that line.

And the psychological effect of that is other people saying, well, I have to be at work tomorrow. I don't want to be arrested. Maybe it is -- maybe I've made my stand for today. And it's time to go home. So between the LAPD and CHP, they're both trying to thin these crowds out.

DEAN: Yes, and just for people who are tuning in, John, they're hearing these bangs. These what sound like explosions. What is that? We've been seeing that all afternoon but we we're just seeing them with the canisters of smoke or gas, whatever it might be. Is that what we're hearing that sounds like an explosion?

MILLER: It is and we've been seeing versions of that all day. You've seen the FN 303 which is a pepper ball rifle that fires pepper balls. You saw while they were clearing this highway. They were firing them into the ground to get the gas to bounce back up so that they could use it to push people back without hitting anybody with one. But they've also been firing between on the street. I don't know what the CHP is using on the highway. Some of these sponge rounds or as we call them, rubber bullets, the 40 millimeters.

And again, you see a clash here breaking out where somebody has moved on the officers with a smoke device that was sent their way, and they're taking that person into custody. But they've got them now on the exit and they want to push them up that exit back into the street.

This, of course, has been made more difficult by, as you see, they have a live audience on either side of that highway, looking down from the roadway, cheering them on. So, you know, this has been a bit of a mission but they've done it slowly enough.

DEAN: Yes, all right, John Miller, stay with us. We do want to get in a break as things continue to unfold in Los Angeles this afternoon. We're going to take a break, we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:47:58]

DEAN: We are returning to Los Angeles where you see a large amount of smoke coming out. This is by the freeway there where law enforcement, LAPD, has been trying to push protesters off of the freeway, try to get traffic going again. They have in the last half hour or so, been able to push them to the entry ramp there.

Now, the explosions that you're hearing right there, that's what's coming from these canisters of smoke. You now see that the freeway appears to be clear itself appears to be clear of protesters. But if they zoom out and that's what you're seeing on your right side there, there are a number of protesters surrounding the freeway. And just to set the scene, these are people who have come out to protest these ICE raids that have been happening in the city of Los Angeles over the last several days.

President Trump federalizing the National Guard, sending National Guard troops into Los Angeles. Again, you see there that's showing you -- that's the 101 Freeway sending National Guard troops into Los Angeles. We did speak with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who told us that her understanding is that those troops are there to protect federal buildings and, in her words, not be in the streets.

Now, LAPD, earlier today were trying to create some distance between protesters and those federal troops. And now we have seen that spill out into the 101 Freeway.

I do want to go to Kyung Lah, who is on the ground. Kyung has been monitoring this all afternoon. Kyung, I would assume -- I'm curious. Actually, I do want to just see what you're seeing because there's so many people now toward the freeway. I'm wondering -- we want to see behind you. They have declared this area unlawful assembly. How is the crowd looking there? What's going on there?

LAH: Well, some of the confusion, you just saw where I was speaking with my producer, Norma, is that we can actually see the 101 Freeway from here. These are two very close locations. I can't actually see what is happening on the Freeway, but I can see the signs. We can hear some of the explosions, but it's -- this is a multi-location situation here.

I want Mike Love to come up a little bit. What you're seeing here are a line of LAPD. They have essentially handed out zip ties. You can see some of the zip ties sticking out of some of the rear pockets of some of the law enforcement, and they have the people who are here have been told this is an unlawful assembly. This is Alameda and Temple, they have been repeatedly warned to go home. And the people who remain have been told, and this was several minutes ago, but they were told, you have a one minute warning, you need to go home or you risk arrest.

[19:50:43]

So, what we have seen before in previous protests that I've covered here with the LAPD, they start to pick out the people who they think are the lead agitators or the ones who may be most problematic, to try to take some of the energy or the air out of the crowd and encourage people to go home. But we haven't seen quite yet, though, is that first move by the police.

They have taken into custody, they have detained some people who have lashed out at law enforcement. So, there are four people I can see sitting on the sidewalk over here. And actually, Mike, go ahead and spin around. You can see these four people who are sitting over here. They have been detained. They're sitting on the sidewalk and presumably if the rest of this crowd doesn't disperse, there will be more people joining them.

This is just about one block away from where all of this started. When I joined you this morning, there was a faceoff between a small group of protesters and the National Guard that was federalized by President Trump. And then we saw DHS.

We saw more, soldiers, we saw more law enforcement and then there was a strong engagement. And that brought more protesters out to this location and this now is the end of that. These are the people who've been pushed out of that way where the Metropolitan Detention Center entrance is. They've been pushed onto this corner. They have now been told to go home or risk arrest. We expect, as you see, this officer here with the zip-ties, you can see that, I don't know if you can tell that those zip ties there, that they are going to be under arrest shortly -- Jess.

DEAN: Kyung Lah with the very latest, please keep us updated. We will check back in with you. I also want to bring in John Miller, who has been giving us excellent analysis throughout this entire thing.

And, John, it does appear as if LAPD has had some success in getting these protesters off -- directly off the freeway there.

MILLER: So, that's California Highway Patrol. They took on that mission, and they've kind of pushed them up into the streets, but they've also made a number of arrests. Interesting, you know, you saw a few minutes ago what they did, which is they, they used the wind direction which was acting against them on the highway to their advantage on that exit by opening a number of those gas canisters, and then letting that gas flow up the exit hoping that it would actually push the protesters forward of the smoke and have them leave under their own power.

But as were seeing here, you know, there's a number of people who did not go along with the order to disperse, or may have done other things that are being taken into custody. So, you're going to have a number of arrests by LAPD. Perhaps possibly a larger number arrests by California Highway Patrol of people who were taken into custody in the course of this.

What we haven't seen, is we haven't seen, you know, nightsticks swinging, people being bloodied, terrible physical confrontations between police and protesters. We've seen a very slow, deliberate tactical effort on the part of police to push them back. We've seen some civil disorder on the part of protesters, which is not unusual in these things and we've seen some arrests.

What's ironic is as, as you and Kyung Lah kind of hinted at a minute ago is, this started out as a small protest facing National Guard troops behind the federal jail, as ICE people were bringing in prisoners and basically the LAPD and the California Highway Patrol took on the mission of trying to separate those protesters from the National Guard both for the safety of the National Guard, but also for the safety of the protesters, since no one was sure what the rules of engagement were and ended up having to take on not just the mission of moving them out, but also the mission of confronting them and turning the scene from something that was focused on protesters and the National Guard to one that's now focused on protesters and police.

Probably not what they had in mind when they got out of bed this morning. But that was Chief Jimmy McDonald and the Mayor agreed it would be best to get them off that block before something completely not under their control went wrong.

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DEAN: Right, a real fear, I think, of dramatic escalation. All right, John Miller, thank you so much. We are going to take a break. More from Los Angeles when we come back.

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