Rights group denounces excessive force against LA protesters

Law enforcement used excessive force and deliberate brutality against Los Angeles protesters and journalists during demonstrations against Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in June, a Human Rights Watch report said Monday.

Scores of people were injured as officers fired hard foam rounds, flash-bang grenades, pepper balls, and tear gas from close range, during the largely peaceful response to a dramatic increase in immigration arrests across Southern California.

“Law enforcement officers used brutal, excessive, and unnecessary force against people standing up for human rights and those reporting on the protests,” said Ida Sawyer, the rights group’s crisis, conflict and arms director.

The protests erupted on 6 June, in anger at raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which the Trump administration has ordered to target undocumented migrants across the sprawling, heavily Latino city.

The demonstrations were mainly confined to a small section of downtown Los Angeles. Largely non-violent, they at times spiraled into chaotic scenes that Trump pounced on to send 4,000 National Guard and 700 Marines into the city, a move loudly protested by local officials.

Compiling the report, Human Rights Watch staff observed protests, visited locations of immigration raids in mid-June, and interviewed dozens of people.

The report documented 65 cases in which law enforcement officers injured protesters and journalists, but warned that the “actual number is most likely much higher.”

On one occasion, a police officer shot three people at “very close range with kinetic impact projectiles,” leaving them in severe pain for days.

“Before shooting one of them in the groin, the officer said, ‘I’m going to pop you, as you are taking up my focus,’” the report found.

Other reported injuries included broken bones, concussions, an amputated finger, and severe eye damage.