Liberal pundits and politicians spent the weekend insisting that the anti-ICE riots across Los Angeles were peaceful, even as split-screen footage showed cars engulfed in flames.
“At this point, this has been very peaceful. It has been tense at some points, but we haven’t seen any violence happening here,” CNN correspondent Julia Vargas Jones said as the network showed rioters on motorbikes circling a car on fire in the middle of an intersection.
A similar video was shown on CNN as Rep. Nanette Barragán (D., Calif.) accused the Trump administration of “targeting peaceful protests.”
Riots erupted in Los Angeles over the weekend in response to ICE raids in the city. Agitators shut down the 101 Freeway, attacked law enforcement, set cars ablaze, and looted businesses. President Donald Trump sent in the National Guard in response.
Former vice president Kamala Harris accused the Trump administration of “stoking fear” and said the “demonstrations in defense of our immigrant neighbors have been overwhelmingly peaceful.”
“I continue to support the millions of Americans who are standing up to protect our most fundamental rights and freedoms,” she said in a statement.
Rep. Judy Chu (D., Calif.) also blamed Trump for the destruction, accusing him of creating a “manufactured crisis” by deploying the National Guard. As she argued on MSNBC that the Los Angeles Police Department had the situation under control, the network showed multiple large fires burning in the street. CNN anchor Dana Bash, meanwhile, suggested the disruption wasn’t “a real riot.”
“I just want to state for the record that what did happen in 1992 was so different from what we’re seeing now,” she said. “That was a real riot that went all across the city of Los Angeles after a verdict in the Rodney King case.”
A local ABC affiliate anchor, Marc Brown, described the rioters as “just a bunch of people having fun watching cars burn into a massive confrontation and altercation between officers and demonstrators.” NBC News correspondent Steve Patterson called them “peaceful people that want to get their message across.”
The rioters drew encouragement from some like Sen. Alex Padilla (D., Calif.). “My message is: Keep protesting,” he said. “Protest peacefully for sure, but keep protesting.”
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