About 700 US Marines being mobilised in response to Los Angeles protests
About 700 US Marines have been mobilised to respond to the protests in Los Angeles, the second-largest city in the country
- LOS ANGELES — About 700 US Marines have been mobilised to respond to the
protests in Los Angeles, the second-largest city in the country.
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- The Marines from the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, based at
US Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, California, will
join the thousands of National Guard troops who were activated by US President
Donald Trump over the weekend without the consent of California's governor or
Los Angeles mayor, according to the report.
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- The deployment of the full Marine battalion marks a
significant escalation in Trump's use of the military as a show of force
against protesters, Xinhua news agency reported quoting CNN.
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- Like the National Guard troops, the Marines are
prohibited from conducting law enforcement activity such as making arrests
unless Trump invokes the Insurrection Act, which permits the president to use
the military to end an insurrection or rebellion of federal power, said the
report.
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- Twentynine Palms is around 220 kilometres east of
downtown Los Angeles.
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- The Marines mobilised in Los Angeles will be tasked with
defending federal property and personnel, two US Department of Defence
officials was quoted as saying by NBC News, while ABC News reported that
they're expected to arrive over the next 24 hours.
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- Trump took extraordinary action on Saturday by calling up
2,000 National Guard troops to quell immigration protests in the Los Angeles
region, making rare use of federal powers and bypassing the authority of
Governor of California Gavin Newsom.
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- About 300 National Guard troops arrived early Sunday
morning in downtown Los Angeles. More than 1,000 protesters clashed and faced
off with National Guard troops in the city on Sunday during the demonstrations
against immigration raids that swept across California over the weekend.
