Unrest ‘provoked by White House’: LA Mayor Bass slams Trump’s ‘double standard’

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass on Wednesday (Jun 11) said that the unrest in her city had been “provoked by the White House”, calling the deployment of troops “a drastic and chaotic escalation”. She alleged “everyday Angelenos” seeking work are being arrested instead of violent criminals, which the Trump administration claims to be targeting.

Bass said that the curfew in the city “will go on as long as they are needed”. She added, “If there are raids, if there are soldiers marching up and down our streets, I would imagine the curfew would continue.”

She also said she wants to speak with Trump, adding that she wants him to “understand the significance of what is happening here”.

On ABC News reports claiming there are more US troops deployed in Los Angeles than in Iraq and Syria combined, Bass said, “There are reports that if all the military that have been designated to be deployed, if you add them all up it’s more military than are serving today in Iraq. And the money that is being spent - $134m - all of our cities could use that money.”

‘Drastic and chaotic escalation'

Bass said that the unrest is “isolated to several streets” of downtown Los Angeles, accusing the Trump administration of lying that the whole city is in chaos. “If you drive a few blocks out of downtown, you don’t know that anything is happening in the city at all,” she said.

“When you raid Home Depots and workplaces, when you tear parents and children apart, and when you run armoured caravans through our streets – you’re not trying to keep anyone safe, you’re trying to cause fear and panic,” she said.

“And when you start deploying federalised troops on the heels of these raids, it is a drastic and chaotic escalation and completely unnecessary”, she added. “These aren’t the criminals the administration is allegedly targeting; these are mothers and fathers, restaurant workers, seamstresses, home-care workers, everyday Angelenos trying to make a living.”

Bass calls out ‘double standard’ of Trump

The Los Angeles mayor called out Trump’s “double standard” on his pardoning of January 6 rioters.

“And given that I was there on January 6 and saw an insurrection take place, the idea that this – what is happening here – is an insurrection is just false. And I think it is deliberately false, I don’t think they’re confused,” she said.

Bass highlighted that while the Trump administration has been touting the number of arrests made during unrest, most were made for “failure to disperse” and curfew violation, and not for looting or vandalism, she says.