#ICESucks agents use #PepperSpray and #SmokeGrenades to disperse LA #protesters

Rights group says at least 45 people arrested as people demonstrate against coordinated raids throughout the city

by Gabrielle Canon
Fri 6 Jun 2025

"The Department of Homeland Security conducted raids on multiple locations across Los Angeles on Friday, clashing with the crowds of people who gathered to protest.

"Masked agents were recorded pulling several people out of two LA-area Home Depot stores and the clothing manufacturer Ambient Apparel’s headquarters in LA’s Fashion District. Immigration advocates said the raids also included four other locations, including a doughnut shop.

"There has not yet been confirmation of how many people were taken into custody during the coordinated sweeps.

"At an afternoon press conference, #AngelicaSalas, executive director for the Coalition of Humane #ImmigrantRights, said at least 45 people were arrested without warrants.

" 'Our community is under attack and is being terrorized. These are workers, these are fathers, these are mothers, and this has to stop. Immigration enforcement that is terrorizing our families throughout this country and picking up our people that we love must stop now,' Salas told the crowd.

"The protest only grew as the afternoon wore on. By 6pm local time, hundreds of people assembled around the federal building in downtown Los Angeles, where those taken into custody during the raids are being held.

"Earlier in the day, armed agents clad in heavy protective and tactical gear, including some who wore gas masks, could be seen on video and through aerial footage pushing individuals and trying to corral large groups that congregated to challenge the raids.

"Smoke grenades were reportedly thrown near the crowds and pepper spray was used as the federal officers attempted to clear the area. As the demonstrations continued into the evening, videos showed officers firing less-lethal weapons toward protestors.

"Some people in the crowd attempted to block large #ArmoredTrucks carrying FBI agents as they departed. One person reportedly threw eggs at the vehicles.

"The Los Angeles fire department was called to the scene to administer aid to protesters injured by agents and officers, which included the president of the California branch of the Service Employees International Union (#SEIU), #DavidHuerta. The organization said in statement he was detained and called for his immediate release.

" 'We call for an end to the cruel, destructive, and indiscriminate #ICERaids that are tearing apart our communities, disrupting our economy, and hurting all working people,” Tia Orr, executive director of SEIU California said.

" 'Immigrant workers are essential to our society: feeding our nation, caring for our elders, cleaning our workplaces, and building our homes.' "

#LosAngeles #ResistICE #Resistance #ICEProtests #USPol #ACAB #DHS #KristiNoem #NoBorders #WarrantlessArrests #Gestapo #NoHumanIsIllegal #LosAngelesResists

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0iMByygNkA

Take notes...

#Serbia: Parliament erupts as #smokegrenades, tear gas clash ensues

What's in store if #HR9495 goes through? Let's revisit this "blast from the past" from 2020...

#FederalAgents Used #ToxicChemical #SmokeGrenades in #PortlandOregon

Portland protesters report severe and lasting #SideEffects from the #ChemicalWeapons used during #Trump’s “#OperationDiligentValor.”

by Sharon Lerner
October 10 2020

"By the time she was standing in front of the federal courthouse on #LownsdaleSquare on the night of July 25, Olivia Katbi Smith had already been exposed to tear gas several times. On those previous occasions during the #BlackLivesMatter #protests in Portland, Oregon, this summer, being gassed had been very unpleasant: leaving her coughing and making her eyes and nose run and sting.

"But this time, standing about 30 feet from the fence that was surrounding the downtown courthouse, Smith felt suddenly and violently worse than she ever had before. 'I didn’t know if I was going to puke or pass out,' she recalled recently. 'I was stumbling, trying to get away.' Smith, who is 28, was wearing goggles plus an N95 mask and thought that whatever was making her ill might have been trapped inside her mask. 'So I made a really bad instinctual decision to take it off,' she said. 'And instead of bringing relief, it instantly felt so much worse, like I was trapped in the air. It was overwhelming. I could not breathe.'

"Smith, like thousands of others in Portland, took to the streets in June to protest the suffocation and killing of #GeorgeFloyd by a police officer. By the beginning of July, the crowds had begun to thin somewhat. But after #Trump decided to send federal law enforcement to the city that month, the number of protesters surged and violence escalated. And according to interviews with more than a dozen people who attended the protests and research by the Portland-based #ChemicalWeapons Research Consortium, there was a marked shift in the use of chemical munitions on the crowds in the second half of July, as the federal agents released greater amounts and different types of smoke and gas onto crowds that seemed to set off severe and sometimes lasting health effects.

"The Portland Police Bureau began using tear gas on Black Lives Matters protesters almost as soon as they first assembled in late May. Mayor Ted Wheeler acknowledged that the city has used '#CSTearGas.' The commonly used formulation contains 2-chlorobenzalmalononitrile, a compound that was designed to induce immediate pain but can also have long-term effects, including chronic bronchitis. In early September, Wheeler ordered the police to stop using it. #TearGas is banned in war but can be used to disperse crowds of civilians.

After federal agents from the #DepartmentOfHomelandSecurity descended on Portland in July in a mission dubbed #OperationDiligentValor,' the use of chemical irritants to control, drive away, and confuse protesters and obscure the actions of law enforcement grew and intensified. Among the products that federal agents appear to have used during the #military-style #crackdown is a #hexachloroethane '#SmokeGrenade' manufactured by a company called #DefenseTechnology and sold as '#MaximumHCSmoke.' Volunteers for the Chemical Weapons Research Consortium collected 20 canisters from the protest area that are the size and shape of the smoke grenades, at least five of which still had Defense Technology labels on them. The group also analyzed the chemical residue on one of the recovered spent canisters and found it contained chemicals known to be released by the smoke grenades."

Read more:
https://theintercept.com/2020/10/10/portland-tear-gas-chemical-grenades-protests/

#DHS #KristiNoem #StopHR9495

A #former #USMarine found last fall trying to board an airplane at #Columbia Metropolitan #Airport with #SmokeGrenades & other #weapons has been #sentenced to a year in prison.
David Lee Angell, 51, was sentenced Friday by #USMagistrate Judge Paige Gossett after Angell #PleadedGuilty to one count of knowingly entering an airport in violation of #security requirements, according to court records. The offense is a #misdemeanor .

https://www.aol.com/ex-marine-caught-smoke-grenades-202108575.html