LOS ANGELES—A large group of people protesting President Donald Trump’s illegal immigration policies blocked traffic on the 101 Freeway, and clashed with law enforcement in downtown Los Angeles Sunday.
The protesters gathered Sunday morning on Olvera Street for what the Los Angeles Police Department called a non-permitted demonstration. The crowd grew to a few thousand people who marched to City Hall, before many walked onto the freeway near the Alameda Street exit.
Footage from the scene showed more than a thousand boisterous protesters walking on both sides of the freeway shortly after noon, many carrying U.S. or Mexico flags or signs assailing ICE.
The LAPD, which earlier called the demonstration peaceful, reported at 1 p.m. that Spring Street, Main Street, Los Angeles Street, Arcadia Street, and the 101 Freeway were are under major gridlock.
Police briefly opened opened the freeway in both directions around 1:20 p.m. when the demonstration had moved back onto surface streets. However, protesters managed to get back on the freeway, leading to another shut down.
The department added that Arcadia, Aliso, Main and Spring streets remained impacted.
“Please avoid the 101 freeway in DTLA between I-110 and Mission Road, as we work to remove a protest from the freeway,” the California Highway Patrol tweeted in a post on X at 1:50 p.m. “Accessing state highways or roads to protest is unlawful and extremely dangerous because it puts protesters, motorists and first-responders at great risk of injury.”
Video posted later showed a few demonstrators spraying graffiti on the freeway walls and appearing to vandalize at least one car that was stopped in the middle of the crowd.
The 101 Freeway was shut down between the 110 Freeway and Alameda Street, as police posted another update saying protesters had once again left the freeway.
“Demonstrators have exited the 101 freeway,” the LAPD posted at 3:52 p.m. that Aliso and Main Street had lanes blocked with vehicles and people standing on the roadway. Demonstrators were also forming at the steps of City Hall.
No arrests were reported as of 4 p.m.
The protesters managed to make it back onto the freeway a second time and videos from the scene showed clashes with police blocking their paths.
Downtown Los Angeles was already experiencing traffic delays in the area around Crypto.com Arena, where some streets were closed for Sunday’s Grammy Awards.
The protests halted DASH services on Route B, detouring buses from stops on Temple, Spring, Main, Alameda, Los Angeles and Ord streets. The nearest alternative stops were at the intersections of Broadway and Alpine Street, and Temple and Hill streets.
Since his inauguration on Jan. 20, Trump has followed through on his campaign promise to dramatically boost deportation of illegal immigrants, with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement carrying out raids in major cities.
