Los Angeles police arrested a 14-year-old boy Feb. 11 in connection with the stabbing of another teen at an immigration protest in downtown Los Angeles.
Detectives booked the juvenile on suspicion of attempted murder at about 4:45 p.m. Tuesday, according to the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD).
On Feb. 7, officers responded to reports of a possible stabbing at about 1:30 p.m. during a large immigration demonstration downtown.
When they arrived, they found a 17-year-old male with a stab wound, the LAPD reported.
Fire department paramedics took the victim to a hospital. He was listed in critical condition Wednesday, police reported.
Video from the scene showed a crowd tending to the victim, who was bleeding and on the ground. His shirt was stripped off.
The protest was one of several held recently in Los Angeles in response to President Donald Trump’s policies to curb illegal immigration. On Feb. 2, protesters closed the 101 freeway for hours in the downtown area.
The Feb. 7 event started at 11 a.m. and was organized by the Freedom Socialist Party, the United Front Working Group, the Community Self-Defense Coalition, and other organizations.
Multiple reports from the scene suggested the stabbing might have been unrelated to the protest, and instead prompted by a personal dispute between the two males.
Just before the stabbing, more than a dozen protesters appeared to chase and beat another man to the ground in front of City Hall. Video shared online showed the crowd punching and kicking the victim, but police did not report on that incident.
After the violent incidents, police declared the protest an unlawful assembly and ordered the remaining protesters to disperse, which they did.
Later, a group gathered on the Sixth Street Bridge, forcing a temporary closure of it until they moved on.
Officials from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have conducted enforcement operations in major cities and arrested hundreds of illegal immigrants who have a history of unlawful reentry into the country and have criminal records.
Since the ICE operations ramped up, several immigrant-rights organizations have filed lawsuits against the administration’s actions and instructed illegal immigrants to not open their doors to federal authorities unless they have a search warrant.
