A group of protesters clashed with federal officers in front of Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown LA, prompting the Los Angeles Police Department to issue a citywide tactical alert and make arrests.
Crowds of people initially gathered in downtown LA as part of a nationwide day of action seeking to stop funding for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
While most of the demonstrators peacefully gathered outside Los Angeles City Hall and the adjacent Grand Park, a separate group began marching toward the Metropolitan Detention Center and federal officers.
NewsChopper4 was overhead when some projectiles being thrown toward the building and police spraying what appeared to be pepper spray at protesters from inside the building while creating a makeshift barricade using wooden skids from a loading-dock area.
The LAPD also said federal authorities were “taking debris, bottles and other objects,” which prompted the police department to issue a tactical alert, followed by a dispersal order.
“Federal Authorities have declared an Unlawful Assembly at the Detention Center, and they have deployed pepper balls and tear gas,” the LAPD told NBC Los Angeles, blaming “violent agitators.”
Another group of protesters was also seen blocking an LA Metro bus in the same area. At least four buses were came to a full stop near Spring Street between Temple and 1st Street off the 101 Freeway.
Metro officials took to social media to alert riders that some buses would take detours due to the protest.
The LAPD said arrests were made without specifying how many people were taken into custody, but the department noted at least one suspect used a sling shot to throw “hard metal objects” at LAPD officers.
LA Mayor Karen Bass said Friday evening that at least five people were arrested for failure to disperse. She also said she had not heard of any damage to city properties and injuries.
⚠️Community Advisory⚠️
Officers have arrested a suspect who was allegedly using a sling shot to shoot hard metal objects at officers who were standing on the line.
— LAPD Central Division (@LAPDCentral) January 31, 2026
Bass also condemned the violent protesters while urging people to exercise their right without giving the Trump administration “an excuse to escalate.”
“I think the protest are extremely important, but it is equally important for these protests to be peaceful, for vandalism not to take place. That just hurts the city.”
Bass also responding to unrests puts more strain on the Los Angeles Police Department as it is already struggling with overtime costs.
“We are strapped in terms of the hiring and the number of officers we have,” the mayor said. “This just puts an incredible burden on our city.”
She suspected the arrest of journalist Don Lemon may have attracted more “outraged” protesters.
Meanwhile, some of the people from the peaceful crowd in front of LA City Hall told NBCLA they left work or school to be part of the event.
“They ask me, ‘What can we do? What can we do for our community?” said Luz Maria Cruz. “And, that’s why we are here today. That’s why I brought my little girls, so they can stand up for the community, so they know where we came from.”
Video from the scene showed deputies standing guard behind razor wire surrounding the Hall of Justice, home to Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department offices.
Additional protests were planned Friday afternoon outside Burbank City Hall, at Abbott Kinney and Venice boulevards in Venice and at the intersection of Valencia Boulevard and McBean Parkway in Santa Clarita. In Orange County, an afternoon rally was scheduled at the intersection of Camino Capistrano and Del Obispo Street in San Juan Capistrano.
The protests come as immigration enforcement operations continue in Los Angeles and Minnesota, where Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino was swapped out this week for Trump administration border czar Tom Homan to lead the now months-long operation. Federal agents in Minneapolis have shot and killed two people — Renee Good and Alex Pretti, 37-year-old U.S. citizens — during enforcement actions in the city.
Pretti, an intensive care nurse who worked with injured veterans, was shot multiple times after using his phone Jan. 24 to record Border Patrol officers. Good was fatally shot behind the wheel of her vehicle Jan. 7 by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer.
About 3,000 federal immigration agents were sent to the Twin Cities over the past two months as part of Operation Metro Surge.
In Washington, D.C, Democrats struck a rare deal with President Trump to separate funding for the Department of Homeland Security from a broad government spending bill and provide money for that agency for two weeks while Congress debates limits on enforcement operation tactics.
Some schools in Arizona, Colorado and other states preemptively canceled classes in anticipation of mass absences connected to Friday’s day of action.
In Minneapolis, where temperatures were in the single-digits, hundreds gathered in the cold early Friday at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building. The location has been the site of daily protests over the past few weeks.