![\"LAPD](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775952926_245_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nA protest in downtown Los Angeles against the ongoing actions of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement grew heated Saturday afternoon, with police declaring an unlawful assembly.<\/p>\n
A few dozen anti-ICE protesters had gathered around noon and began adorning the fence surrounding the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown L.A. with silicone phalli of all colors \u2014 pink, purple and human skin-colored.<\/p>\n
As the toys piled up outside the facility, a small group of protesters spilled onto Alameda Street, between Aliso and Temple streets. They carried signs reading \u201cDetention centers are concentration camps\u201d and \u201cNo ICE.\u201d<\/p>\n
Protests in L.A. and elsewhere in the U.S., driven by outrage over intensified federal immigration enforcement, have been inflamed in recent months by the fatal shootings of two protesters and the aggressive tactics used by federal agents in Minneapolis earlier this year.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
LAPD officers take a demonstrator into custody following a protest against ICE at the Metropolitan Detention Center.<\/p>\n
(Allen J. Schaben \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n
Four L.A. Police Department vehicles pulled up to the protest at about 12:40 p.m. and told demonstrators to move out of the way of passing cars.<\/p>\n
\u201cStay out of the street. You will not block traffic today,\u201d an officer said through a megaphone. <\/p>\n
Several protesters confronted law enforcement officers, who wore riot gear, before moving back to the sidewalk in front of the detention center. <\/p>\n
Officers moved their vehicles back but approached protesters on the sidewalk on foot, where the confrontation continued.<\/p>\n
At around 3:30 p.m., the LAPD issued an alert saying it had declared an unlawful assembly in the area \u201c[d]ue to acts of criminal behavior by multiple agitators\u201d and had made arrests.<\/p>\n
LAPD Lt. Bruce Coss said the protest was not permitted and that at about 2:30 p.m., protesters were \u201cobstructing the street\u201d and \u201cstopping cars,\u201d prompting police to declare an unlawful assembly and evacuate the area.<\/p>\n
Five people were arrested for failing to disperse, Coss said.<\/p>\n
By about 4 p.m., the street was clear with a few dozen people still in the area, Coss said, who he described as \u201cmostly media.\u201d<\/p>\n
Saturday\u2019s protests come weeks after the March 28 \u201cNo Kings<\/a>\u201d rally that saw thousands of demonstrators pack downtown. Police made several arrests later that evening after protesters converged outside the Metropolitan Detention Center. <\/p>\n