Hundreds of students gathered and marched from City Hall to the Los Angeles Metropolitan Detention Center on 535 North Alameda Street on February 5, around 12:30 p.m.
Despite record-setting hot weather, students pushed through and were given water and snacks by adult volunteers who went out to support the youth-organized actions.
Students were mainly on foot, with a few on bikes and scooters. A huge majority waved signs and shouted out now familiar chants: “ICE out of LA!”, “Chinga la migra!”, and “From Palestine to Mexico!”
Cars honked their horns and waved at the students, as the crowd grew louder and more confident.
At the intersection of Aliso and Alameda Streets, yellow caution tape was hanging from one side of the block all the way through Alameda. LAPD officers in full riot gear formed a skirmish line against the students. They were wearing helmets, and in possession of batons and less-lethal arms, while staring down the students.
The crowd of students grew quiet. Volunteers urged the students to keep marching down Aliso Street and to ignore the police. Several legacy MDC protestors, a Brown Beret, and a congressional candidate all condemned the police officers for prior restraint, a form of government censorship that prohibits speech or other expression before it can take place, rather than punishing it afterward, before the students ever had a chance to protest on the sidewalk of the detention center.
The students were peaceful, yet it seemed LAPD was anticipating violence. Several students then spray painted “Fuck ICE!” on the walls. A few others slapped stickers, and hit vapes. No one got into any altercations.
Kids continued to follow a large truck bed towards Little Tokyo. The truck was occupied by several students who stopped the march and gave their speeches. The kids spoke not only about their experiences being the children of immigrants, but also of their dreams.
They spoke of who they wanted to become, forever grateful for their parents’ sacrifice, as they are currently being criminalized. White students also spoke out in support of their Brown friends, and highlighted their disdain at the onslaught of increased racial profiling.
During the speeches, many adults from surrounding businesses in Little Tokyo smiled and recorded the scene. A smaller few criticized the students under their breath. I would later find out that at some point among the mass of students, a young Black teenager would be arrested for graffiti.
After the speeches, the truck began blaring music, and the kids continued to march back towards City Hall.
The march continued and stopped at City Hall Park, where protestors continued to speak about immigrant rights as well as touching on the ongoing genocide in Palestine. The kids continued to march on to City Hall, where the truck bed organizers asked the students to occupy the steps there and continue to elevate the voices of those who prepared speeches. Suddenly, five to six police officers rushed out to chase someone.
The adult chaperones of the students soon rushed out themselves, yelling and insulting the LAPD. They asked the police why they were interrupting the children’s speeches. LAPD wasn’t there for long, but this wouldn’t be the end of their presence.
The students continued their speeches, and shortly thereafter, called an end to the demonstration. Roughly 100 students marched towards the Detention Center on their own, followed by a few volunteers. LAPD continued blocking Alameda Street from Aliso Street to Temple Street, and had a barricade of officers on motorbikes on 1st Street.
The students chanted, waved flags, and vocalized their disdain towards LAPD for barricading the street before they ever got the chance to protest at the center. Several adults were lined up in the very front, close to the building, just behind yellow tape. The temperature dropped, becoming more bearable.
Although there were fewer students, the anger remained the same. It was about 2:18 p.m.
A short female officer started recording the minors as they protested. The kids at this point had remained peaceful. Nothing was thrown, and nothing harmful was directed at the officers.
Not too long into the protest, LAPD had moved their skirmish line forward, calling out to the crowd to disperse. It was hard to hear, hard to make out unless you paid close attention.
More reinforcements arrived, and by this time it was 2:45 p.m. Batons and helmets were out. So was a drone and helicopter.
The crowd was small, with roughly only 100 students and 20 or so adults. The line of scrimmage moved forward, and LAPD prepared to rush out into the crowd. More experienced adult protestors called it.
At 2:51 p.m., several LAPD officers pulled in from Aliso Street to confront the protestors on their motorcycles and began yelling at the crowd to leave. Students and adults approached the vehicles and waved their flags and signs. Eventually, the motorcycles drove out, almost hitting press as well as those surrounding.
More officers lifted the yellow tape and rushed out into the crowd.
Panic ensued, kids began yelling and adults were screaming, “They’re just kids!”
A younger woman rushed to the very front of the line the police had formed, lifted her hands, and in a strained voice told the officers, “These are children! You guys, I’m a teacher! Please!”
Many adults made their way to the front, with some of the high schoolers, who felt more brazen, also joining in. Roughly one third of the students ran down Aliso Street, and several adults asked the students to go somewhere safer. However, many stayed behind.
The officers eventually made their way back to Alameda Street on Aliso Street to their original post and put their yellow tape back up. This would not be their last charge at the protestors.
The kids had grown angrier, more emotional. Adults spoke to the kids and asked them to stay behind them in the event of tear gas canisters or rubber bullets being fired. Some of the students walked towards the back; some stayed.
At some point a student interacted with police and had a simple request: “Raise your hand if you don’t fuck with ICE!”
The officers did not respond.
At 3:24 p.m., an LAPD officer chased down a male high school student who looked no older than 15. Another LAPD officer threw a young girl onto the ground just as the LAPD officer who was chasing the young male fell to the floor.
On the other skirmish line, which had formed on 1st Street, an officer rushed at a male student, grabbed him, and threw him up against the fence just before hurling him to the ground to handcuff him.
Another officer, whom L.A. TACO identified as Officer Maravilla, told another student, “go back to school, you can’t even talk right.”
Thanks to photographer Eric Landberg, L.A. TACO also identified that two ICE agents were seen at the original LAPD post on Alameda, lounging around with LAPD.
Earlier that day, around 1:14 p.m., an ICE vehicle collided into a veteran. He was subsequently arrested after he smashed the vehicle with his cane. We saw the two ICE agents interact at some point with another officer. One of them wore a shirt reminiscent of a far right movement, the Boogaloo Boys.
L.A. TACO also later reached out to a protester on Aliso Street who was bleeding from the lip. He shared a video of an officer aiming a baton at his head that would bump his megaphone against his lip, causing it to split.
As LAPD formed another skirmish line and began to head back to the detention center, a group of protestors who have been at the Metropolitan Detention Center nearly every day captured the sentiment felt by many there: “We just want this to stop.”
