Newsom says Trump ‘deranged’ as more troops deployed to LA protests

President Donald Trump’s administration has sent thousands more troops to Los Angeles on a fourth day of chaotic protests against immigration raids, as the unrest spread to other US cities.

Some 700 US Marines have been deployed to the Los Angeles area and the contingent of National Guard troops mobilised to help quell the disorder has been doubled to 4,000.

California Governor Gavin Newsom said the move was fulfilling “the deranged fantasy of a dictatorial president”.

The state is suing the president for sending in troops without the governor’s permission. It is highly unusual for the American military to have any domestic law enforcement role.

It is the first time since 1965 that a president has sent National Guard troops to a US city without a governor’s approval.

US Marines were previously deployed domestically for major disasters such as Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the 11 September 2001 attacks.

But the Trump administration has so far not invoked the Insurrection Act, which would allow the troops to directly participate in civilian policing.

The 700 members of 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, from Twentynine Palms, California, will help protect federal property and personnel, including immigration agents, said the US military.

On Monday evening, Los Angeles police officers fired stun grenades and gas canisters to disperse hundreds of demonstrators who gathered outside a federal detention centre in downtown LA where undocumented immigrants have been held.

National Guard forces formed a cordon to keep protesters out of the building in the heart of America’s second largest city.

LAPD said late on Monday afternoon some demonstrators had thrown objects at officers.

Protests also sprang up in at least nine other US cities, including New York, Philadelphia, Dallas, Austin and San Francisco.

Demonstrators took to the streets of LA on Friday after it emerged Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers were raiding Latino areas.

The protests unravelled into looting, self-driving cars being torched, rocks thrown at law enforcement and a major freeway blocked by demonstrators.

LAPD say they arrested 29 people Saturday night and made 21 more arrests on Sunday.

Suspects face charges ranging from attempted murder with a Molotov cocktail and assault on a police officer to looting.

The LAPD also says more than 600 rubber bullets and other less-than-lethal rounds were used over the weekend.

At the White House on Monday, Trump said his decision to send in the National Guard had stopped the city from “burning down”.