Thousands of people rallied in downtown L.A. on Sunday, at times blocking the 101 Freeway, to protest the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration policies.
Crowds gathered at Olvera Street shortly before 11 a.m. and made their way to City Hall.
Demonstrators marched waving Mexican and Central American flags and chanting, “Si se puede!” and “El pueblo unido, jamas sera vencido!”
Many held up signs speaking out against deportations. “Protect people, not borders. Education, not deportation,” one sign read. Another: “Don’t bite the hands that feed you.”
Demonstrators descended on the 101 Freeway near the 110 interchange shortly after noon. The freeway was shut down for hours in both directions.
A citywide tactical alert was issued around 7 p.m., and LAPD officers were deployed to the area to help disperse the crowds, according to a spokesperson with the Los Angeles Police Department.
No arrests were made in connection to the protest as of 11 p.m., the spokesperson said.
President Trump has promised mass deportations unseen in American history. In his first days in office, he signed an executive order to revoke birthright citizenship and declared a national emergency at the southern border.
A day after, many continued their protest by refusing to go to school, work, or shopping to demonstrate what a “day without immigrants” in the U.S. would look like.
