Mayor Eric Garcetti asks for National Guard amid violence in Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles mayor asked for the National Guard to be sent into the nation's second-largest city as crowds torched police cars and vandalized and burglarized stores while clashing with lines of officers.
Mayor Eric Garcetti said he asked Gov. Gavin Newsom for 500 to 700 members of the Guard.
A few hundred chanting demonstrators marched through San Francisco while northeast of San Diego police fired tear gas to try to break up a large group that defied orders to leave the La Mesa police headquarters.
RELATED: Large protests continue in Los Angeles in response to death of George Floyd
In Los Angeles, a mostly peaceful demonstration near the Grove, a popular outdoor mall in the middle of the city, devolved in the afternoon when protesters set several Police Department cars on fire, broke store windows and climbed on top of a bus.
Police used batons to move protesters back and shot rubber bullets to scatter the crowd.
The demonstration came hours after LAPD Chief Michel Moore said more resources would be employed to guard against violence.
"I am asking for all of Los Angeles to come together and find the ability to peacefully express individual and collective grievances while also maintaining the safety of all of Angelenos," he said.
Garcetti initially imposed a curfew on the downtown area, where hours of clashes occurred Friday night. But he quickly expanded it to the entirety of the nation's second-largest city as the violence focused on an area about 6 miles (9.6 kilometers) to the west.
Everyone was ordered to be off the streets from 8 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. Adjacent Beverly Hills and West Hollywood followed as demonstrations spread into those cities. Other cities in the county also began imposing curfews.
Social media video posts showed marchers chanting "Eat the rich" in Beverly Hills, where a crowd broke into a high-end boutique and fled with merchandise.
Gov. Gavin Newsom said authorities were closely monitoring organizing by violent extremist groups who may be trying to use the protests for their own agendas.
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"To those who seek to exploit Californians' pain to sow chaos and destruction, you are not welcome," he said. "Our state and nation must build from this moment united and more resolved than ever to address racism and its root causes."
In Oakland, 13 officers were injured late Friday as demonstrators hurled objects at them. A federal contract security officer was killed and another critically injured when a vehicle pulled up to the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building and someone opened fire.
RELATED: Curfew issued for all of Los Angeles as Mayor Garcetti urges protesters to stop the violence
The officers guard the U.S. courthouse as part of their regular duties and were monitoring the protest, Department of Homeland Security officials said.
It wasn't immediately known whether the shooter had anything to do with the protest.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein condemned the shooting, saying in a statement that fury over Floyd's death at the hands of Minneapolis police doesn't justify violence.
"Every effort must be taken to apprehend and prosecute those who use deadly violence," she said. "People must have the right to peacefully and safely protest in Oakland and across the country."
The death of the 46-year-old Floyd, who was recorded on video pleading for air as a white Minneapolis officer pressed a knee on his neck, has shocked the country and produced violence in numerous cities.
Police chiefs and police unions have called it unjustifiable and excessive force. The officer has been charged with murder.
The LAPD said 533 people were arrested between Friday night and early Saturday after ignoring repeated orders to disperse when authorities declared an unlawful assembly. They faced a range of charges, including burglary, battery on a police officer, attempted murder, probation violation and failure to disperse.
All but 18 were released on their recognizance.
Police had items thrown at them. Six LAPD officers sustained injuries ranging from lacerations to impact wounds. Demonstrators briefly shut down two freeways as they wound through downtown LA for the third night.
The situation deteriorated late into the night when windows were smashed, and some demonstrators stole items from jewelry stores, a Starbucks coffee shop and other businesses. A fire was set in an intersection, and at least two police vehicles were burned.
As the chaos unfolded, Garcetti said: "Let's remember why we march, protect each other and bring a peaceful end to a painful night."
In the San Francisco Bay Area, protests in Oakland and San Jose grew increasingly tense and confrontational as the night wore on.
Small fires were set inside a Walgreens and a Mercedes-Benz dealership on Oakland's auto row, where several cars were smashed and spray-painted with graffiti.
City officials said more than 70 businesses were vandalized. "This is not who we are," Mayor Libby Schaaf said in a videotaped statement Saturday. "We must fight the travesty of racism, but we must do it in a way that works. Let's not destroy or harm our own community."
In San Jose, a Santa Clara County Sheriff's deputy fired at an SUV that attempted to drive through a group of protesters, striking two of them while attempting to make a U-turn, the East Bay Times reported.
Police in both cities fired tear gas and flashbang grenades to break up unruly crowds.
Oakland police said in a preliminary report that at least 18 people were arrested and another 60 detained for investigation of stealing. In Sacramento, nine police officers sustained minor injuries at a protest that drew about 500 people.
In Bakersfield, police arrested a man they said drove recklessly through a crowd of protesters, striking a 15-year-old girl and causing minor injuries.
Officers monitoring the protest noticed that Michael Tran, 31, passed by the crowd several times and appeared to be talking to the protesters, possibly antagonizing them, police said. He was booked into jail for investigation of attempted murder.
Police said a number of protesters blocked a roadway, threw bottles and rocks at officers and vandalized a memorial dedicated to fallen officers.
Ten people were arrested for resisting and obstructing officers.
Associated Press reporter John Antczak in Los Angeles contributed to this report.