DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES (KABC) — Demonstrators faced off with law enforcement in downtown Los Angeles on Friday night, demanding the release of a local nurse and activist taken into federal custody in San Pedro.
Los Angeles police said an unlawful assembly was declared due to the aggressive nature of a few demonstrators. Officers shut down the area around the federal detention center.
Alameda Street was shut down. Around 11 p.m. Friday, the handful of demonstrators who remained lined the bridge over the 101 Freeway.
The demonstration downtown began earlier Friday with supporters demanding the release of ICU nurse and Community Activist, Amanda Trebach.
Trebach was documenting the actions of immigration agents when she was taken into custody in San Pedro, but witnesses say she did nothing to provoke them.
Her aggressive arrest was captured on camera outside Terminal Island.
“She’s here making sure the community is safe, and for this to happen to her, it’s wrong. You should all know it’s wrong,” said her boyfriend, Ed.
Trebach was on a community patrol with Unión del Barrio outside the Terminal Island staging area for ICE. Witnesses say she was holding a sign when she was suddenly confronted by agents.
“They charged at her and she dropped the poster. The agents are claiming that she attacked them with that poster, and we know that that is not true,” said Cynthia Avina with Unión del Barrio. “They are making false claims to try to intimidate us, to try to stop us from doing the work that we’re doing.”
Unión del Barrio members rallied outside the federal detention center downtown, demanding Trebach’s immediate release.
Her arrest happened as federal agents continue to conduct raids across Southern California.
Many say the Department of Homeland Security’s actions are in violation of a temporary restraining order preventing federal agents from racial profiling. Several other local cities are now joining the county and city of Los Angeles in suing the federal government over the immigration raids across SoCal.
“We will defend the rights, dignity and safety of every resident in our communities, especially our immigrant neighbors,” said Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson. Long Beach is among the cities that joined the lawsuit.
There’s no word on what charges Trebach may be facing.
It’s also unclear how many people were arrested when LAPD cleared out the crowd around the federal detention center.
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