A curfew has been declared by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass for a one-square-mile area of downtown,amidst ongoing protests against President Donald Trump’s intensified immigration enforcement. The restrictions will be in place from 8pm Tuesday to 6am Wednesday (03:00 GMT to 13:00 GMT Wednesday), according to the mayor.

“Many businesses have now been affected or vandalised. Last night, there were 23 businesses that were looted, and I think if you drive through downtown LA, the graffiti is everywhere and has caused important damages to businesses and a number of properties,” said Bass during a press conference.

“So my message to you is: If you do not live or work in downtown LA, avoid the area. Law enforcement will arrest individuals who break the curfew and you will be prosecuted.”

Mayor Bass anticipates the curfew could extend for several days.She emphasized that the order is limited to a small portion of the city, which spans 502 square miles (1,300sq km).

“I think it is indeed critically important to point this out, not to minimise the vandalism and violence that has taken place there – it has been significant – as it is extremely important to no that what is happening in this 1 square mile is not affecting the city,” bass stated. “Some of the imagery of the protests and the violence gives the appearance that this is a city-wide crisis,and it is not.”

The mayor’s proclamation follows five consecutive nights of protests in Los Angeles against the Trump administration’s raids targeting suspected undocumented migrants. Demonstrations have also spread to other major US cities, including New York, Chicago, and Atlanta.

California officials have strongly condemned President Trump’s immigration policies and the deployment of the National Guard and marines, accusing him of overstepping his authority and exacerbating tensions.

california Officials Denounce Trump’s Actions

“That’s just weakness – weakness masquerading as strength. Donald Trump’s government isn’t protecting our communities, they’re traumatising communities, and that seems to be the entire point.”

In a televised address, California Governor Gavin Newsom criticized President Trump’s use of military force as a “brazen abuse of power.”

“That’s when the downward spiral began. He doubled down on his dangerous National Guard deployment by fanning the flames even harder, and the president – he did it on purpose,” Newsom stated.

Newsom, who has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration’s troop deployment, asserted that the president had initiated a “military dragnet” targeting “dishwashers, gardeners, day labourers and seamstresses” rather of focusing on violent criminals.

“California will keep fighting,” Newsom vowed. “If some of us can be snatched off the streets without a warrant, based only on suspicion or skin color, then none of us are safe.” He added, “Authoritarian regimes begin by targeting people who are least able to defend themselves. But they do not stop there.”

Al Jazeera’s Teresa Bo, reporting from a vigil in Los Angeles, noted that protesters are disputing the Trump administration’s claim that the raids are targeting violent criminals.

“Many of the people we have spoken to here say that they are wrong – that they are working people who have come to this contry to find a better life,” Bo reported.

“That’s why most of the people who are here are extremely angry, and they are demanding an end to the raids.”

Bo added that activists emphasized the importance of maintaining peaceful demonstrations. “They say that the main reason they need to be peaceful is because violence gives Donald trump an excuse to use the military, to the use National Guard on the streets of Los Angeles.”

Earlier on Tuesday,President Trump defended his decision to mobilize troops against protesters,despite growing criticism. “Generations of army heroes did not shed their blood on distant shores only to watch our country be destroyed by invasion and third-world lawlessness here at home, like is happening in California,” Trump told US Army soldiers during a visit to Fort Bragg in North Carolina. “As commander-in-chief, I will not let that happen. its never going to happen.”