Storming Heaven
Last weekend, the masses of LA stormed heaven. They stood up to demand a stop to the mass deportations, and showed the people of the world that LA will not stand by while our people are being rounded up and deported. The rebels, mostly Black and Latino youth, battled for hours, persevering despite the hails of rubber bullets, flash bang grenades lighting up the sky, billowing clouds of tear gas, armored personnel carriers filled with riot police, militarized Feds, the National Guard, and now the Marines. This first Dispatch features stories from the Battle of LA, both from the protestors on the ground and the machinations among the government forces arrayed against them.
THE SPARK THAT LIT A WILDFIRE
Donald Trump sent his federal agents, from ICE, HSI, CBP, FBI, ATF, and more to the streets of LA and across the country. On Friday June 6th, they stormed areas where jornaleros (day laborers) gathered to find jobs, like Home Depot parking lots and the Fashion District. They chased migrants down, brutalized them, arrested them, and transported them to the Federal Building in Downtown LA to await deportation.
Soon, sightings went viral on social media, prompting masses of people to show up to stand with the immigrants. Many were just spectating and recording but some actually confronted ICE. Leftists called an emergency protest that drew about a thousand people, who quickly spilled out and clashed with police. The Leftist organizers abandoned the protestors once the cops declared an unlawful assembly. Dozens of youth stood off with the Feds all night despite being outnumbered by the Feds. Throughout the night, Dare to Struggle stood with the rebellious youth on the front lines, who sent a platoon of LAPD officers and a troop of Feds packing, and obstructed the path of Federal vehicles.
THE FLAMES SPREAD
The feds broadened their assault on migrants to outlying cities like Paramount and Fontana. They were met with even more militant resistance on the streets, with rebels in Paramount setting up barricades made of shopping carts and throwing projectiles at cops. Brave youths persevered amidst dense clouds of tear gas.
Protestors even went on the freeway to physically block a US Marshal’s bus sent to reinforce the pig troops. Protestors took the megaphone to confront the cops to their face and shame them for standing with ICE against the people. Dare to Struggle stood with them that day, facing a maze of police lines that turned Paramount into a field of battle. The protests spread to Compton, where rebels burned a car.
As the struggle intensified with no end in sight, Donald Trump announced the federal government was seizing control of the California National Guard, and deploying them to occupy the streets of Los Angeles. The Battle of LA began its next phase.
THE FREEWAY TAKEOVER
Protests began early morning on Sunday, with residents outraged at sights of soldiers clogging the streets of LA. After crowds were pushed back, they bravely occupied the 101 Freeway Southbound, paralyzing traffic. Protestors were determined that no business as usual could continue while the government is tearing apart families.
Gavin Newsom’s California Highway Patrol (CHP) took over the other side of the freeway to prevent protestors from spilling over. They were met by a hail of projectiles from protestors arrayed on the overpasses, determined to defend the freeway occupation. A shower of gasoline even set a police car ablaze. Despite their valiant efforts, CHP dispersed the protest around 5 pm, making mass arrests.
LAPD DECLARES WAR ON THE PROTESTORS
Around 500 protestors gathered at the Federal Building in the early afternoon. They were met by dozens of mounted LAPD riot police armed with riot guns, shields, flash bangs, and tear gas. After getting pushed back a block, protestors formed a thin barricade made out of traffic signs. The rebels were showered with rubber bullets, sustaining many injuries. The air was filled with the screams of the wounded, the chants of the protestors, the blasts of flash bangs, and the ominous clang of rubber bullet casings. LAPD had turned Downtown LA into a warzone.
False rumors of imminent mass arrests spread throughout the crowd. Hundreds ran away from nonexistent cops. The now-isolated the rebels at the front line retreated a block, and LAPD followed. What followed was the standoff we’re calling the Battle for City Hall.
THE BATTLE FOR CITY HALL
We linked up with the courageous protestors who reinforced their barricade and prepared to advance on the riot police. The rebels advanced foot by foot amid hailstorms of rubber bullets that injured many protestors and eventually halted our advance. Calls for reinforcements and more barricades were answered by crowds that doubled our numbers on the frontline and reinforced the defenses. With a solid line and high spirits, the rebels resumed their advance, with rubber bullets bouncing harmlessly off the barricades and flash bangs exploding ineffectually.
After a few rebels started firing fireworks at the police, they fired back with canisters of teargas. Despite courageous efforts to throw them back, the front line shattered, and the rebels retreated. hundreds of protestors gathered by 1st and spring, while a dozen rebels faced off with riot police without any barricade or protection, putting their bodies on the line to protect the crowd from the pigs.
BURN, BABY, BURN!
As flash bang grenades raged and teargas descended the hill, protestors burned several American flags to show their disgust at this country that rains death and terror on the people of the world. This action got attention from right-wing grifters like Libs of TikTok and made Fox News LA and the NYPost. Trump even said that flag burners should spend a year in prison, despite this action’s status as a first amendment protected activity.
As the cops advanced towards the crowd, protestors marched off quickly. Despite Karen Bass and other lying politicians’ assurances that the LAPD “had the situation totally under control”, major parts of downtown seemed totally abandoned by the police and taken over by protestors. Dense graffiti adorned storefronts. LAPD counts the arrests at 50, a mere fraction of the countless acts of mass sabotage and resistance, let alone the thousands of protestors. It seemed the youth had won the battle, for now.
THE AFTERMATH
On Monday June 9th, it turned out that the Federal Building was closed, no longer holding detained immigrants. This was clearly a response to the pressure of militant protests, which struck an important blow against this key pillar of the mass deportation machine in Los Angeles. Without functioning facilities to detain migrants, mass deportations are impossible.
Right-wing media spun a narrative of unruly crowds of “anarchists”, likely outside agitators, battling police and committing violence for the sake of violence. They correctly charged that Downtown LA was out of the control of the LAPD and the liberal politicians who they serve.
Politicians like Karen Bass and Gavin Newsom put aside their different approaches in how to use police to brutalize the homeless in order to stand fast against protestors and more effectively defend ICE. They made a war room to plot the battle (apparently these are some pretty amateurish generals!) They defended themselves against right-wing attacks, laughably claiming that they “had the situation under control” and that the national guard was “unnecessary”. They somehow tried to position themselves against the deportations and against Trump even while sending pigs to shoot anybody with the audacity to criticize ICE to their face.
WHERE’S THE LEFT
The force of events almost instantly made the Left completely irrelevant to the battle being fought on the ground. Organized Leftist forces were nowhere to be found in any of these clashes. When they realized their yellow-vested peace police were unable to contain the crowds, they gave up and went home even as the youth were undeterred. After the weekend’s shameful performance, they somehow tried to concoct a narrative that they had something to do with the Battle of LA, even though they deserted on the field.
The Republicans have shown their face as brutal wannabe dictators willing to militarily occupy the streets just to break apart families, snatch working fathers from their babies, abduct children from schools, invade houses of worship, and nab immigrants trying to “do the right thing” and show up to their court dates. Their vile racism, xenophobia and hatred of anyone who dares to resist the boot of repression has been laid bare for all to see.
The Democrats have shown themselves to be willing and eager accomplices to the mass deportation machine, fielding thousands of militarized riot police to protest ICE raids and deportation infrastructure. In major cities across the country, they have answered largely peaceful protests with beatings, hails of rubber bullets, explosions of flash bang grenades lighting up the sky, thick fronts of tear gas, the trample of hooves, and the zipties of mass arrests.
The Left has shown their complete irrelevance to the movement against ICE. Events have made it impossible for most Leftist organizations to openly side with the brutally repressive Democrats who prop up the nonprofits and advocacy groups as a “peaceful” alternative to mass rebellion. Instead, Leftists have tried their best to dis-organize and mis-lead the movement back into the confines of the systems.
In Dare to Struggle we say: It is right to rebel!
The youth on the front lines have sent a signal the ruling class that you can’t terrorize neighborhoods and abduct people’s loved ones without a fight. The fires of LA are now national news, and there’s a unique opportunity for people in Southern California to step up and fan the flames. Join Dare to Struggle for an audacious week of political work among the people. We will call on the national guard to resist unjust orders, and we’ll challenge the rebel youth to turn up the heat and get organized with us.
If you’re ready to step it up, you need to come to our Dare to Struggle National Conference this weekend, June 13-15. We have dozens of activists coming from across the country to learn from each others’ struggles and strategize how to combat police brutality, displacement, deportations, and patriarchy. We’ll have workshops teaching skills for mass organizing. And we’ll have outings to stand with the rebel youth leading up to a mass protest on Sunday June 15th. If you’re ready to stop spectating and start making history, or if you’re already on the front lines and ready to join an organized fighting force for change, join Dare to Struggle and register for our national conference.
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