Cities across US brace for protests as Marines prepare to deploy in LA

Cities across the United States were bracing for a new round of immigration protests Wednesday after the Los Angeles mayor imposed an overnight curfew downtown and Gov. Gavin Newsom of California blamed President Donald Trump for unrest that began with deportation raids last week.

The curfew brought quiet to downtown Los Angeles, where five days of protests over the federal immigration raids have occasionally turned violent, but tensions remained high after the US military announced that 700 Marines would join National Guard troops in the city Wednesday. A spokesperson for the US military's Northern Command said the Marines would help protect federal property and personnel, including immigration enforcement agents.

Even as his administration escalated the military response -- an exceedingly rare use of active-duty troops on domestic soil -- Trump suggested Tuesday that the protests in Los Angeles were petering out, and gave himself credit. "By doing what I did, I stopped the violence in LA," he said in the Oval Office.

The California governor hit back in a nationally televised address that appeared intended to be heard far beyond the state. Newsom, a Democrat, warned that Trump's deployment of nearly 5,000 National Guard and Marine troops to Los Angeles against state officials' advice was a "brazen abuse of power," and he warned of a "perilous moment" for American democracy.

"California may be first, but it clearly won't end here," Newsom said. "Other states are next. Democracy is next."

On Tuesday, the fifth day of unrest over the immigration raids, protests that began in Los Angeles grew in size and intensity across the country. Some demonstrators in downtown Chicago threw water bottles at police officers and vandalized at least two vehicles. In New York, officers made dozens of arrests near federal buildings in lower Manhattan, police said. In Atlanta, police used chemical agents and physical force to drive a few dozen protesters from their foothold on a highway.

More protests were planned in several cities Wednesday, including Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York, Minneapolis, San Antonio and Seattle. Some organizers said local demonstrations this week were a prelude to nationwide ones planned for Saturday against Trump and an unusual military parade in Washington, D.C..

Trump warned Tuesday that any demonstrators who assembled during the parade would "be met with very big force," without elaborating. A U.S. official later told The New York Times that discussions were taking place inside the Trump administration, including at the Pentagon, about deploying National Guard or active-duty troops to cities beyond Los Angeles.

Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas said late Tuesday that he would deploy National Guard troops across the state to maintain order, becoming the first US governor to do so since the unrest began.

Here's what else to know:

-- Arrests: Since protests began Friday in response to federal immigration raids in Los Angeles' garment district, hundreds of people have been arrested in several cities, including more than 330 in Los Angeles, more than 240 in San Francisco and a dozen in Austin, Texas, officials said. The encounters have turned tense at times, but the protests have remained largely confined to small sections of cities.

-- LA curfew: In Los Angeles, the downtown curfew imposed by Mayor Karen Bass was in effect until 6 a.m. It covers a complex of downtown federal buildings where protesters have clashed with police, and was expected to last for several days.

-- Immigration raids: Armed National Guard troops accompanied federal immigration enforcement officers on raids in Los Angeles on Tuesday, a move that the state of California has called unlawful and inflammatory.

-- Court hearing: A federal judge in California has set a hearing for Thursday on the state's request to limit Marines and National Guard troops to guarding federal buildings.

-- Parade optics: Several current and former Army officials said the military parade Saturday -- which will mark the Army's 250th anniversary and coincide with Trump's 79th birthday -- could risk appearing like a celebration of a crackdown on Americans exercising their right to peacefully assemble.