June 8, 2025 • 40 mins
The air is charged with energy as protesters passionately chant, "ICE out of L.A.!" Their voices resonate through the streets, demanding change and justice for their community.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to KFI AM six on demand.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
It was live and ongoing coverage of the protests of
the ice raids happening across southern California. Pasadena has put
out a statement as well, a City of Pasadena that said, hey,
be cool, everybody. They they said, we're hearing that there
may be gathering taking place within the city and the
(00:24):
police department is monitoring the situation. The city says, remain peaceful,
law abiding, nonviolent, protest powerful tool. At this time, the
city is not aware of any federal law enforcement action
in the city, including those regarding immigrations. So Pasadena is saying,
if you want to if you want to protest, keep
it peaceful, that's cool. We're all We're all down with that.
In fact, that seems to be the message we're hearing
all over the place. If you want to protest, that's cool,
(00:47):
just keep your head about you. In fact, Peggy Lemons
is the mayor of Paramount, and she was talking with
Jim Shudo from CNN. She said, we want them to
know their rights, and we want them to be safe.
We don't want them to engage in any negative way
that could mean imminent harm to them. The mayor, adding
that as far as she knew, National Guard soldiers have
not been sent to Paramount. She said she was unaware
(01:09):
of any coordination between the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, which
Paramount contracts for policing, and any federal law enforcement. She
continued to say, it's not a scene that we want
to see repeated here in our town, talking about the
National Guard being deployed, and I don't think it has
a calming effect. I think it has just the opposite effect.
(01:31):
Michael Monks has been covering the simmering protest. I'm gonna
call it a simmering protest, Michael at the Federal Building
of Alameda. Is that a fair right? Now?
Speaker 3 (01:41):
The National Guard is now pushing this protest into the street.
Let me get over here. So there's some smoke. I
don't know who's thrown that, but this screed this, But
there are protesters being pushed right now. I am mere
feet from these soldiers pushing these guys masked men California.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Oh, oh, are you okay? Yeah? I don't know what
that was. I got a little whiff of that. Oh,
water bottles now being thrown at the National Guard.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
We are all in the middle of Alameda Street. At
this point, this was just a rowdy, loud protest on
the sidewalk that was starting to spill into the street.
But I don't know what triggered the National Guard to
start to push the protesters out. We talked a Chris
(02:32):
You and I just moments ago that this protest was
on the side the National Guard was in the parking
lot area. If that parking lot would have been penetrated
by protesters, that's an invitation for this. Whether that's what happened,
I'm not sure. The National Guard has stopped their forward
progress at this point, but shields are still up. A
(02:53):
firmish line is expanding into the street. But there is
now a test in the middle of Alameda. Obviously, traffic
completely disrupted, and there is no sign of LAPD officers
on the ground, though one of their helicopters is hovering
from above.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
All right, Michael Monks is lined at the Federal building
off Alameda. As he said, if you're traveling, just avoid
that whole area altogether. We also talked earlier and Michael
said that if things do spill off into the street,
then it becomes a jurisdictional issue and that we're into
lapd area, which is why he made mention of whether
or not he could see any police officers to reiterate
(03:35):
national Guard had pushed people away. We don't know exactly
what the impetus was for them taking motion and moving
people away, but it's spilled off into the street. And
then I gotta tell you, I jumped in my seat
because we heard that that canister explode right near Michael
Monks just a moment ago. And then you heard Michael
coughing afterward, Michael, if you had a chance to.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Now they're trying to push back the National Guard. The
National Guard is now moving back towards that parking lot area,
and a lot of shouting from this crowd and some substances.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
In the air.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
It's a little disgusting. I don't I don't think it's
too harmful. But these protesters are in Bolden. Now this
is the type of catalyst that will escalate this situation greatly.
There's supposed to be a protest at two o'clock. We
talked moments ago.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
What does that mean.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Does that mean some folks will stop here first and
head over there or does this thing just get bigger?
Speaker 2 (04:33):
And now that they've had this. Excuse me, now that
we've had.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
This take place, there is reason for folks to stay
because they might want more. Both sides seem to want
this type of imagery.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Yeah, that's a great point. The imagery seems to be
seems to be the point of all of this to
that extent. Are you seeing other media in that area?
I'm assuming that everybody's gonna.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Yeah, there's a lot of us dipsticks with my microphones
and cameras running around throughout this whole thing. But there's
probably about three hundred protesters, about one hundred National guardsmen.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
And these shields are up.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
And again, I don't know what prompted that action, but
now the National Guard has relocated to.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
A different side of the sidewalk.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
They're not across the street, they're on the same side
of the street, but they have moved over and have
felt the need to offer more defense to this building.
Shields up, sticks ready, helmets down. And that was quite
quite a violent action there, pushing folks into the streets.
So not sure what provoked it.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
So are you feeling now, Michael Munks, who's live at
the Federal building off Alameda, are you feeling now like
we've sort of returned to this point where it's simply
shouting or.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
Have they're the common chance. They've preturned whose streets are streets?
They've been playing the hits all afternoon.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
No Justice, no Peace. I haven't heard of c but
I'm sure that's coming. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
Right now, it's a lot of media in the front
trying to get great shots. I mean, it is an image,
you know, this is the image you want in the
press because it's the It's the soldiers with their shields up.
They California National Guard emblazoned across the very strong plastic. Okay,
now we're starting to get here. They come here, they
come again. Here come the National Guard, moving us again,
moving us again. They are moving people into the street.
(06:27):
Sirens now going. Not sure what agency this is pulling up,
but there is a series of law enforcement Okay, now
we can see these.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
There are law enforcement.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Vehicles that are going into the building.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Michael mnk's trying to gather himself. You're hearing this revving.
Michael is yes, please, Federal law enforsement vehicles are pulling
in to the garage. All right. I think we just
lost that connection. I'm not sure what the reck. I'm
(07:12):
not sure what the revving of the engine was. We're
gonna try to get Michael Monks back on it sounds
like there is more happening. As he mentioned, you heard
the sirens in the background. He wasn't sure which agency
that was. He was trying to get a vantage point
of that. We heard this revving sound and don't know
if that was a protester revving a vehicle on Alameda
or if that was part of the vehicles and a
sign of show from some of the law enforcement. We're
(07:34):
not sure. But suddenly we heard Michael begin coughing, and
then we sadly lost that connection. So we'll try to
get that back just as soon as we possibly can.
Michael Monks is at the Federal building off Alameda, near
the detention center there. What had started off as some
yelling and protests earlier this morning into just afternoon has
(07:56):
now grown. It started about noon ish one hundred people.
Every time we kept checking back with Michael, it seemed
like things that about doubled. So let's say we've got two, three,
maybe four hundred people there now. And as he made
mention too, the National Guard began pushing formation and then
pushing the people eventually into Elamita Street, and then it
(08:19):
seemed like things sort of reversed back and they took
their positions. People began chancing again, they began yelling again.
As he made mention, it was no justice, no peace,
and a lot of the greatest hits for protests were
coming out. And then suddenly action all hell just seemed
to break loose, and we heard Michael begin coughing. We
(08:40):
heard this revving of the engine, we heard the sirens,
and we lost that connection with Michael Monks, who is
live there, all right, So I'm just not there, guys,
I'm just not there. I mean, the best I can
do here is try to anchor this and as soon
as I have the information, I will. We do know
that there were rubber bullets used yesterday at some of
(09:01):
the other protests. Didn't happen downtown. We saw a lot
of stuff in Paramount and then that spilled over into Compton.
But right now, the center of the action sure seems
to be near that Federal building right there off Alameda,
And as he made mention too, at one point that
street was pretty well shut down by protesters. One person
decided to park a minivan and get out a grill
(09:24):
and start grilling like they're doing a tailgate for this thing.
They were ushered along eventually. But it also looks like
I'm just taking a look at the map here and
we'll get a check on traffic in just a moment.
It looks like we've got a number of a number
of roads here that I'm just gonna go ahead and
say they're not even allowing people in that area. Is
Michael back, No, he's trying to get back on here.
(09:47):
I know he's sending me a message right now, so
he's trying to reconnect as quickly as he can. So
we'll try to get Michael back. Let's do a break here, Robin,
and then we'll try to get Michael back. He's there's
an awful lot happening right at this very moment.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
The heavily armed National Guard soldiers downtown. Michael Monks is there,
and Michael, we heard all kinds of chaos and then
we lost your signal. And now Michael Munks joins us
via phone. Are you okay, my friend?
Speaker 4 (10:15):
I got a little tear gassy, definitely burning in the
eyes choking a little bit, but I think it cleared
up pretty fast. But all of us got to your gas.
I mean, we were back over in a media huddle,
all of us just sympathizing with one another about getting
caught up in the middle of this and temporarily blinded
and choking. But I don't know if you heard me.
(10:36):
A ton a parade of federal news vehicles were federal
news vehicles, federal law enforcement vehicles were making their way
down Alameda and pulling into the loading dock garage, and
that maybe that was certainly what moved the protesters into
the street by force of the National Guard at that moment.
(10:57):
It may have been what triggered the first one as well,
as they were preparing to let these vehicles make their
way in. But there were about twenty to thirty different
federal vehicles that made their way down Alameda, and that
was preceded by the California National Guard pushing the protesters
into the middle of the street and out of the way.
(11:18):
That irritated the protesters, and then tear gas started being
to school deployed, some blast bangs. It's still in the air,
but the protesters are now back in the middle of
Alameda Street, and the California National Guard is back at
their skirmish line in the parking lot of the loading
ducks of the Edward R. Roybalt Center and Federal Building. Again,
(11:40):
this has been a location of multiple protests over the
past few days because it's believed some of the DTEs
captured by ICE immigration enforcement efforts are being housed here
in the jail next to it.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
All right, So Michael Monks is live there, and Michael,
God bless you for dealing with the tear gassing. And
if you need to plause any moment, you let me
know and we'll give you a second here to continue
to rinse.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
I live in downtown LA. If that were the worst
thing I Inhale today, ob be a great day.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
All right? What you talked about this parade of federal vehicles,
Can you describe what kinds of vehicles these were? These
were these vehicles like we might see new detainees coming
in on. Were these vehicles that maybe were bringing in
other law enforcement groups or reinforcements for.
Speaker 4 (12:26):
U Interesting These were primarily SUVs that you would see
many governments use, including law enforcement, as well as some
larger vans. They were marked Customs and Border Protection, as
far as the ones that had markings on them, a
lot of them were unmarked. What's interesting is I thought
(12:46):
I saw some of these vehicles earlier before all of
this happened. They were coming up Commercial Street, which is
a street that intersects at Aliso Street here at Alameda, again,
not far from Union Station, and I thought it might
be LAPD earlier coming to help with some of the
street traffic that was getting out of hand. But I
saw them turn right on Alameda and didn't go up.
(13:10):
Perhaps that's Los Angeles Street up there, and I thought
those looked like Federals law enforcement vehicles, and there was
a parade of them, so I don't know if perhaps
they were planning to come here originally from wherever they
came and saw the scene and were told to delay,
and that gave the National Guard time to prepare this scene.
(13:30):
And by prepare that meant lighting up the crowd, dashing
them a little bit with the shields and pushing everybody back,
and deploying that tear gas. Because then that parade of
federal vehicles safely made its way down Alameda Street and
into that garage.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
So when we talk about them deploying the gas. Was
there an indication or, to use the word you had earlier,
a catalyst that would have necessitated the use of the
tear gas or do you think that had more to
do with simply more the crowd in a particular direction.
Speaker 4 (14:02):
It could have been a couple of things. It could
have been, yes, we rapidly need to get this crowd
situation under control because these vehicles that belong to us
need to make their way into the garage. But it
also might have been we're clearing the street and the
people don't seem to like that very much, so they're
pushing us back. And again that's all it takes. You know,
you've seen the message from the president and his cabinet
(14:24):
officials that they're not going to put up with this.
They're not going to put up with any type of
violence against the law enforcement officers here. And we mentioned
a little bit ago before you lost my signal, Chris,
that you know, there are certain images that play well
politically depending on which side of this you're on, and
both sides like to take advantage of that. So if
(14:46):
there's any imagery of you know, roughing up buying federal
law enforcement or the military. That might look good for
some people. If there's any violence against them, it's going
to look good for those guys. So a lot of this,
there's just so many dynamics at play at this that
seem to extend beyond some workers at home depot being
put in a van a couple of days ago.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Yeah, no, no doubt about that. Boy, you hit the
nail on the head. There seems to be a different
game a foot, so to speak. Michael Monks, who is
downtown near the detention side of the federal building and
watching what's going on there. So now the tear gas
goes off and you fortunately seem to be okay, hopefully
you're in a safe place, and his media generally moved
(15:28):
away from sort of that front line.
Speaker 4 (15:30):
Oh no, you know, as we're right back in the
middle of it, waiting for round two. I mean, I'm
standing right here in the middle of the crowd. I'm
watching a guy with a press best on right now.
I don't recognize him from any of our local stations,
but you know, he's being doused in water right now
in the eyes. Because I think some people got it
far worse than I did. I was relatively fortunate, but
I felt the burning. I mean, I know what they
(15:51):
call it, tear gas, I can tell you that. But
we are all back here doing our jobs. We all
went and recovered, and I one of the ladies who's
hear covering it, I believe for CBS. Look at me
ready to go back in, and I said, yeah, you know,
we have a job to do too. I mean, this
is a historic day in a lot of ways. It's
certainly the biggest news event going on right now, and
we all want to make sure that the people of
Los Angeles know what and why is happening.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
All right, So, Michael, what are the effects of the
tear gas on some of the protesters. Did that calm
them down at all? Did they back up to take
a moment to try to rinse their eyes, to clear
their throats?
Speaker 4 (16:24):
Yeah, people who were indicted by it. And again a
lot of these folks we mentioned earlier, LA has some
pretty good protesters. I'm not saying I agree with what
people protest about necessarily, but they know how to protest
and they know how to prepare for any actions taken
against them on site. So a lot of people are
wearing masks anyway, Some in full fledged gas mask, others
(16:47):
and more makeshift masks, but they're prepared with milk and
water and other types of liquids that they've learned to
use should tear gas come out. A lot of folks
learn that back in twenty twenty during the racial justice
protest that took place across the country and here in
LA so there were a lot of liquids available for
(17:08):
folks who suffered from the tear gas. I have my
own water. I ended up not needing it. I just
went into some shade and the shade helped a lot,
and it was able to sort of dissipate out of
my eyes, and I took a swig of water, and
I'm feeling much better. But that's the first time I've
experienced that. And had I gotten a direct hit rather
than a sort of ancilliaria one, I probably would have
(17:29):
been down for.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
A little longer, no doubt. So Now the scene is
what is it? Because your whole lot of shouse.
Speaker 4 (17:36):
I mean, okay, it's harder to pick up the ambiance
because I'm on the phone now instead of this device.
I do want to return to this device as soon
as we get the opportunity to check out the technical
situation because it's loud. It is loud, a lot of honking,
a lot of chanting. The protesters are fully recovered. It
almost looks like the crowd has doubled again in size.
(17:57):
I would estimate about five hundred people. When you and
I started talking at twelve, I estimated it at about
one hundred. That's just sort of a naked eye kind
of glance, but so that would be a quintuple in
size since this thing started. Alameda Street completely full of
protesters outside this Federal building. Again, we're behind the federal building.
(18:17):
It's the loading dock area. This is where this is
taking place, not the main entrance on the other side
of the block. And again two o'clock City Hall has
a protest scheduled. So will this swell as folks get
the message that action is taking place here, do they
want to be a part of that, or will there
be more of a general rally and supportive ANTII sentiment
(18:39):
at City Hall that maybe drag some of these protesters
away from this scene. And that's kind of what we're
waiting to see. But in my experience, especially here in LA,
when it reaches this level, when there are sort of
acts of physical force against the protesters. It just intensifies
the situation. It makes people want more, and I think
(19:00):
that the law enforcement, especially the military, will be happy
to give it.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
Right. Yeah, that's a great point. Michael Monks, who is
at the federal building there off Alameda and giving us
great I guess played by play coverage of everything that's
going on. Michael. Go ahead, let's try to get your
your connection back together with the other device, and then
obviously keep drinking that water and get the rest of
that crap on your eyes. That's terrible.
Speaker 4 (19:26):
That I feel like I could use a cigarette at
this point, ironically.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
Yeah, that's that's nothing. Nothing beats beats away the tears
like Carcinogen's perfect. All right, great, all right, we'll check
with you in a few minutes. All right, great, all right,
thank you very much. Michael Monks live on that scene.
I'm gonna be honest with you, guys. When we were
talking with him to start this hour, if you're just
joining us, we were talking with Michael and there was
(19:51):
this loud bang, I mean it sounded like a shot
went off right behind him, and then he went out
and we just you know, are you okay? And there
was some sort of a cannis. There's some sort of
a flash that went off, and and that was okay.
He was coughing a little bit. He says, I'm not
sure what that was. So I don't know if that
was tear gas at the time or not. But some
sort of a some sort of a bang went off,
(20:11):
and I thought, this is getting is getting scary. And
you know, I'm not there, and I'm sitting in a studio.
I'm perfectly safe, right so, but I'm worried about Michael.
And then all of a sudden, we're just we're talking
about how things were sort of amplifying, and then he says,
wait a minute, Wait a minute, wait a minute, something's happening.
It's happening again, and and the he was describing the
(20:34):
National Guard pushing the protesters away, and then he says,
there's there's gas. There's gas in the air. And we
heard this, We heard these sirens in the background. We
heard this loud revving of an engine. And again I
don't know what that revving was, if that was a protester,
if that was somebody coming by and trying to offer support,
I guess by making their engine noisy or if that
(20:55):
was the one of the vehicles that he described, one
of the government vehicles that was trying to send a
warning to the protesters to get out of the way
and reving their engine. I don't have any idea, but
we hear this incredible revving sound in these sirens, and
you could hear it sort of building up and this
intensity building, and all of a sudden, he starts coughing
(21:15):
and everything goes quiet, and we lost him. And I
have to be perfectly honest with you, I was scared.
I didn't know what I mean. I don't think the
guy got I didn't think he got murdered or anything,
but I was scared for the guy. You know, you
lose a signal. I'm not there. I can't see it.
I have no idea what's happening. And so I'm left
(21:38):
trying to tap dance a little bit. This is what
we do on the radio. And fortunately then I get
a text message from from Michael that said, this is
a consummate newsman. He says, get me back on the air,
get me back. We're trying to get this technical stuff
figured out, and so he says, get me back on
the air. Because things were happening right then, so I
(22:00):
was so, I'm so glad here. Not only is the okay,
but he wanted to continue reporting. So we'll we'll check
with Michael and the latest that we have coming up here.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
The Federal Building off Alameda. I'm Chris Merril KFI AM
six forty, Michael Monks, and I think we got the
we get the the high tech stuff reconnect. Yeah, we did.
I can hear you now, Michael, I can hear it. Yes, Yeah, it.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
Looks like maybe a wire pulled out when I was
fleeing that gas. We are back in the midst of
his and and the scene is returned to status quo,
except for the fact that the crowd is much larger.
All of Alameda Street basically blocked, although there is one
lane that appears to still be moving, and that raises
the question is what law enforcement agency would be responsible
for perhaps considering shutting down this street. And again, if
(22:47):
thank you, if people don't want the protesters here, then they.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Can clear them out, you know what I mean? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (22:56):
Hold up, yes, quick picture KFI fan pretty nice pigs.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Stand we get them all, you know? Yeah, it's good.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
So right now, the National Guard is returned to the
parking lot of this loading dock behind the Federal building.
The protesters have swelled, maybe six hundred of them here
now at this point over and that was from one
hundred just a.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
Couple of hours ago.
Speaker 3 (23:18):
More people are reportedly making their way into downtown Los Angeles.
That's according to the LAPD that's monitoring some of these marches,
because there is a rally schedule at two o'clock at
City Hall, So that's going to be going on. This
is going on, or they're going to converge, and this
crowd is only going to get larger to seem more
chaotic and possibly more dangerous.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
All right, So Michael, you're they keep falling into Alameda.
I'm I'm just trying to get a general idea of
the lay of the land there, and I know there's
a number of loading docks around that. That whole block
is kind of federal buildings, right, so you're by that
detention center that it's a lot of different government buildings.
And that is good. So picture this picture.
Speaker 3 (23:58):
You're walking out of Union Station facing Alameda Street. We
are to the left directly from Union Station. And across
the street a caddy corner to Union Station. You see
this Federal Detention center and the Royball Federal Building. We
are at the little loading doth that typically wouldn't receive
an afterthought if you were driving past where packages go
(24:21):
or other official vehicles go to park. But today this
is where the protest is. It's where it's been for
the past few days. But this has intensified quickly. Just
to recap for people who might have missed a little
bit ago, the National Guard pushed these protesters off the
sidewalk into the street. It was unclear why at first,
but then when a second round of physical force was used,
(24:43):
a parade of federal law enforcement vehicles made their way
down Alameda to park in this garage. So it appears
that that physical force was used to clear the street
to make way.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
For those vehicles. And to be clear, the protest is
not a very big area. If I'm now, you're spilling
into the street, okay. And so the protesters are simply
on that sidewalk, which is just a standard sized sidewalk.
It's not like it's even a big bike path or anything.
And they're not even allowed in that In that parking
area by the loading docks, that's all off limits.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
Once you step onto the parking lot, you are on
federal property. Okay, so that's sort of the line in
the sand for the National Guard.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
No one shall pass through this point, so.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
Physically showing it. They've got their shields up there, standing
in their skirmish line. And we talked to you at
the beginning that these guys look like they're at the ready.
They certainly proved that they were ready when they were
given the order to do what they did. Because those
shields went down, the helmet mass came down, and the
pushing starts, the tear gas started, and this crowd was
cleared out in an instant. It has since reconvened in
(25:48):
the middle of the street.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
Okay, in the middle of the street, because if you've
got five hundred people, there's no way they're fitting on
that narrow parking lot, which is why you say Ali
madeus pretty well shut down. If if you are traveling
anywhere near it, just take the long way around, Just
stay away from that altogether. Wherever you're gonna you go
in to a Union station, take a different route. Do it. Now,
that's Michael I hear sirens behind you, and whenever I
hear sirens, just based on what we had happened last
(26:11):
time we heard sirens, that's when that's when all hell
broke lose. That's exactly right.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
I think these were federal law enforcement vehicles that have
sirens equipped to them. I am noticing that the side
I'm seeing flashing yellow lights, this looks like a work truck,
though I'm not seeing where those sirens. I'll also note
that sometimes the protesters have those noisemakers, so some of
that noise has come from within the crowd. It looks
like an LAPD helicopter that has been hovering above us
(26:35):
this whole time. But again, I'm not sure what the
protocol is here. This is city property, and if this
becomes a city issue, where are the police to help
control this crowd.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
That's a great question. I think a lot of us
are asking you. I think there are a lot of
people paying very close attention to exactly what the LAPD
response is. And I'm gonna guess that there's gonna be
questions of the mayor as well, because she has been
vocal and not one to see any escalation and not
wanting to see the national guard called out, But at
the same time, there is a duty to react if
we have things happening in the middle of the road
(27:08):
for Pete's sake, that's right, And they're clearly monitoring it
from the sky. I mean, they see what's happening.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
They're issuing tweets that I'm following about where other crowds
are convening and moving. So it's not like the department
is off today. But again, I'm not sure whose job
this is at this point. There are every level, federal, state,
local governments are in action in some capacity here. It's
just that if this is an LAPD responsibility, I don't
(27:32):
see a single officer.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Is it possible, Michael, that they are intentionally not showing
their faces but maybe watching nearby, I mean, in an
effort to not look like they are reinforcing. Is it
possible they are staging nearby and keeping a close watch
in case they need to spring quickly.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
You know, I think it's objectively safe to say that
LAPD is just in a difficult situation because of the city.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
Policy and their own department policy.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
If they had much longer preceding LA's official sanctuary city
that they do not help civil immigration enforcement. Right now,
we've got chaos in the streets, and that is their job,
regardless of the circumstances.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
So what are we supposed to do. I'm not a cop.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
I don't know, but I can tell you this is
a This was already a powder keg. It already exploded once.
Now the crowd is bigger. So what does that mean
for what could happen next?
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Boy, that's a really good point, and I'm guessing more
and more people continue to show up every time we
talk to you. It sounds like that crowd goes up
by another hundred every single time.
Speaker 3 (28:37):
And it's just there's a lot of flags waving representing
Latin American countries, including America. You're starting to see the
pro Palestine symbols show up, the kefias that that folks
wear at those protests.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
I mean, this is this is a city.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
That loves a protest and the people that like to
do it are here.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
So now it's just become caused as your right. I mean,
this is whatever anybody's pet project is. If we've got
people protesting for Palestine showing up the immigration rallies.
Speaker 3 (29:05):
Yeah, it's a hodgepodge of issues because there's been a
lot of anger at the federal government, I suppose for
a lot of reasons, and a lot of it's spilling
out here today.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
All right, Michael will check with you one more time
here this hour, and then we want you to continue
to be safe. Are you staying, are you going back
up the city Hall? I know you're gonna you were
looking to do that protesting too. I will see how
that develops at two o'clock.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
It feels like the responsible thing as a guy on
his own out here is to watch this situation because
this is the one that is most vulnerable to something
bad happening.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
Yeah. Well, as a guy looking out for himself, I
wanted you to be careful, so you know, feel free
to step away for a few yards if you like. Okay, yeah,
I might take a breath here in a moment. I
think that's a great plan. All right, we'll check with
Michael Monks here in just one just a moment. We
want to see what else is happening with traffic. But
I can tell you this, if you are going anywhere
close to Union Station downtown, just stay in a helloway
(30:00):
from that whole area. It is a real mess and
you can hear all of the the noise going on
behind Michael too, with all of the cars and the
protests of people in the streets. All right, well, we'll
check in just a moment. He's got his fans to
deal with.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
You're listening to KFI A six on demand.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
Michael Monks is on the scene at the Federal building
off Alameda, kind of just down from Union Station, and
you know all those different federal buildings that are there,
but Lameda is not a federal street. That's the city street,
and the protesters are spilling into the city street. This
hour went from a couple hundred people there protesting to
(30:37):
suddenly the National Guard pushing people sort of away from
the loading dock area around that building, and we didn't
know exactly what was happening. Michael was broadcasting live and
there was a loud bang, which made me clench, if
I'm being honest, but he seemed to be okay, was
coughing a little, and then continued the report, and he
(30:58):
suddenly he said, it's happening again. There was a bit
of chaos occurring. We heard some sirens coming in and
then everything went quiet, and we didn't know what happened.
And suddenly we get a text message from Michael saying,
get me back on the air now I've been tear gassed,
and thank goodness, he's okay and he's been broadcasting with
us here, Michael. That crowd, as we made mention, continues
(31:22):
to grow. Another protests scheduled for City Hall. Has it
continued to remain ever since the tear gassing and those
federal vehicles pulled up, that parade of federal vehicles pulled up,
and National Guard kind of went back to that parking
lot area. Has it continued to be relatively peaceful protesting
right now?
Speaker 3 (31:39):
It's just the same shouting that we've been seeing most
of the afternoon, outside of those two incidents where the
National Guard used force to move people off the sidewalking
into the street.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
Later deciding or.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
Concluding, I should say that it was to make way
for a parade of federal vehicles that came down Alameda
Street and then parked in this federal building, his loading zone,
parking garage, and now it's pretty much status quo. I
missed this, but I have since seen some of my
colleagues reporting on Twitter that Congresswoman Maxine Waters was here
also trying to gain entry to this building, she was denied.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
She says she wanted to check.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
On union leader David Auerta, who was arrested on Friday
during some ice activity in the Fashion District. He had
suffered an injury and then has been detained by as
he's a very significant political figure. A lot of prominent Democrats,
including the governor and the mayor and county supervisors have
called for his release. But apparently I missed due to
the tear gas Maxine Waters showing up and trying to
(32:38):
get in the building.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
They told her no, interesting, all right, So that also
stands to a pattern that we've seen in the past
when you've had politicians show up at detainment centers. We
saw this on the East Coast, and we saw some
politicians actually being arrested in that case, and now we're
seeing it here on the West coast. Weak same thing.
Speaker 3 (32:57):
And this guy, David Werta, is is not and you know,
he's not an illegal immigrant as far as I know,
but he was on scene in the Fashion district during
the ice activity because this did involve workers, and he's
the president of SEIU, which has been reported as the
largest labor union in the state. Very influential politically, and
(33:18):
a lot of politicians have been speaking about his detainment
in particular.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
All right, well, I'm going to do a little bit
more on that coming up here at four o'clock. One
last question, Michael, and then I'll let you sort of
find a safe place to observe for a while. When
all hell was breaking loose, did you see were there
water bottles being thrown at the National guardsmen? Did you
see any sort of projectiles going in that direction?
Speaker 3 (33:43):
Yes, it absolutely water bottles that were being thrown. Again,
that flashbang I believe came from the National Guard. But
we have seen another protest in the past couple of
days that there were fireworks and minor explosives being used
by protesters as well. I don't know whether any of
those are on scene here yet, but this was a
powder keg and and it did boil over, it exploded
(34:05):
a little bit, and and that that would be minor
if a similar event unfolds here. Because the crowd is
so much larger, and with an event scheduled for just
a few minutes at La City Hall, I don't know
what the status of that plan is right now. You
could expect that there will be even more people downtown.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
All right, Michael Monks, be safe, my friend Will We'll
continue to check with you. I know it's long day,
and we appreciate it. Really great work, tremendous. Mark Thompson
is about to take is set to take over the
chaos here. Mark, what the hell's going on? Man?
Speaker 5 (34:37):
Well, there are actually so many different facets to this.
It's fascinating. Oh my god, immenseally disturbing. The detaining you
reference to David Huerta. He's a massively high profile figure
within the labor community in Los Angeles. And you know
when you and I'll be talking more about this, but
(34:58):
when you detain and arrest someone like a David Auerta,
you really do arouse the ire of so many in
the union. And the other thing I would say, and again,
the unions here in California are different than the unions
elsewhere in the country. The unions here in California are
(35:19):
largely made up of Latinos and those faces that end
up in these detention centers as ICE begins this crackdown.
And so when you talk about whipping up a community
and you talk about the unrest that we are seeing
and the growing ire of this community. I think again,
the detention of David Auerta and a union leader, I
(35:43):
think takes it to another level. It's amplified in ways
it wouldn't be otherwise. I mean, this is again just
one facet of what's going on. But the other, of
course is the National Guard and the notion that the
National Guard is being deployed in Los Angeles by the
President of the United States. And that's something that again
has its own politically charged aspect to it, because that's
(36:07):
just not what generally happens here. In fact, the last
time the National Guard was deployed in LA I want
to say it was ninety two, maybe it was in
twenty twenty during the George Floyd.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
Unrest.
Speaker 5 (36:23):
But in both cases it was the governor who asked
for the National Guard.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
To be deployed.
Speaker 5 (36:28):
That's typically the way it works, So you don't have
a president or an administration in this case typically asking
for it. So again, and that's just another facet. So
you begin to see, yeah, all of the different aspects
so this and I haven't even talked about the agitators
and those who are there peacefully protesting. This is a
hugely dynamic situation. And we'll be discussing it, of course
(36:50):
in the minutes.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
And of course the looters and everything else. I was reading,
I think the last time that we had the National
Guard called for by the president where the governor was not.
You know, a part of that decision was in the
desegred de segregation of schools. There you go, nineteen sixty five.
We're talking sixty years since this has happened. Yeah, I
mean after the Rodney King verdict.
Speaker 5 (37:12):
I mean, no, this is I've been working in news
in Los Angeles for what is it thirty five years,
and so maybe the younger boys and girls may not
remember this, but there was, of course, after the Rodney
King beating an acquittal, there was a massive unstable situation
that just swept through LA and the governor at the
time asked for the National Guard to be put in place.
(37:33):
The governor was a Republican, Pete Wilson, and that was
a I'd suggest, a massively productive thing to have because
you had a city across the city that was a
part of all this unrest. Here again, without being an
expert on crowd control, but we've seen these areas of
violence and potential violence and dynamic situations. Bill Over, this
(37:57):
did appear to be a situation that it would seem
many of the experts weighing in said, hey, this can
be controlled by local authorities. So we really went from
zero to sixty on this very quickly because the President
decided to move in the National Guard troops.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
So he makes such a great point about the difference
between the Rodney King riots and now this is such
a this is such an isolated area versus that Rodney
King was just everywhere, exactly everywhere. Yeah, Mark, thank you
for taking over the microphone. I appreciate that. I'm gonna
go grab some lunch.
Speaker 5 (38:30):
Yeah, you've done a nice chef show, and I think
you're in a couple of years back in a couple
of hours. So yeah, all right, ChRI, thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (38:38):
I appreciate that. So I've got some thoughts on what
we heard today. I've got some some hot takes. As
some people would say, well, we'll hear more of that
coming up here at four o'clock. But as you heard
from Mark, obviously tremendous amount of insight into what's happening
right now, uh, mixed with the history in the community,
and you know, for those of us that remember the
Rodney King riots. I wasn't. I wasn't in southern California
(39:00):
at the time, but I was a young man and
it was the first time I remember, you know, big
city wide riots in my lifetime, and so that that
was such a huge event historically, and personally watching that
happen and now seeing this today, it is a completely
different situation, but nonetheless unforgettable. So I'll be back at
(39:23):
four o'clock to talk more about that. A couple of
things real quick here, just some housekeeping, and that is
that Michael Monks, who's been on the scene and doing
such a tremendous job, has also been filing not only
news reports for us to be playing, but we've also
got some photos. We're putting those up at the the
KFI Instagram page, and I know I think he's got
(39:43):
some stuff going on his Twitter page as well. So obviously,
if if you want to get some visuals with what
you're hearing, please feel free to do that. Those of
you listening on the KFI channel on the iHeartRadio app,
you are always welcome to give your thoughts on the
talk back line. I know Mark likes to use the
I will be using those today at four o'clock as well.
So looking forward to your talkbacks, your thoughts, your reactions,
(40:05):
and hell, i'll even say, your hot takes and whatever
it is that you're hearing. In the meantime, we're hoping
Michael Monks stays safe. He is broadcasting live down there
at the Detention Center off Alameda, where things seem to
be pouring into the streets. So you'll hear more from Michael,
I'm sure in the coming hours as the actual scheduled
protest is set to begin at two o'clock. That one
(40:26):
is scheduled for City Hall, but it sounds like Michael
is to go where the action is, and right now
it's at that Federal Center. Continuing coverage of the protest
going on downtown throughout the afternoon.
Speaker 1 (40:38):
It's KFI AM six on demand.
You're listening to KFI AM six on demand.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
It was live and ongoing coverage of the protests of
the ice raids happening across southern California. Pasadena has put
out a statement as well, a City of Pasadena that said, hey,
be cool, everybody. They they said, we're hearing that there
may be gathering taking place within the city and the
(00:24):
police department is monitoring the situation. The city says, remain peaceful,
law abiding, nonviolent, protest powerful tool. At this time, the
city is not aware of any federal law enforcement action
in the city, including those regarding immigrations. So Pasadena is saying,
if you want to if you want to protest, keep
it peaceful, that's cool. We're all We're all down with that.
In fact, that seems to be the message we're hearing
all over the place. If you want to protest, that's cool,
(00:47):
just keep your head about you. In fact, Peggy Lemons
is the mayor of Paramount, and she was talking with
Jim Shudo from CNN. She said, we want them to
know their rights, and we want them to be safe.
We don't want them to engage in any negative way
that could mean imminent harm to them. The mayor, adding
that as far as she knew, National Guard soldiers have
not been sent to Paramount. She said she was unaware
(01:09):
of any coordination between the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, which
Paramount contracts for policing, and any federal law enforcement. She
continued to say, it's not a scene that we want
to see repeated here in our town, talking about the
National Guard being deployed, and I don't think it has
a calming effect. I think it has just the opposite effect.
(01:31):
Michael Monks has been covering the simmering protest. I'm gonna
call it a simmering protest, Michael at the Federal Building
of Alameda. Is that a fair right? Now?
Speaker 3 (01:41):
The National Guard is now pushing this protest into the street.
Let me get over here. So there's some smoke. I
don't know who's thrown that, but this screed this, But
there are protesters being pushed right now. I am mere
feet from these soldiers pushing these guys masked men California.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Oh, oh, are you okay? Yeah? I don't know what
that was. I got a little whiff of that. Oh,
water bottles now being thrown at the National Guard.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
We are all in the middle of Alameda Street. At
this point, this was just a rowdy, loud protest on
the sidewalk that was starting to spill into the street.
But I don't know what triggered the National Guard to
start to push the protesters out. We talked a Chris
(02:32):
You and I just moments ago that this protest was
on the side the National Guard was in the parking
lot area. If that parking lot would have been penetrated
by protesters, that's an invitation for this. Whether that's what happened,
I'm not sure. The National Guard has stopped their forward
progress at this point, but shields are still up. A
(02:53):
firmish line is expanding into the street. But there is
now a test in the middle of Alameda. Obviously, traffic
completely disrupted, and there is no sign of LAPD officers
on the ground, though one of their helicopters is hovering
from above.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
All right, Michael Monks is lined at the Federal building
off Alameda. As he said, if you're traveling, just avoid
that whole area altogether. We also talked earlier and Michael
said that if things do spill off into the street,
then it becomes a jurisdictional issue and that we're into
lapd area, which is why he made mention of whether
or not he could see any police officers to reiterate
(03:35):
national Guard had pushed people away. We don't know exactly
what the impetus was for them taking motion and moving
people away, but it's spilled off into the street. And
then I gotta tell you, I jumped in my seat
because we heard that that canister explode right near Michael
Monks just a moment ago. And then you heard Michael
coughing afterward, Michael, if you had a chance to.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Now they're trying to push back the National Guard. The
National Guard is now moving back towards that parking lot area,
and a lot of shouting from this crowd and some substances.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
In the air.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
It's a little disgusting. I don't I don't think it's
too harmful. But these protesters are in Bolden. Now this
is the type of catalyst that will escalate this situation greatly.
There's supposed to be a protest at two o'clock. We
talked moments ago.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
What does that mean.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Does that mean some folks will stop here first and
head over there or does this thing just get bigger?
Speaker 2 (04:33):
And now that they've had this. Excuse me, now that
we've had.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
This take place, there is reason for folks to stay
because they might want more. Both sides seem to want
this type of imagery.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Yeah, that's a great point. The imagery seems to be
seems to be the point of all of this to
that extent. Are you seeing other media in that area?
I'm assuming that everybody's gonna.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Yeah, there's a lot of us dipsticks with my microphones
and cameras running around throughout this whole thing. But there's
probably about three hundred protesters, about one hundred National guardsmen.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
And these shields are up.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
And again, I don't know what prompted that action, but
now the National Guard has relocated to.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
A different side of the sidewalk.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
They're not across the street, they're on the same side
of the street, but they have moved over and have
felt the need to offer more defense to this building.
Shields up, sticks ready, helmets down. And that was quite
quite a violent action there, pushing folks into the streets.
So not sure what provoked it.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
So are you feeling now, Michael Munks, who's live at
the Federal building off Alameda, are you feeling now like
we've sort of returned to this point where it's simply
shouting or.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
Have they're the common chance. They've preturned whose streets are streets?
They've been playing the hits all afternoon.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
No Justice, no Peace. I haven't heard of c but
I'm sure that's coming. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
Right now, it's a lot of media in the front
trying to get great shots. I mean, it is an image,
you know, this is the image you want in the
press because it's the It's the soldiers with their shields up.
They California National Guard emblazoned across the very strong plastic. Okay,
now we're starting to get here. They come here, they
come again. Here come the National Guard, moving us again,
moving us again. They are moving people into the street.
(06:27):
Sirens now going. Not sure what agency this is pulling up,
but there is a series of law enforcement Okay, now
we can see these.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
There are law enforcement.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Vehicles that are going into the building.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Michael mnk's trying to gather himself. You're hearing this revving.
Michael is yes, please, Federal law enforsement vehicles are pulling
in to the garage. All right. I think we just
lost that connection. I'm not sure what the reck. I'm
(07:12):
not sure what the revving of the engine was. We're
gonna try to get Michael Monks back on it sounds
like there is more happening. As he mentioned, you heard
the sirens in the background. He wasn't sure which agency
that was. He was trying to get a vantage point
of that. We heard this revving sound and don't know
if that was a protester revving a vehicle on Alameda
or if that was part of the vehicles and a
sign of show from some of the law enforcement. We're
(07:34):
not sure. But suddenly we heard Michael begin coughing, and
then we sadly lost that connection. So we'll try to
get that back just as soon as we possibly can.
Michael Monks is at the Federal building off Alameda, near
the detention center there. What had started off as some
yelling and protests earlier this morning into just afternoon has
(07:56):
now grown. It started about noon ish one hundred people.
Every time we kept checking back with Michael, it seemed
like things that about doubled. So let's say we've got two, three,
maybe four hundred people there now. And as he made
mention too, the National Guard began pushing formation and then
pushing the people eventually into Elamita Street, and then it
(08:19):
seemed like things sort of reversed back and they took
their positions. People began chancing again, they began yelling again.
As he made mention, it was no justice, no peace,
and a lot of the greatest hits for protests were
coming out. And then suddenly action all hell just seemed
to break loose, and we heard Michael begin coughing. We
(08:40):
heard this revving of the engine, we heard the sirens,
and we lost that connection with Michael Monks, who is
live there, all right, So I'm just not there, guys,
I'm just not there. I mean, the best I can
do here is try to anchor this and as soon
as I have the information, I will. We do know
that there were rubber bullets used yesterday at some of
(09:01):
the other protests. Didn't happen downtown. We saw a lot
of stuff in Paramount and then that spilled over into Compton.
But right now, the center of the action sure seems
to be near that Federal building right there off Alameda,
And as he made mention too, at one point that
street was pretty well shut down by protesters. One person
decided to park a minivan and get out a grill
(09:24):
and start grilling like they're doing a tailgate for this thing.
They were ushered along eventually. But it also looks like
I'm just taking a look at the map here and
we'll get a check on traffic in just a moment.
It looks like we've got a number of a number
of roads here that I'm just gonna go ahead and
say they're not even allowing people in that area. Is
Michael back, No, he's trying to get back on here.
(09:47):
I know he's sending me a message right now, so
he's trying to reconnect as quickly as he can. So
we'll try to get Michael back. Let's do a break here, Robin,
and then we'll try to get Michael back. He's there's
an awful lot happening right at this very moment.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
The heavily armed National Guard soldiers downtown. Michael Monks is there,
and Michael, we heard all kinds of chaos and then
we lost your signal. And now Michael Munks joins us
via phone. Are you okay, my friend?
Speaker 4 (10:15):
I got a little tear gassy, definitely burning in the
eyes choking a little bit, but I think it cleared
up pretty fast. But all of us got to your gas.
I mean, we were back over in a media huddle,
all of us just sympathizing with one another about getting
caught up in the middle of this and temporarily blinded
and choking. But I don't know if you heard me.
(10:36):
A ton a parade of federal news vehicles were federal
news vehicles, federal law enforcement vehicles were making their way
down Alameda and pulling into the loading dock garage, and
that maybe that was certainly what moved the protesters into
the street by force of the National Guard at that moment.
(10:57):
It may have been what triggered the first one as well,
as they were preparing to let these vehicles make their
way in. But there were about twenty to thirty different
federal vehicles that made their way down Alameda, and that
was preceded by the California National Guard pushing the protesters
into the middle of the street and out of the way.
(11:18):
That irritated the protesters, and then tear gas started being
to school deployed, some blast bangs. It's still in the air,
but the protesters are now back in the middle of
Alameda Street, and the California National Guard is back at
their skirmish line in the parking lot of the loading
ducks of the Edward R. Roybalt Center and Federal Building. Again,
(11:40):
this has been a location of multiple protests over the
past few days because it's believed some of the DTEs
captured by ICE immigration enforcement efforts are being housed here
in the jail next to it.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
All right, So Michael Monks is live there, and Michael,
God bless you for dealing with the tear gassing. And
if you need to plause any moment, you let me
know and we'll give you a second here to continue
to rinse.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
I live in downtown LA. If that were the worst
thing I Inhale today, ob be a great day.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
All right? What you talked about this parade of federal vehicles,
Can you describe what kinds of vehicles these were? These
were these vehicles like we might see new detainees coming
in on. Were these vehicles that maybe were bringing in
other law enforcement groups or reinforcements for.
Speaker 4 (12:26):
U Interesting These were primarily SUVs that you would see
many governments use, including law enforcement, as well as some
larger vans. They were marked Customs and Border Protection, as
far as the ones that had markings on them, a
lot of them were unmarked. What's interesting is I thought
(12:46):
I saw some of these vehicles earlier before all of
this happened. They were coming up Commercial Street, which is
a street that intersects at Aliso Street here at Alameda, again,
not far from Union Station, and I thought it might
be LAPD earlier coming to help with some of the
street traffic that was getting out of hand. But I
saw them turn right on Alameda and didn't go up.
(13:10):
Perhaps that's Los Angeles Street up there, and I thought
those looked like Federals law enforcement vehicles, and there was
a parade of them, so I don't know if perhaps
they were planning to come here originally from wherever they
came and saw the scene and were told to delay,
and that gave the National Guard time to prepare this scene.
(13:30):
And by prepare that meant lighting up the crowd, dashing
them a little bit with the shields and pushing everybody back,
and deploying that tear gas. Because then that parade of
federal vehicles safely made its way down Alameda Street and
into that garage.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
So when we talk about them deploying the gas. Was
there an indication or, to use the word you had earlier,
a catalyst that would have necessitated the use of the
tear gas or do you think that had more to
do with simply more the crowd in a particular direction.
Speaker 4 (14:02):
It could have been a couple of things. It could
have been, yes, we rapidly need to get this crowd
situation under control because these vehicles that belong to us
need to make their way into the garage. But it
also might have been we're clearing the street and the
people don't seem to like that very much, so they're
pushing us back. And again that's all it takes. You know,
you've seen the message from the president and his cabinet
(14:24):
officials that they're not going to put up with this.
They're not going to put up with any type of
violence against the law enforcement officers here. And we mentioned
a little bit ago before you lost my signal, Chris,
that you know, there are certain images that play well
politically depending on which side of this you're on, and
both sides like to take advantage of that. So if
(14:46):
there's any imagery of you know, roughing up buying federal
law enforcement or the military. That might look good for
some people. If there's any violence against them, it's going
to look good for those guys. So a lot of this,
there's just so many dynamics at play at this that
seem to extend beyond some workers at home depot being
put in a van a couple of days ago.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Yeah, no, no doubt about that. Boy, you hit the
nail on the head. There seems to be a different
game a foot, so to speak. Michael Monks, who is
downtown near the detention side of the federal building and
watching what's going on there. So now the tear gas
goes off and you fortunately seem to be okay, hopefully
you're in a safe place, and his media generally moved
(15:28):
away from sort of that front line.
Speaker 4 (15:30):
Oh no, you know, as we're right back in the
middle of it, waiting for round two. I mean, I'm
standing right here in the middle of the crowd. I'm
watching a guy with a press best on right now.
I don't recognize him from any of our local stations,
but you know, he's being doused in water right now
in the eyes. Because I think some people got it
far worse than I did. I was relatively fortunate, but
I felt the burning. I mean, I know what they
(15:51):
call it, tear gas, I can tell you that. But
we are all back here doing our jobs. We all
went and recovered, and I one of the ladies who's
hear covering it, I believe for CBS. Look at me
ready to go back in, and I said, yeah, you know,
we have a job to do too. I mean, this
is a historic day in a lot of ways. It's
certainly the biggest news event going on right now, and
we all want to make sure that the people of
Los Angeles know what and why is happening.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
All right, So, Michael, what are the effects of the
tear gas on some of the protesters. Did that calm
them down at all? Did they back up to take
a moment to try to rinse their eyes, to clear
their throats?
Speaker 4 (16:24):
Yeah, people who were indicted by it. And again a
lot of these folks we mentioned earlier, LA has some
pretty good protesters. I'm not saying I agree with what
people protest about necessarily, but they know how to protest
and they know how to prepare for any actions taken
against them on site. So a lot of people are
wearing masks anyway, Some in full fledged gas mask, others
(16:47):
and more makeshift masks, but they're prepared with milk and
water and other types of liquids that they've learned to
use should tear gas come out. A lot of folks
learn that back in twenty twenty during the racial justice
protest that took place across the country and here in
LA so there were a lot of liquids available for
(17:08):
folks who suffered from the tear gas. I have my
own water. I ended up not needing it. I just
went into some shade and the shade helped a lot,
and it was able to sort of dissipate out of
my eyes, and I took a swig of water, and
I'm feeling much better. But that's the first time I've
experienced that. And had I gotten a direct hit rather
than a sort of ancilliaria one, I probably would have
(17:29):
been down for.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
A little longer, no doubt. So Now the scene is
what is it? Because your whole lot of shouse.
Speaker 4 (17:36):
I mean, okay, it's harder to pick up the ambiance
because I'm on the phone now instead of this device.
I do want to return to this device as soon
as we get the opportunity to check out the technical
situation because it's loud. It is loud, a lot of honking,
a lot of chanting. The protesters are fully recovered. It
almost looks like the crowd has doubled again in size.
(17:57):
I would estimate about five hundred people. When you and
I started talking at twelve, I estimated it at about
one hundred. That's just sort of a naked eye kind
of glance, but so that would be a quintuple in
size since this thing started. Alameda Street completely full of
protesters outside this Federal building. Again, we're behind the federal building.
(18:17):
It's the loading dock area. This is where this is
taking place, not the main entrance on the other side
of the block. And again two o'clock City Hall has
a protest scheduled. So will this swell as folks get
the message that action is taking place here, do they
want to be a part of that, or will there
be more of a general rally and supportive ANTII sentiment
(18:39):
at City Hall that maybe drag some of these protesters
away from this scene. And that's kind of what we're
waiting to see. But in my experience, especially here in LA,
when it reaches this level, when there are sort of
acts of physical force against the protesters. It just intensifies
the situation. It makes people want more, and I think
(19:00):
that the law enforcement, especially the military, will be happy
to give it.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
Right. Yeah, that's a great point. Michael Monks, who is
at the federal building there off Alameda and giving us
great I guess played by play coverage of everything that's
going on. Michael. Go ahead, let's try to get your
your connection back together with the other device, and then
obviously keep drinking that water and get the rest of
that crap on your eyes. That's terrible.
Speaker 4 (19:26):
That I feel like I could use a cigarette at
this point, ironically.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
Yeah, that's that's nothing. Nothing beats beats away the tears
like Carcinogen's perfect. All right, great, all right, we'll check
with you in a few minutes. All right, great, all right,
thank you very much. Michael Monks live on that scene.
I'm gonna be honest with you, guys. When we were
talking with him to start this hour, if you're just
joining us, we were talking with Michael and there was
(19:51):
this loud bang, I mean it sounded like a shot
went off right behind him, and then he went out
and we just you know, are you okay? And there
was some sort of a cannis. There's some sort of
a flash that went off, and and that was okay.
He was coughing a little bit. He says, I'm not
sure what that was. So I don't know if that
was tear gas at the time or not. But some
sort of a some sort of a bang went off,
(20:11):
and I thought, this is getting is getting scary. And
you know, I'm not there, and I'm sitting in a studio.
I'm perfectly safe, right so, but I'm worried about Michael.
And then all of a sudden, we're just we're talking
about how things were sort of amplifying, and then he says,
wait a minute, Wait a minute, wait a minute, something's happening.
It's happening again, and and the he was describing the
(20:34):
National Guard pushing the protesters away, and then he says,
there's there's gas. There's gas in the air. And we
heard this, We heard these sirens in the background. We
heard this loud revving of an engine. And again I
don't know what that revving was, if that was a protester,
if that was somebody coming by and trying to offer support,
I guess by making their engine noisy or if that
(20:55):
was the one of the vehicles that he described, one
of the government vehicles that was trying to send a
warning to the protesters to get out of the way
and reving their engine. I don't have any idea, but
we hear this incredible revving sound in these sirens, and
you could hear it sort of building up and this
intensity building, and all of a sudden, he starts coughing
(21:15):
and everything goes quiet, and we lost him. And I
have to be perfectly honest with you, I was scared.
I didn't know what I mean. I don't think the
guy got I didn't think he got murdered or anything,
but I was scared for the guy. You know, you
lose a signal. I'm not there. I can't see it.
I have no idea what's happening. And so I'm left
(21:38):
trying to tap dance a little bit. This is what
we do on the radio. And fortunately then I get
a text message from from Michael that said, this is
a consummate newsman. He says, get me back on the air,
get me back. We're trying to get this technical stuff
figured out, and so he says, get me back on
the air. Because things were happening right then, so I
(22:00):
was so, I'm so glad here. Not only is the okay,
but he wanted to continue reporting. So we'll we'll check
with Michael and the latest that we have coming up here.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
The Federal Building off Alameda. I'm Chris Merril KFI AM
six forty, Michael Monks, and I think we got the
we get the the high tech stuff reconnect. Yeah, we did.
I can hear you now, Michael, I can hear it. Yes, Yeah, it.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
Looks like maybe a wire pulled out when I was
fleeing that gas. We are back in the midst of
his and and the scene is returned to status quo,
except for the fact that the crowd is much larger.
All of Alameda Street basically blocked, although there is one
lane that appears to still be moving, and that raises
the question is what law enforcement agency would be responsible
for perhaps considering shutting down this street. And again, if
(22:47):
thank you, if people don't want the protesters here, then they.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Can clear them out, you know what I mean? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (22:56):
Hold up, yes, quick picture KFI fan pretty nice pigs.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Stand we get them all, you know? Yeah, it's good.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
So right now, the National Guard is returned to the
parking lot of this loading dock behind the Federal building.
The protesters have swelled, maybe six hundred of them here
now at this point over and that was from one
hundred just a.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
Couple of hours ago.
Speaker 3 (23:18):
More people are reportedly making their way into downtown Los Angeles.
That's according to the LAPD that's monitoring some of these marches,
because there is a rally schedule at two o'clock at
City Hall, So that's going to be going on. This
is going on, or they're going to converge, and this
crowd is only going to get larger to seem more
chaotic and possibly more dangerous.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
All right, So Michael, you're they keep falling into Alameda.
I'm I'm just trying to get a general idea of
the lay of the land there, and I know there's
a number of loading docks around that. That whole block
is kind of federal buildings, right, so you're by that
detention center that it's a lot of different government buildings.
And that is good. So picture this picture.
Speaker 3 (23:58):
You're walking out of Union Station facing Alameda Street. We
are to the left directly from Union Station. And across
the street a caddy corner to Union Station. You see
this Federal Detention center and the Royball Federal Building. We
are at the little loading doth that typically wouldn't receive
an afterthought if you were driving past where packages go
(24:21):
or other official vehicles go to park. But today this
is where the protest is. It's where it's been for
the past few days. But this has intensified quickly. Just
to recap for people who might have missed a little
bit ago, the National Guard pushed these protesters off the
sidewalk into the street. It was unclear why at first,
but then when a second round of physical force was used,
(24:43):
a parade of federal law enforcement vehicles made their way
down Alameda to park in this garage. So it appears
that that physical force was used to clear the street
to make way.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
For those vehicles. And to be clear, the protest is
not a very big area. If I'm now, you're spilling
into the street, okay. And so the protesters are simply
on that sidewalk, which is just a standard sized sidewalk.
It's not like it's even a big bike path or anything.
And they're not even allowed in that In that parking
area by the loading docks, that's all off limits.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
Once you step onto the parking lot, you are on
federal property. Okay, so that's sort of the line in
the sand for the National Guard.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
No one shall pass through this point, so.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
Physically showing it. They've got their shields up there, standing
in their skirmish line. And we talked to you at
the beginning that these guys look like they're at the ready.
They certainly proved that they were ready when they were
given the order to do what they did. Because those
shields went down, the helmet mass came down, and the
pushing starts, the tear gas started, and this crowd was
cleared out in an instant. It has since reconvened in
(25:48):
the middle of the street.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
Okay, in the middle of the street, because if you've
got five hundred people, there's no way they're fitting on
that narrow parking lot, which is why you say Ali
madeus pretty well shut down. If if you are traveling
anywhere near it, just take the long way around, Just
stay away from that altogether. Wherever you're gonna you go
in to a Union station, take a different route. Do it. Now,
that's Michael I hear sirens behind you, and whenever I
hear sirens, just based on what we had happened last
(26:11):
time we heard sirens, that's when that's when all hell
broke lose. That's exactly right.
Speaker 3 (26:14):
I think these were federal law enforcement vehicles that have
sirens equipped to them. I am noticing that the side
I'm seeing flashing yellow lights, this looks like a work truck,
though I'm not seeing where those sirens. I'll also note
that sometimes the protesters have those noisemakers, so some of
that noise has come from within the crowd. It looks
like an LAPD helicopter that has been hovering above us
(26:35):
this whole time. But again, I'm not sure what the
protocol is here. This is city property, and if this
becomes a city issue, where are the police to help
control this crowd.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
That's a great question. I think a lot of us
are asking you. I think there are a lot of
people paying very close attention to exactly what the LAPD
response is. And I'm gonna guess that there's gonna be
questions of the mayor as well, because she has been
vocal and not one to see any escalation and not
wanting to see the national guard called out, But at
the same time, there is a duty to react if
we have things happening in the middle of the road
(27:08):
for Pete's sake, that's right, And they're clearly monitoring it
from the sky. I mean, they see what's happening.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
They're issuing tweets that I'm following about where other crowds
are convening and moving. So it's not like the department
is off today. But again, I'm not sure whose job
this is at this point. There are every level, federal, state,
local governments are in action in some capacity here. It's
just that if this is an LAPD responsibility, I don't
(27:32):
see a single officer.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Is it possible, Michael, that they are intentionally not showing
their faces but maybe watching nearby, I mean, in an
effort to not look like they are reinforcing. Is it
possible they are staging nearby and keeping a close watch
in case they need to spring quickly.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
You know, I think it's objectively safe to say that
LAPD is just in a difficult situation because of the city.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
Policy and their own department policy.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
If they had much longer preceding LA's official sanctuary city
that they do not help civil immigration enforcement. Right now,
we've got chaos in the streets, and that is their job,
regardless of the circumstances.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
So what are we supposed to do. I'm not a cop.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
I don't know, but I can tell you this is
a This was already a powder keg. It already exploded once.
Now the crowd is bigger. So what does that mean
for what could happen next?
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Boy, that's a really good point, and I'm guessing more
and more people continue to show up every time we
talk to you. It sounds like that crowd goes up
by another hundred every single time.
Speaker 3 (28:37):
And it's just there's a lot of flags waving representing
Latin American countries, including America. You're starting to see the
pro Palestine symbols show up, the kefias that that folks
wear at those protests.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
I mean, this is this is a city.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
That loves a protest and the people that like to
do it are here.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
So now it's just become caused as your right. I mean,
this is whatever anybody's pet project is. If we've got
people protesting for Palestine showing up the immigration rallies.
Speaker 3 (29:05):
Yeah, it's a hodgepodge of issues because there's been a
lot of anger at the federal government, I suppose for
a lot of reasons, and a lot of it's spilling
out here today.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
All right, Michael will check with you one more time
here this hour, and then we want you to continue
to be safe. Are you staying, are you going back
up the city Hall? I know you're gonna you were
looking to do that protesting too. I will see how
that develops at two o'clock.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
It feels like the responsible thing as a guy on
his own out here is to watch this situation because
this is the one that is most vulnerable to something
bad happening.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
Yeah. Well, as a guy looking out for himself, I
wanted you to be careful, so you know, feel free
to step away for a few yards if you like. Okay, yeah,
I might take a breath here in a moment. I
think that's a great plan. All right, we'll check with
Michael Monks here in just one just a moment. We
want to see what else is happening with traffic. But
I can tell you this, if you are going anywhere
close to Union Station downtown, just stay in a helloway
(30:00):
from that whole area. It is a real mess and
you can hear all of the the noise going on
behind Michael too, with all of the cars and the
protests of people in the streets. All right, well, we'll
check in just a moment. He's got his fans to
deal with.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
You're listening to KFI A six on demand.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
Michael Monks is on the scene at the Federal building
off Alameda, kind of just down from Union Station, and
you know all those different federal buildings that are there,
but Lameda is not a federal street. That's the city street,
and the protesters are spilling into the city street. This
hour went from a couple hundred people there protesting to
(30:37):
suddenly the National Guard pushing people sort of away from
the loading dock area around that building, and we didn't
know exactly what was happening. Michael was broadcasting live and
there was a loud bang, which made me clench, if
I'm being honest, but he seemed to be okay, was
coughing a little, and then continued the report, and he
(30:58):
suddenly he said, it's happening again. There was a bit
of chaos occurring. We heard some sirens coming in and
then everything went quiet, and we didn't know what happened.
And suddenly we get a text message from Michael saying,
get me back on the air now I've been tear gassed,
and thank goodness, he's okay and he's been broadcasting with
us here, Michael. That crowd, as we made mention, continues
(31:22):
to grow. Another protests scheduled for City Hall. Has it
continued to remain ever since the tear gassing and those
federal vehicles pulled up, that parade of federal vehicles pulled up,
and National Guard kind of went back to that parking
lot area. Has it continued to be relatively peaceful protesting
right now?
Speaker 3 (31:39):
It's just the same shouting that we've been seeing most
of the afternoon, outside of those two incidents where the
National Guard used force to move people off the sidewalking
into the street.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
Later deciding or.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
Concluding, I should say that it was to make way
for a parade of federal vehicles that came down Alameda
Street and then parked in this federal building, his loading zone,
parking garage, and now it's pretty much status quo. I
missed this, but I have since seen some of my
colleagues reporting on Twitter that Congresswoman Maxine Waters was here
also trying to gain entry to this building, she was denied.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
She says she wanted to check.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
On union leader David Auerta, who was arrested on Friday
during some ice activity in the Fashion District. He had
suffered an injury and then has been detained by as
he's a very significant political figure. A lot of prominent Democrats,
including the governor and the mayor and county supervisors have
called for his release. But apparently I missed due to
the tear gas Maxine Waters showing up and trying to
(32:38):
get in the building.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
They told her no, interesting, all right, So that also
stands to a pattern that we've seen in the past
when you've had politicians show up at detainment centers. We
saw this on the East Coast, and we saw some
politicians actually being arrested in that case, and now we're
seeing it here on the West coast. Weak same thing.
Speaker 3 (32:57):
And this guy, David Werta, is is not and you know,
he's not an illegal immigrant as far as I know,
but he was on scene in the Fashion district during
the ice activity because this did involve workers, and he's
the president of SEIU, which has been reported as the
largest labor union in the state. Very influential politically, and
(33:18):
a lot of politicians have been speaking about his detainment
in particular.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
All right, well, I'm going to do a little bit
more on that coming up here at four o'clock. One
last question, Michael, and then I'll let you sort of
find a safe place to observe for a while. When
all hell was breaking loose, did you see were there
water bottles being thrown at the National guardsmen? Did you
see any sort of projectiles going in that direction?
Speaker 3 (33:43):
Yes, it absolutely water bottles that were being thrown. Again,
that flashbang I believe came from the National Guard. But
we have seen another protest in the past couple of
days that there were fireworks and minor explosives being used
by protesters as well. I don't know whether any of
those are on scene here yet, but this was a
powder keg and and it did boil over, it exploded
(34:05):
a little bit, and and that that would be minor
if a similar event unfolds here. Because the crowd is
so much larger, and with an event scheduled for just
a few minutes at La City Hall, I don't know
what the status of that plan is right now. You
could expect that there will be even more people downtown.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
All right, Michael Monks, be safe, my friend Will We'll
continue to check with you. I know it's long day,
and we appreciate it. Really great work, tremendous. Mark Thompson
is about to take is set to take over the
chaos here. Mark, what the hell's going on? Man?
Speaker 5 (34:37):
Well, there are actually so many different facets to this.
It's fascinating. Oh my god, immenseally disturbing. The detaining you
reference to David Huerta. He's a massively high profile figure
within the labor community in Los Angeles. And you know
when you and I'll be talking more about this, but
(34:58):
when you detain and arrest someone like a David Auerta,
you really do arouse the ire of so many in
the union. And the other thing I would say, and again,
the unions here in California are different than the unions
elsewhere in the country. The unions here in California are
(35:19):
largely made up of Latinos and those faces that end
up in these detention centers as ICE begins this crackdown.
And so when you talk about whipping up a community
and you talk about the unrest that we are seeing
and the growing ire of this community. I think again,
the detention of David Auerta and a union leader, I
(35:43):
think takes it to another level. It's amplified in ways
it wouldn't be otherwise. I mean, this is again just
one facet of what's going on. But the other, of
course is the National Guard and the notion that the
National Guard is being deployed in Los Angeles by the
President of the United States. And that's something that again
has its own politically charged aspect to it, because that's
(36:07):
just not what generally happens here. In fact, the last
time the National Guard was deployed in LA I want
to say it was ninety two, maybe it was in
twenty twenty during the George Floyd.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
Unrest.
Speaker 5 (36:23):
But in both cases it was the governor who asked
for the National Guard.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
To be deployed.
Speaker 5 (36:28):
That's typically the way it works, So you don't have
a president or an administration in this case typically asking
for it. So again, and that's just another facet. So
you begin to see, yeah, all of the different aspects
so this and I haven't even talked about the agitators
and those who are there peacefully protesting. This is a
hugely dynamic situation. And we'll be discussing it, of course
(36:50):
in the minutes.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
And of course the looters and everything else. I was reading,
I think the last time that we had the National
Guard called for by the president where the governor was not.
You know, a part of that decision was in the
desegred de segregation of schools. There you go, nineteen sixty five.
We're talking sixty years since this has happened. Yeah, I
mean after the Rodney King verdict.
Speaker 5 (37:12):
I mean, no, this is I've been working in news
in Los Angeles for what is it thirty five years,
and so maybe the younger boys and girls may not
remember this, but there was, of course, after the Rodney
King beating an acquittal, there was a massive unstable situation
that just swept through LA and the governor at the
time asked for the National Guard to be put in place.
(37:33):
The governor was a Republican, Pete Wilson, and that was
a I'd suggest, a massively productive thing to have because
you had a city across the city that was a
part of all this unrest. Here again, without being an
expert on crowd control, but we've seen these areas of
violence and potential violence and dynamic situations. Bill Over, this
(37:57):
did appear to be a situation that it would seem
many of the experts weighing in said, hey, this can
be controlled by local authorities. So we really went from
zero to sixty on this very quickly because the President
decided to move in the National Guard troops.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
So he makes such a great point about the difference
between the Rodney King riots and now this is such
a this is such an isolated area versus that Rodney
King was just everywhere, exactly everywhere. Yeah, Mark, thank you
for taking over the microphone. I appreciate that. I'm gonna
go grab some lunch.
Speaker 5 (38:30):
Yeah, you've done a nice chef show, and I think
you're in a couple of years back in a couple
of hours. So yeah, all right, ChRI, thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (38:38):
I appreciate that. So I've got some thoughts on what
we heard today. I've got some some hot takes. As
some people would say, well, we'll hear more of that
coming up here at four o'clock. But as you heard
from Mark, obviously tremendous amount of insight into what's happening
right now, uh, mixed with the history in the community,
and you know, for those of us that remember the
Rodney King riots. I wasn't. I wasn't in southern California
(39:00):
at the time, but I was a young man and
it was the first time I remember, you know, big
city wide riots in my lifetime, and so that that
was such a huge event historically, and personally watching that
happen and now seeing this today, it is a completely
different situation, but nonetheless unforgettable. So I'll be back at
(39:23):
four o'clock to talk more about that. A couple of
things real quick here, just some housekeeping, and that is
that Michael Monks, who's been on the scene and doing
such a tremendous job, has also been filing not only
news reports for us to be playing, but we've also
got some photos. We're putting those up at the the
KFI Instagram page, and I know I think he's got
(39:43):
some stuff going on his Twitter page as well. So obviously,
if if you want to get some visuals with what
you're hearing, please feel free to do that. Those of
you listening on the KFI channel on the iHeartRadio app,
you are always welcome to give your thoughts on the
talk back line. I know Mark likes to use the
I will be using those today at four o'clock as well.
So looking forward to your talkbacks, your thoughts, your reactions,
(40:05):
and hell, i'll even say, your hot takes and whatever
it is that you're hearing. In the meantime, we're hoping
Michael Monks stays safe. He is broadcasting live down there
at the Detention Center off Alameda, where things seem to
be pouring into the streets. So you'll hear more from Michael,
I'm sure in the coming hours as the actual scheduled
protest is set to begin at two o'clock. That one
(40:26):
is scheduled for City Hall, but it sounds like Michael
is to go where the action is, and right now
it's at that Federal Center. Continuing coverage of the protest
going on downtown throughout the afternoon.
Speaker 1 (40:38):
It's KFI AM six on demand.
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