


Former Los Angeles Police Officer Moses Castillo noted the similarities he sees between recent riots against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and the 1992 Rodney King riots.
The LAPD has issued dispersal orders and curfews in parts of Los Angeles as protesters have set fires to cars, including Waymo taxis, thrown frozen water bottles and cinderblocks at police cars, among other acts of destruction. Castillo was on the force in 1992, when LAPD officers who were captured on video beating Rodney King were acquitted of wrongdoing. The verdict motivated protesters to riot in the streets at the time.
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“They just burned their city down. And over 60 people died as a result of that civil unrest. Here, thankfully, we have not had reports of fatalities, but that’s what I’m concerned about. The escalation of violence against the police officers, damaging properties and Molotov cocktails, you name it, it’s very concerning to me and repeating all over itself,” Castillo said Thursday on Fox News’s America Reports.
Castillo urged Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass to support local law enforcement publicly.
“[P]olice officers need to be supported in their actions. The officers did not feel they have the support. In fact, I’m hearing many of the leadership, the top brass, were indecisive what to do,” Castillo said, then, referring to Bass, added, “and I think it all comes from her.”
Bass credited police for quelling more serious crimes as authorities continue to arrest residents on a variety of charges. Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell disputed Bass during a Monday press conference after the third night of riots.
“We are overwhelmed as far as the number of people engaging in this type of activity and the types of things that they’re doing. They’ll take backpacks filled with cinder blocks and hammers, break the blocks, and pass the pieces around to throw at officers and cars, and even at other people,” McDonnell said. “In the past couple of nights, we’ve seen violence at a level that disgusts every good person.”
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The Los Angeles County sheriff seemingly disputed Bass’s claim that the protesters are peaceful, saying in a statement they have become “increasingly agitated” and are demonstrating “violent behavior” toward police officers.
These most recent riots started over the 45 illegal immigrants that were arrested in an ICE raid over the weekend.