When Democrats see people hurling rocks and shooting commercial-grade fireworks at police officers, blocking highways and setting trash cans, traffic cones and cars on fire, they don’t see a riot.
Rep. Maxine Waters, California Democrat, called the mayhem in Los Angeles a peaceful protest.
“There was no violence. I was on the street, I know, and I went from downtown detention back out into the community talking to people, what happened in Paramount, what happened in Compton, what happened in Inglewood?” Ms. Waters said Tuesday at a press conference with fellow Democrats at the Capitol.
House Democrats insisted Tuesday that protesters in Los Angeles were largely nonviolent and that President Trump inflamed the anti-deportation protests by intervening with National Guard and Marine troops.
They said the only violence is being committed by agent provocateurs intent on making their opposition to Mr. Trump’s deportation agenda look bad.
“Don’t just rely on what you’re being told or the few incidents that you saw. He’s provoking. He’s trying to make sure that he gets people angry,” Ms. Waters said of the president.
“And of course, we always have to be careful that they’re not agent provocateurs that we’ve learned about. Historically, that’s in the middle of all of this, trying to make sure that they create violence. We are not creating violence.”
However, Immigration and Customs Enforcement said it has seen a 400% spike in assaults on its personnel as people, angry over arrests, lash out with words, fists, rocks and — in Los Angeles — commercial-grade fireworks shot at authorities.
Protesters and troops have faced off in and around Los Angeles since Sunday afternoon, when local police declared an unlawful assembly and authorized the arrest of anyone throwing items.
Swarms of protesters took over part of U.S. Highway 101, a major artery, in downtown Los Angeles and began throwing items at the California Highway Patrol officers in riot gear who confronted demonstrators.
Officers fired flash-bangs and tear gas into the mass of protesters, with multiple demonstrators being arrested after they refused to be pushed off the highway.
Some agitators lit several self-driving Waymo cars on fire as the rioters’ attention shifted from the freeway.
On Capitol Hill, the talk turned to impeachment.
Rep. Yvette Clarke of New York, the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, said President Trump should be impeached for sending in the National Guard.
However, said it wasn’t yet time to pursue impeachment.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” Ms. Clarke said at a press conference with other House Democrats.
Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar of California stressed that “House Democrats aren’t focused on impeachment today” when he spoke to reporters following Ms. Clarke’s remark.
“We are focused on holding the president and House Republicans accountable for the policies that attack the basic needs, like health care and food assistance,” he said.
Others attempted to placate the activists while also invoking respect for law and order.
“The city of Los Angeles has not asked for the National Guard, and the governor of the state of California has not asked for the National Guard. It is unprecedented what this individual is doing, but it’s exactly what he does best, dividing the people and creating chaos,” said Democratic Rep. Mike Thompson of California.
“If you’re breaking the law in your protest, if you’re causing damage, if you’re attacking people, you most certainly should be arrested and you should be held accountable. But the protesters are there. They’re protesting peacefully. It is a constitutional right to do this.”
Rep. Adrianao Espaillat, New York Democrat, said that the people who are protesting, for the most part, are “not violent.”
“They’re not there to cause issues of trouble or vandalism. The ones that are there causing that, we’re rejecting that forcefully, and we’re saying to people, protest peacefully,” he said.
Police said more than 70 people have been arrested in the clashes with law enforcement.
Some Democrats in Congress broke ranks and criticized their colleagues for not condemning the violence.
“This is anarchy and true chaos,” Sen. John Fetterman, Pennsylvania Democrat, said on social media, posting a picture of burnt cars. “My party loses the moral high ground when we refuse to condemn setting cars on fire, destroying buildings and assaulting law enforcement.”
“I unapologetically stand for free speech, peaceful demonstrations and immigration — but this is not that,” Mr. Fetterman said.
• Mallory Wilson contributed to this report.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.