LOS ANGELES, June 8 (NNN-Xinhua) — Thousands of people in California on Sunday took part in the 11th straight day of peaceful protests over the death of African American man George Floyd in police custody while the National Guard troops are leaving Los Angeles, the second largest city of the United States.
Some troops begin departing Sunday evening, one week after being deployed to assist in managing protests and scattered looting, and “a small number of units will be stationed nearby until June 10 to provide emergency support if needed,” Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said in a statement posted on his official twitter page.
“I’m proud L.A. residents are leading a peaceful and powerful movement to build a fair, just, and equitable city,” he said.
Local NBC news channel also reported that the troops would be pulled out of all California cities, quoting an email from California National Guard Adjutant General David Baldwin.
“After nearly a week assisting civil authorities on the streets of California, soldiers with the California National Guard will begin transitioning back to their home armories,” Baldwin said.
More than 7,000 National Guard troops were deployed to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento and other cities last weekend to assist local law enforcement to maintain social security amid protests across the Golden State. Although the vast majority of protests have been peaceful, there were violent clashes with police and hundreds of businesses were vandalized.
The tensions between the protesters and local authorities were defused last week after local politicians showed their willingness to start police reform and condemned US President Donald Trump’s inflammatory threats to send military to US cities to quell the violence.
In an extraordinary display of leadership, Mayor Garcetti joined the demonstration crowd and took a knee on Tuesday.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has said that the state would reject any attempts by the White House to deploy the military in major cities to end the turmoil following Floyd’s death.
