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Marines to protect federal building, army says

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US cities brace for anti-Trump demonstrations on Saturday

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Reuters/Ipsos poll: Public divided on military use over

protests

(New throughout, adds Marine deployment and Newark incident)

By Brad Brooks, Jorge Garcia, Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart

LOS ANGELES, June 13 (Reuters) - U.S. Marines were

deployed to Los Angeles on Friday, the military said, a rare

domestic use of its forces as protests over President Donald

Trump's immigration raids spread nationwide.

On Thursday, a court ruled in favor of Trump's bid to retain

the National Guard in L.A. in reaction to the growing backlash

against his immigration policy since his return to power in

January.

About 200 Marines will be protecting a federal building in

Los Angeles, Army Major General Scott Sherman, said on Friday.

The administration has authorized a total of 700 Marines to be

deployed in the city.

Neither the Marines nor the National Guard troops in the

city had temporarily detained anyone, he added.

"I would like to emphasize that the soldiers will not

participate in law enforcement activities," he said during a

briefing.

It is uncommon for active duty troops to be used

domestically during civil disturbances.

The last time the military was used for direct police action

under the Insurrection Act was in 1992, when the California

governor at the time asked then President George H.W. Bush to

help respond to Los Angeles riots over the acquittal of police

officers who beat Black motorist Rodney King.

A court ruled on Thursday that Trump can keep his deployment

of National Guard troops in Los Angeles.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' decision temporarily

paused a lower court ruling that blocked the mobilization,

although it does not mean that the court will ultimately agree

to side with him.

"We saved L.A. Thank you for the Decision!!!" Trump wrote on

his Truth Social platform.

Cities across the U.S. were bracing for demonstrations on

Saturday, when those also opposed to a weekend military parade

in Washington are expected to take to the streets.

"They've defied our courts, deported Americans, disappeared

people off the streets, attacked our civil rights, and slashed

our services," the group No Kings, which is behind the day of

action, wrote on its website.

SOLDIERS ON THE STREETS

In Los Angeles, troops have stood guard at a federal

detention center in the city's downtown where many of the

protests have taken place in a show of solidarity for immigrants

detained inside.

The Guard had accompanied Immigration and Customs

Enforcement agents on operations to detain immigrants.

City officials in Los Angeles and state officials in

California have opposed the ramping up of federal immigration

enforcement since it began last Friday.

"Peace begins with ICE leaving Los Angeles," Mayor Karen

Bass, who has imposed a nighttime curfew over one square mile

(2.5 square km) of downtown Los Angeles, said on Thursday.

Protests so far have been mostly peaceful, punctuated by

incidents of violence, and restricted to a few city blocks.

Demonstrations have also taken place in other U.S. cities

this week including New York and Chicago, and there have been

some disturbances.

Four men escaped from a privately run immigration detention

center in Newark, New Jersey, on Thursday amid unrest from

inmates over conditions inside the facility, the New York Times

reported, citing a law enforcement official and a spokesperson

for the Department of Homeland Security.

Spokespeople for DHS and U.S. Immigration and Customs

Enforcement did not respond to inquiries about the incident at

the center or the escapes.

Video posted to social media by the New Jersey Alliance for

Immigrant Justice, an advocacy group, showed protesters outside

the facility attempting to block law enforcement vehicles from

entering.

Trump is carrying out a campaign promise to deport

immigrants, employing forceful tactics consistent with the

norm-breaking political style that got him elected twice.

Democrats including California Governor Gavin Newsom have

said the use of military force was unnecessary and an example of

Trump's authoritarianism.

Americans are divided over Trump's decision to activate the

military.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Thursday showed 48% of

respondents agreed with a statement that the president should

"deploy the military to bring order to the streets" when

protests turned violent, while 41% disagreed.

(Additional reporting by Sebastian Rocandio, Omar Younis,

Arafat Barbakh, Rollo Ross, Alan Devall, Joseph Ax and Phil

Stewart; Writing by Costas Pitas; Editing by Mary Milliken, Mark

Porter and David Gregorio)