By Pascal Ibe
Introduction
President Donald Trump on Sunday deployed 2,000 California National Guard troops to Los Angeles over the objections of Gov. Gavin Newsom after a second day of clashes between hundreds of protesters and federal immigration authorities in riot gear.
Confrontations broke out on Saturday near a Home Depot in the heavily Latino city of Paramount, south of Los Angeles, where federal agents were staging at a Department of Homeland Security office nearby. Agents unleashed tear gas, flash-bang explosives, and pepper balls, and protesters hurled rocks and cement at Border Patrol vehicles. Smoke wafted from small piles of burning refuse in the streets.
Tensions were high after a series of sweeps by immigration authorities the previous day, including in LA’s fashion district and at a Home Depot, as the weeklong tally of immigrant arrests in the city climbed past 100. A prominent union leader was arrested while protesting and accused of impeding law enforcement.
On Monday, the California governor vowed to sue President Donald Trump for deploying National Guard soldiers.
Claim
As a result of the report of protests, an X user, @MonitorX998,∅∅ shared a video showing a scene of burning vehicles and chaos alongside the claim that this was the ongoing protest over an immigration raid in Los Angeles.
The claim attached to the video reads, “#BREAKING 🇺🇸💥 Scenes from Los Angeles right now.
The post has generated over 50k views with more than 1k likes and hundreds of reposts according to X analytics.
Verification
When keyframes from the video were subjected to an image verification tool, Tineye, the results showed that the video appeared online first on 30th May 2020.
Further checks on Google Lens, led FACTWATCH Nigeria to a publication by Sky News on 31st May 2020. Sky News attached this video to the report with a caption that reads, “George Floyd death: US shops looted, cars set alight, tear gas fired”
In a detailed report by DailyMail UK, George Floyd riots spiralled out of control as cop cars were torched, stores were looted, and at least 11 states activated the National Guard on a fifth night of protests that show no signs of stopping.
Scenes of destruction continued to spread across America as the death of the black man at the hands of white cop Derek Chauvin ignited outrage over what many feel is a systemic problem with police brutality against African-American men.
NBC Los Angeles reported in 2020 that about 250 to 300 people in Santa Ana protested the in-custody death of George Floyd, with some throwing fireworks at police officers, authorities said Sunday morning..
The first of two protests involving 150 to 200 people began at 8 p.m. at McFadden Avenue and Bristol Street, said Santa Ana police Corporal Anthony Bertagna.
Verdict
This claim is MISLEADING. A video of a protest over the death of George Floyd in 2020 was recycled to depict the ongoing demonstrations against the immigration raid in Los Angeles.
