Video News Clips: In Their Own Words

News Anchor Casually Opines That LA Rioters Are Just ‘People Having Fun’

Screenshot/YouTube/ABC7

ABC7 Los Angeles anchor Marc Brown on Sunday appeared to describe Los Angeles rioters as “just a bunch of people having fun watching cars burn.”

Legacy media outlets have described the unrest that started Friday in Los Angeles, California, over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids as “protests,” despite extensive vandalism, arson and attacks on authorities. While his network aired footage of three Waymo cars on fire that people appeared to be casually watching burn, Brown warned the situation could escalate if authorities mishandled it.

WATCH:

“It’s a precarious situation. You want to maintain control and get order back in the city, but if you try and do so in a certain way, you’re going to devolve here into some really bad confrontations,” Brown said. “And so, you know, there are discussions being had right now by law enforcement about how best to handle this situation. Once the demonstrators made their way onto the 101, it took CHP [California Highway Patrol] a little bit of time to come up with a plan and how they were able to do that.”

“And here we have the 101 back open again. So, same kind of situation here. There’s a large group of people,” he continued. “It could turn very volatile if you move law enforcement in there in the wrong way and turn what is just a bunch of people having fun watching cars burn into a massive confrontation and altercation between officers and demonstrators.”

ABC News also published a Sunday piece with a headline that acknowledged the demonstrations were “violent,” yet the publication still opted not to use the term “rioters” except in quotes by ICE acting Director Todd Lyons. The publication reported that there were “clashes between protesters and police” and that “multiple people were seen looting a gas station store in Paramount.”

Riots first erupted on Friday after ICE raids in the Los Angeles area.

Federal agents conducting ICE operations arrested over 100 illegal immigrants, including those with gang and drug trafficking allegations, prompting substantial unrest. President Donald Trump on Saturday announced the deployment of 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles following two days of violent clashes.

The Department of Homeland Security published a Saturday statement alleging rioters “assaulted ICE law enforcement officers, slashed tires, defaced buildings, and taxpayer funded property” on Friday.