New York, Karafarinane Eghtesad – Following the escalation of Donald Trump administration’s actions against immigrants, widespread protests have taken place in the Los Angeles area, leading to clashes between police and protesters, violence, tear gas, and the arrest of dozens of people.

The Los Angeles police chief said on Monday local time that the level of violence that occurred following protests against immigration enforcement in the city of Los Angeles was "disgusting."

He said 27 people were arrested in the city on Saturday. Some of the charges, he said, included throwing a Molotov cocktail at a police officer and riding a motorcycle into a police line.

The Los Angeles Police Chief emphasized: "The violence I've seen is disgusting. Since the beginning of this, the violence has increased. What we saw on the first night was bad, but what has happened since then has become much worse and more violent. There were people on the street throwing firecrackers at our officers that can kill people."

California leaders including the governor Gavin Newsom and the Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass have accused Trump of compounding the problems caused by his immigration raids by taking the unorthodox step of requisitioning the state national guard. By mid-afternoon Newsom was urging the president to rescind the order.

“We didn’t have a problem until Trump got involved,” Newsom said. “This is a serious breach of state sovereignty – inflaming tensions while pulling resources from where they’re actually needed.”

Some of those frustrations showed on the street, as LAPD officers – even as they appeared determined not to inflame the crowds further – had to endure loud insults and a flurry of empty plastic water bottles thrown whenever they made an attempt to take control of the crowd.

2050