Federal officers fired pepper balls and surged into a crowd of protesters Thursday morning outside the Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, as tensions boiled over following the fatal shooting of a woman by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer a day earlier.
CBS News chief correspondent Matt Gutman was reporting from the scene when officers pushed into the crowd behind a cloud of chemical irritants, triggering shoving, panic and screams among the protesters.
It was the city’s first protest of the day after 37-year-old Renee Good was shot and killed in her car Wednesday during an ICE operation in a south Minneapolis neighborhood. The killing has sparked protests nationwide, including in New York, Miami and Detroit.
In Minneapolis, the anger was palpable.
Several hundred people gathered outside the federal building, including mothers and grandmothers. One woman, Trish, told CBS News the fear was already disrupting daily life amid an influx of 2,000 federal law enforcement members in the Twin Cities metro area.
“Everybody is staying home, because this is a big community with lots of different families and people can’t go to work, kids can’t go to school because they are terrorizing people,” Trish said.
Among the crowd were first-time protesters, including Patrick, who said he supports the military but felt compelled to speak out.
“Absolutely, I am ashamed of ICE,” Patrick told CBS News, adding, “I would say that it has been building — I think the rhetoric with the governor and the president and Kristi Noem — it has just been building, for sure. I would say it has tipped over.”
Trish and Patrick did not provide their last name.
Across the street, Border Patrol officers assembled as tensions mounted. Moments later, they fired pepper balls at close range at protesters and journalists.
The chaos intensified after someone threw a snowball. Officers surged forward to detain a person, deploying what appeared to be stun grenades. At one point, Border Patrol agents found themselves surrounded before breaking through the crowd and retreating to the building.
Protesters at times refused orders to disperse, sitting in the roadway. At least one woman was dragged along the pavement as officers appeared to prepare additional crowd-control devices.
Later in the day, Patrick reflected on the moment officers charged into demonstrators.
“I really hope that both sides of us can be peaceful and not resort to this intimidation stuff,” he said. “As an American, I have a right to protest.”
The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment.
A day after a woman in Minneapolis was killed by an immigration federal agent, clergy leaders and advocates gathered on the steps of the downtown Los Angeles federal immigration building to honor her and denounce the killing.
Holding printed out photos of Nicole Renee Good, the woman shot in the head by a federal immigration agent, a crowd of about 100 people gathered on Thursday morning for a vigil organized by the Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice and joined by immigrant rights groups. They held signs that read “Justice for Renee.”
“We stand holding the fear and the terror and the sorrow, the deep grief that has transpired needlessly,” said Rev. Francisco Garcia. “Murder at the hands of our tax dollars. State sanctioned. This cannot be, this cannot stand, and we offer our continued witness to stand against these atrocities, against this evil.”
A woman protests the shooting death of Renee Nicole Good, while joining dozens who protested her death Wednesday by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, in front of the Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles on January 8, 2026.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
One woman held a sign that read: “End ICE death squads.”
Good, a mother of three who had recently moved to Minneapolis, was driving her car Wednesday morning when she was stopped by federal immigration agents. Videos of the shooting have spread online and appear to show Good, 37, being told to get out of her car, with one agent walking and prying at the door handle. She is seen backing up when another agent stands in front of her car and, as she appears to drive forward, shoots her.
Good’s death has sparked protests that has put the city on edge as protesters have filled the streets, and similar protests have spread across the country.
In Sacramento, police said protesters vandalized a federal building during a march in response to the shooting. TV station KCRA reported that the protest was largely peaceful until a small group of protesters pushed open a security gate and threw rocks at parked cars and the building.
Ampara Rincon, holding a photo of Renee Nicole Good, watches as protesters leave flowers in Good’s memory a day after her shooting death by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, in front of the Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles on January 8, 2026.
The Trump administration has defended the agent’s action, with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem calling it an “act of domestic terrorism” against ICE officers and accused Good of trying to run the agent over.
For months, the administration has contended that federal immigration actions are necessary in carrying out Trump’s mandate to secure the borders. On Thursday, the DHS released statistics that officials say demonstrate that ICE agents have faced an increase in vehicular assaults.
Local leaders have disputed the administration’s narrative that agents were defending themselves as Good attempted to run them down, with Mayor Jacob Frey calling the claim a “garbage narrative.” He called on the agency to withdraw its agents from the city.
For months, clergy leaders have organized vigils and marches in the downtown area after immigration raids began in Los Angeles last year. This time, they felt compelled to speak out because even though Minneapolis is some 1,900 miles away, Good’s death has been felt across the country, Rev. Carlos Rincon said.
“It’s a life that was taken in a horrible way,” Rincon said. “I felt that it was very important to be present, to lament, to pray, but also to denounce. You know what this administration is doing because it comes from the President.”
As an immigrant himself, Rincon said he has attended protests to bear witness. When a large protest broke out in Paramount last year, Rincon was there with a Bible and dressed in clergy wear to help de-escalate the conflict. Instead, he said, he was shot with rubber bullets and tear gassed by agents. Violent confrontations between federal immigration agents and bystanders have continued, and Rincon feared a moment like this was bound to happen.
“She made the ultimate sacrifice on behalf of our community, and I wanted to honor her,” he said.
For many, the shooting was a sign of escalation by an administration that they said has turned against its own citizens. In California, ICE agents have opened fire while conducting immigration stops. On Aug. 16, masked U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers surrounded a man driving his truck and smashed his driver’s side window. When he tried to drive away, one agent shot at the truck three times, leaving bullet holes in the side of the car.
Dozens attend a protest over the shooting death of Renee Nicole Good who was shot dead Wednesday by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, in front of the Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles on January 8, 2026.
In Chicago, Border Patrol agents shot a woman several times after they accused her of ramming her vehicle into an agent’s car. She was charged with felony assault, but the charges were ultimately dropped.
“We are experiencing fascism by an administration who is at war with its own citizens,” Martha Arevalo, executive director of CARECEN LA, said. “What we are seeing all over the country is unprecedented, and it’s an attack against all of us, undocumented or citizen, it doesn’t matter. We’re all at risk. We should all be worried. We should all be outraged.”
L.A. resident Kelsey Harper said she felt angry and shocked when she learned of Good’s death. She felt compelled to attend the event and support an end to immigration raids and violent confrontations.
“This only ends if enough people are active about it,” Harper said. “The most we can do is show up for each other.”
Iran’s leaders faced another day of intense protests on Wednesday, with the death toll climbing close to 40 according to a U.S.-based monitoring group founded by anti-regime activists. As violent demonstrations popped up in more cities and towns across the Islamic Republic, the regime took a familiar stance, leaning into anti-Western rhetoric, ignoring the reports of dozens of civilians being killed, and offering economic aid to residents in a bid to quell the unrest that started as protests over inflation and the cost of living.
As they grapple for ways to end the street protests — under the threat of U.S. intervention by President Trump — Iranian authorities said a man was executed by hanging after being convicted of spying for Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, according to the country’s state-run IRNA news agency.
Ali Ardestani was convicted of providing Israeli intelligence “with images and photos of specific locations and information on target subjects, and received amounts in the form of digital currency at the end of each mission,” IRNA said. Iranian authorities hold trials behind closed doors, and no evidence against Ardestani was made public. Iran executed more than 1,000 people last year— the highest number of executions in the country since 1989, according to Amnesty International.
The latest execution came as Iran‘s hardline Islamic rulers face the most significant domestic unrest seen in the country in several years. Nationwide protests against the autocratic regime entered their 12th day on Thursday.
An image taken from a social media video, the date of which could not be confirmed, shows a large crowd marching through the streets of Abdanan, a city in Iran’s southwest Ilam province, believed to be part of nationwide protests against the Islamic Republic’s government.
Reuters/Social media
The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), set up by Iranian human rights activists and reliant on a network of contacts still in the country, said Wednesday that at least 38 people had been killed since the protests began, including four security forces.
The protests started as business owners in Tehran vented frustration over spiraling inflation and the cost of basic goods. Iran’s economy has been crippled by U.S. and international sanctions for years, but the demonstrations escalated quickly into the widest protests seen in the country since 2022, following the death of a young woman in police custody after she was detained for an alleged dress code violation.
Trump’s warning lingers as Iran tries to quell protests
On Sunday, President Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that the U.S. could hit Iran “very hard” if protesters are not protected. “We’re watching it very closely,” Mr. Trump said. He’d said two days earlier that if Iran “violently kills protesters,” the U.S. would “come to their rescue.”
So far, there’s been no overt sign of the U.S. following through on these threats, even as the reported death toll from the protests climbs, and no further comment from the White House about what actions by the Iranian regime might actually trigger a response.
Protesters are seen tearing up a large Iranian flag after it was taken down in the city of Mashhad, in Iran’s Razavi Khorasan province, in an image taken from video posted on social media amid nationwide protests. The location of the video was verified by Reuters but the date could not be, though it corresponded with reports of a protest in Mashhad on Jan. 7, 2026, a day before the video was posted online.
Reuters/Social media
In an effort to quell the internal pressure, Iran’s government announced economic measures over the weekend to help Iranian citizens make ends meet, and state media said Wednesday that President Mahsoud Pezeshkian had ordered security forces not to attack peaceful demonstrators.
Iran offers food aid in a bid to calm the streets
Government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said the new assistance measures, among other things, would triple national subsidies for regular households to buy basic goods, according to the state-controlled Mehr News Agency.
The primary benefit, expected to begin Wednesday, would effectively triple the amount Iranians are given by the government to buy basic food items, adding the equivalent of about $7 more per month on top of existing subsidies for food, based on current exchange rates.
Someone shops in a supermarket in Tehran, Iran, on Jan. 7, 2026, as the Iranian people grapple with soaring prices, a rapidly devaluing currency, and mounting economic pressure ahead of a planned rollout by the government of a monthly food coupon system amid the Islamic Republic’s worst economic crisis since 1979.
Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu/Getty
One Iranian told CBS News on Wednesday that the subsidy increase wouldn’t be enough.
“If two people in a family want to have eggs, bread, and cheese for their breakfast, the subsidy is spent on the first day,” said the Tehran resident, who declined to be named.
New Iran army chief hurls new threats at the West
As it often does during moments of domestic unrest, Tehran has continued to take a hard line, publicly, against its two biggest adversaries, Israel and the U.S.
In a statement Wednesday, addressing students at Iran’s Army Command and Staff University in Tehran, Iran’s new overall army commander Major General Amir Hatami threatened to “cut off the hand of any aggressor.”
Commander-in-Chief of the Iranian Army, Amir Hatami speaks during a meeting with military academy students, in Tehran, Iran, in an image provided by the army on Jan. 7, 2026.
Iranian Army/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
“Islamic Iran considers the intensification of the enemies’ rhetoric against the Iranian nation as a threat and will not leave its continuation unanswered,” Hatami said, according to The Associated Press.
At least 29 protesters have been killed as major anti-government demonstrations spread across Iran for a 10th day, a U.S.-based rights group says. The Iranian government is trying to quell the unrest, and reacted angrily to President Trump’s veiled threat of a U.S. armed intervention.
The Human Rights Activists News Agency, which gave the death toll based on its network of contacts in the country, said in its daily report on Monday that more than 1,200 people had been detained by Iranian security forces since the protests started more than a week ago. HRANA shared video on Tuesday that it said showed clashes between protesters and security forces at Tehran’s Grand Bazaar — a center of commerce in the capital where shop owners have long backed the regime.
The protests began more than a week ago in Tehran as business owners took to the streets to vent their frustration over soaring inflation in the nation, whose economy has been crippled by U.S. and international sanctions for years. But the anger spread quickly to more than 250 locations in at least 27 of Iran’s 31 provinces, according to the Washington-based HRANA, with social media videos showing violent clashes between protesters chanting anti-government slogans and security forces every night since.
Video posted online on Jan. 6, 2026 and location verified by the Reuters news agency shows Iranian security forces operating amid tear gas as they confront protesters in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar market.
Reuters
People who spoke with CBS News from inside the country on Tuesday said the latest demonstrations in the capital were relatively small, corroborating other reports that efforts by the Iranian authorities to placate the protesters have likely had some effect in reducing numbers in recent days.
President Trump said Friday — a day before American forces attacked Venezuela and captured the country’s longtime leader Nicolas Maduro — that the U.S. was “locked and loaded and ready,” warning that if Iran “violently kills protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue.”
Mr. Trump hasn’t offered any further detail on his threat, but he’s been ratcheting up pressure on Tehran since taking office for his second term, including with unprecedented U.S. strikes on the country’s nuclear facilities in June as Israel and Iran fought a 12-day war.
“I think many Iranian people will be inspired by that,” Maziar Bahari, editor of the independent Iranian news website IranWire, told CBS News on Saturday, referring to Mr. Trump’s remarks. “The message has made the Iranian regime more careful about its actions and using violence against people.”
Iranian officials have not confirmed the deaths of any protesters, and while acknowledging the demonstrations and economic pain felt in the country, they make little mention of the violence seen on the streets and accuse the U.S. and Israel of fomenting the unrest. The Islamic Republic’s semiofficial Fars news agency claimed Monday that about 250 police officers and 45 members of the feared Basij security force had been injured amid the unrest.
Protesters march in downtown Tehran, Iran, Dec. 29, 2025.
Fars News Agency via AP
The U.S. State Department has issued statements condemning specific incidents in Iran since Mr. Trump leveled his ambiguous threat, but the chances of an American intervention remained unclear on Tuesday.
As has long been the case with Iran, the uncertainty left space for rumors to swirl. There were unconfirmed reports that the country’s 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was considering escaping into exile in Russia if the protests escalated out of control.
Other reports have speculated that the government could even launch a new attack on Israel — something the regime has said it is ready for since the 12-day war in June — in a bid to divert attention away from domestic problems and refocus the population’s anger at Iran’s biggest foreign adversary, which would likely respond quickly and harshly.
But Iran’s intelligence services have a history of leaking false information to the media, especially foreign outlets, to create an exaggerated narrative that the country’s leaders can then deny and portray as deliberate Western disinformation.
In the meantime, the government has tried to quash the unrest on the streets not only with security forces, but with a series of measures aimed at showing sympathy with the protesters, including freezing some commodity prices and taxes on businesses, and even a dramatic move Monday to announce cash subsidies for essential goods for all households.
The government does appear to have been bracing for unrest in the wake of the summer war with Israel, which constrained its sanctions-squeezed budgets even further and forced slashes to subsidies and social services.
So far, however, even if the protests haven’t continued escalating — which is difficult to gauge as Iran’s government tightly controls the flow of information inside the country — the efforts to quell the unrest haven’t fully succeeded.
In the meantime, the demonstrations continue, as people wait for any further signals from Mr. Trump that he might be willing to try to take advantage of a vulnerable moment for the Islamic Republic’s rulers.
Over one hundred protesters marched outside of the MDC jail where Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is currently being detained, denouncing the measures the United States took to capture him.
According to the demonstrators who strode up and down the sidewalk in the shadow of the same jail that holds Luigi Mangione and Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, New Yorkers have no love for Maduro. However, they say they are furious over his apprehension since they feel President Donald Trump acted illegally to enter Venezuela.
“The United States, once again, decided to act against international laws, kidnapping a sitting leader of a foreign government with no rhyme or reason that could be justified, and is looking to further destabilize countries whose governments they don’t agree with. We need to be out here in the streets making that known that we don’t agree with it,” protester William Novello said, adding that he wants the world to know that not every American agrees with the military strike. “People around the world can act in solidarity, knowing that the people in the United States are trying to fight back against what their government does. They need to see us out here.”
Crowds gathered at MDC Brooklyn to protest Maduro’s U.S. detention.Photo by Dean Moses
Police barricaded off the entrance to the jail facility, forcing the demonstrators to occupy the sidewalk just outside the area, where they clung to picket signs reading “No U.S war on Venezuela” and “U.S out of the Caribbean” while the crowd chanted “Hands off Venezuela’s oil” and “No blood for oil.”
Lindsay Katt said she watched the news in horror when the explosions in Caracas were first reported and felt the need to join the protest.
“I think it’s unconscionable. I understand that this leader is disliked greatly and has his own problems. I think those things aren’t mutually exclusive. I don’t believe that one justifies the other. And I think the moment we start to negotiate whose humanity is worth protecting, all of our humanity becomes negotiable,” Katt said. “If we don’t step up together, anyone who has the power over us has the conditioning and ability to repress us.”
they say they are furious over his apprehension because President Donald Trump invaded Venezuela to do so.Photo by Dean Moses
Those stomping the street also say they are fuming over the U.S taking control of Venezuela itself, while also announcing its intention to take control of the country’s oil supply.
“I think what the US government has done is a violation of the sovereignty of Venezuela. They have no right to go into another country and tell them what they should do, and they openly say they’re there to get the oil, the gold, the lithium, the natural resources of the whole region. That’s not good for working people in Venezuela. It’s not good for working people here,” Seth Galinski said. “They’re trying to steal the wealth of Venezuela and other countries, and they’re dragging us towards the Third World War.”
Maduro is expected to appear in Federal court in Lower Manhattan on Monday to face drug charges.
Hundreds gathered outside the White House after the U.S. military removed President Nicolás Maduro from Venezuela.
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Hundreds protest military action in Venezuela at White House
Nine hours after President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. military launched a military operation in Venezuela that led to the capture and removal of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, hundreds gathered outside the White House.
The protest, organized by the Party for Socialism and Liberation, attracted a diverse group of people from the D.C. region, including Modesto King.
“I thought I was gonna get a heart attack this morning when I watched the news,” said King. “It’s not for the United States government to tell them who is legitimate or not.”
King, who is originally from the Dominican Republic, said he wondered how many Latin American presidents the U.S. would remove from power.
Solyana Bekele shares that concern. The 24-year-old from Alexandria said whoever the U.S. doesn’t like becomes a dictator.
“All of a sudden, now we’re talking about narcoterrorism, and how that’s somehow attacking the U.S. sovereignty, and that’s being used as an excuse,” said Bekele.
Not everyone at Lafayette Square was as supportive of Maduro as many of the protesters.
Bryan, who lives in Maryland, pointed to the protesters and gave his thoughts.
“He’s a criminal, and he murdered people. He imprisoned people, political people who stood up against him,” said Bryan. “If these people want to criticize the Trump administration, why not move to a communist country like North Korea, China or Venezuela?”
On the other side of that argument was Kathy Boylan, 82, who said she believes those claims are a lie.
“First of all, it hasn’t been proven in court,” said Boylan. “Why don’t they go to court, honestly?”
As speakers addressed the crowd, watching close by was Malcolm, a former member of the Air Force who was holding a sign that read “Veterans Against War.”
“I saw the escalation we’ve been doing over the past couple weeks and months, but kidnapping another country’s leader is a new step for me,” said Malcolm.
Many protesters held signs that read “No Blood For Oil,” which was a major concern for D.C. resident Mary Pat Rowan.
“Venezuela does have enormous oil resources, and Trump would like to get at them. That’s what we did in Iraq, and that was wrong there, and I think we know it now,” said Rowan.
Standing near the White House gates was Jennifer Stancil, who was also holding a sign that read: “No War!!! Impeach, Convict, Remove. Congress do something!”
“They’ve been attacking these boats, and they’ve been doing this stuff and they’ve been trying to justify it. You think about if somebody did that to us, how upset we would be?,” said Stancil.
When Ana Gil García heard about the United States’ capture of Venezuela’s president, she felt a sense of cautious optimism.
But the cofounder of the Illinois Venezuelan Alliance said she knows the future of the country and her son who lives in Caracas hang in the balance. She’s also wary of a foreign government intervening in the South American country. Venezuelans should decide their own destiny, she said.
“We don’t know what could be the immediate consequences to the country,” Gil said. “What we know is that we cannot accept civilians being killed … we are against any intervention in which civilians will suffer more than what they have already suffered.”
The Trump administration’s capture of Nicolás Maduro and his wife early Saturday morning brought up complicated emotions for some Venezuelan community leaders. Some groups and elected officials categorically opposed the stunning operation, calling it government overreach. Others, like Gil, said there’s some hope in being rid of a leader most human rights organizations describe as a dictator.
The U.S. flew Maduro out of Venezuela in an extraordinary military operation that plucked a sitting leader from office. Maduro and his wife arrived in New York to face prosecution by the Justice Department after a grand jury indicted them on narco-terrorism conspiracy charges.
President Donald Trump insisted the U.S. government would run the country at least temporarily and would tap Venezuela’s vast oil reserves to sell “large amounts” to other countries. The legal authority for the operation was not immediately clear, though the Trump administration described it — and earlier deadly strikes on boats in the Caribbean Sea — as necessary to stem the flow of dangerous drugs.
Gov. JB Pritzker, however, called it an “unconstitutional military action” in a statement, and said Trump is putting troops in danger with “no long-term strategy.”
“The American people deserve a President focused on making their lives more affordable,” he said.
Meanwhile, hundreds gathered downtown Saturday evening to protest the operation. Carrying signs that said, “No War on Venezuela,” and chanting, “No war, no coup, Donald Trump shame on you,” protesters criticized American “forever wars.” They also said it’s immoral for the government to profit from Venezuelan oil.
“Every single time the United States attacks another country, regardless of what the political color of that regime in power, the people of those countries suffer immeasurably,” activist Andy Thayer said.
“However impoverished they were before, they were greatly more impoverished afterwards,” he added.
Demonstrators gather for a protest against the U.S. military strike in Venezuela, at Chicago’s Federal Plaza, Jan. 3, 2026. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)
In addition to Pritzker, several local elected officials condemned the action. U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth called it “reckless and unconstitutional,” while Mayor Brandon Johnson said it “violates international law” and “dangerously escalates the possibility of full-scale war.”
“As we have said for the past two years, the dehumanization of migrants from Venezuela, and of immigrants generally, by the Far Right has laid the groundwork for military action in Central and South America,” Johnson said in a statement.
About 50,000 Venezuelan migrants have arrived in Chicago over the last several years as they fled political turmoil and extreme poverty in their home country. The Supreme Court last year allowed the Trump administration to strip legal protections for thousands of these migrants, some of whom were arrested in recent immigration enforcement operations.
Gil said, if anything, she hopes the military action helps people understand why swaths of immigrants fled Venezuela for better opportunities in the United States.
“When we left the country, we didn’t leave because we wanted to,” Gil said. “The people were forced to.”
Several Republicans had a more favorable reaction to the operation. Adam Kinzinger, a former congressman from Illinois, for example, said Maduro was never a “legitimate president” and that removing him without a massive military occupation is “how it should be done.”
“This was the right call,” he said on social media. “May Maduro face justice and the people of Venezuela be free.”
Luciana Díaz, the CEO of Panas en Chicago, a nonprofit that supports Venezuelan migrants, also said in a statement that they’re “deeply hopeful and encouraged for our community and for our country, after 28 years of dictatorship that forced thousands of Venezuelans many of whom are now asylum-seekers to rebuild their lives in cities like Chicago.”
“We have witnessed firsthand the human impact of this prolonged crisis. We trust that this moment will mark the beginning of a transition toward democracy, justice and the reunification of Venezuelan families,” Díaz said.
“God is with us. We continue to wait for a peaceful and genuine transition,” she added.
President Trump warned Friday in a social media post that if Iran “violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue.”
Mr. Trump offer no further comment on Iran or how the U.S. might intervene to protect protesters in the country in the post on his Truth Social network, which was published just before 3 a.m. Eastern, but he said: “We are locked and loaded and ready to go.”
It came hours after reports that at least six people have been killed amid nearly a week of escalating protests in Iran. The unrest began last weekend as business owners voiced frustration at the dire economic conditions in the Islamic Republic.
Videos and photos from Tehran and other cities posted on social media have shown protesters marching through streets from early this week, often chanting anti-government, pro-monarchy slogans and sometimes clashing violently with security forces.
In an apparent bid to quell the unrest, Iranian authorities have acknowledged the economic concerns and said peaceful protests are legitimate, but suggested that foreign powers — usually a reference to Israel and the U.S. — are behind subversive elements fueling violence on the streets.
Both the U.S. and Israeli governments had issued statements in support of the protests prior to Mr. Trump’s warning of a possible, undefined U.S. intervention on Friday morning.
“The people of Iran want freedom. They have suffered at the hands of the Ayatollahs for too long,” Mike Waltz, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, said in a post on X earlier this week. “We stand with Iranians in the streets of Tehran and across the country as they protest a radical regime that has brought them nothing but economic downturn and war.”
Tension between the U.S. and Iran escalated this week on the heels of a visit to the U.S. by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has campaigned his country’s close allies in Washington for decades to take a tougher stance on Iran.
After meeting with Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Sunday, Mr. Trump said he had heard that Iran could be attempting to rebuild its nuclear program following the unprecedented U.S. strikes on its enrichment facilities in June. Mr. Trump warned that if Iran did try to rebuild, “we’ll knock them down. We’ll knock the hell out of them. But hopefully that’s not happening.”
Iran is no stranger to nationwide protests, and the latest demonstrations have not come close to the last major outbreak in 2022, which was triggered by the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, a young Iranian woman.
An image from video posted on social media, which CBS News has not independently verified, appears to show a fire burning on a street in Tehran, Iran, amid clashes between protesters and government security forces in late December 2025 or early January 2026.
Her death in custody after being arrested for allegedly violating the nation’s strict dress code for women sparked a wave of anger across the nation. Several hundred people were killed, including dozens of members of the security forces, who waged a dramatic crackdown in response, arresting hundreds of people.
There were also widespread protests in 2019, sparked by a sharp increase in the price of petrol.
The standoff between Iran and the U.S. over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program reached a crescendo in June, when Mr. Trump ordered the deadly military strikes against Iran’s enrichment facilities, as Israel also carried out strikes on the country.
While Mr. Trump indicated earlier this week that the U.S. could take new action if Iran were to rebuild its nuclear program, Friday’s brief post on social media was the first suggestion of a possible American intervention on behalf of Iranian protesters.
Widening demonstrations sparked by Iran’s ailing economy spread Thursday into the Islamic Republic’s rural provinces, with at least six people being killed in the first fatalities reported among security forces and protesters, authorities said.
The deaths may mark the start of a heavier-handed response by Iran’s theocracy over the demonstrations, which have slowed in the capital, Tehran, but expanded elsewhere. The fatalities, one on Wednesday and five on Thursday, occurred in three cities predominantly home to Iran’s Lur ethnic group.
The protests have become the biggest in Iran since 2022, when the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody triggered nationwide demonstrations. However, the demonstrations have yet to be countrywide and have not been as intense as those surrounding the death of Amini, who was detained over not wearing her hijab, or headscarf, to the liking of authorities.
The latest protests, taking root in economic issues, have heard demonstrators chant against Iran’s theocracy as well. The country’s leaders are still reeling after Israel launched a 12-day war against the country in June. The U.S. also bombed Iranian nuclear sites during the war.
“The people of Iran want freedom. They have suffered at the hands of the Ayatollahs for too long,” Mike Waltz, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, said in a post on X earlier this week.
“We stand with Iranians in the streets of Tehran and across the country as they protest a radical regime that has brought them nothing but economic downturn and war,” he said.
Protesters march in downtown Tehran, Iran, Dec. 29, 2025.
Fars News Agency via AP
The most intense violence appeared to strike Azna, a city in Iran’s Lorestan province, some 185 miles southwest of Tehran. There, online videos purported to show objects in the street ablaze and gunfire echoing as people shouted: “Shameless! Shameless!”
The semiofficial Fars news agency reported three people had been killed. Other media, including pro-reform outlets, cited Fars for the report while state-run media did not fully acknowledge the violence there or elsewhere. It wasn’t clear why there wasn’t more reporting over the unrest, but journalists had faced arrest over their reporting in 2022.
In Lordegan, a city in Iran’s Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, online videos showed demonstrators gathered on a street, with the sound of gunfire in the background. The footage matched known features of Lordegan, some 290 miles south of Tehran.
Fars, citing an anonymous official, said two people were killed during the protests Thursday.
The Washington-based Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran said two people had been killed there, identifying the dead as demonstrators. It also shared a still image of what appeared to be an Iranian police officer, wearing body armor and wielding a shotgun.
In 2019, the area around Lordegan saw widespread protests and demonstrators reportedly damaged government buildings after a report said people there had been infected with HIV by contaminated needles used at a local health care clinic.
A separate demonstration Wednesday night reportedly led to the death of a 21-year-old volunteer in the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard’s Basij force.
The state-run IRNA news agency reported on the Guard member’s death but did not elaborate. An Iranian news agency called the Student News Network, which is believed to be close to the Basij, directly blamed demonstrators for the Guard member’s death, citing comments from Saeed Pourali, a deputy governor in Lorestan province.
The Guard member “was martyred … at the hands of rioters during protests in this city in defense of public order,” he reportedly said. Another 13 Basij members and police officers suffered injuries, he added.
“The protests that have occurred are due to economic pressures, inflation and currency fluctuations, and are an expression of livelihood concerns,” Pourali said. “The voices of citizens must be heard carefully and tactfully, but people must not allow their demands to be strained by profit-seeking individuals.”
The protests took place in the city of Kouhdasht, over 250 miles southwest of Tehran. Local prosecutor Kazem Nazari said 20 people had been arrested after the protests and that calm had returned to the city, the judiciary’s Mizan news agency reported.
Iran’s civilian government under reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian has been trying to signal it wants to negotiate with protesters. However, Pezeshkian has acknowledged there is not much he can do as Iran’s rial currency has rapidly depreciated, with $1 now costing some 1.4 million rials.
Meanwhile, state television separately reported on the arrests of seven people, including five it described as monarchists and two others it said had links to European-based groups. State TV also said another operation saw security forces confiscate 100 smuggled pistols, without elaborating.
Iran’s theocracy had declared Wednesday a public holiday across much of the country, citing cold weather, likely as a bid to get people out of the capital for a long weekend. The Iranian weekend is Thursday and Friday, while Saturday marks Imam Ali’s birthday, another holiday for many.
Tehran — Iran’s prosecutor general said Wednesday that economic protests that have gripped the country were legitimate, but he warned that any attempt to create insecurity would be met with a “decisive response,” as the Islamic Republic’s rulers tried to clamp down on a fourth day of unrest.
“Peaceful livelihood protests are part of social and understandable realities,” Mohammad Movahedi-Azad told state media after protests started by shopkeepers in the capital city Tehran, which were joined by students and others in several cities across the country.
“Any attempt to turn economic protests into a tool of insecurity, destruction of public property, or implementation of externally designed scenarios will inevitably be met with a legal, proportionate and decisive response,” warned Movahedi-Azad.
His comments came days after the Mossad intelligence agency of Iran‘s arch-foe Israel posted on social media that it was “with you on the ground,” in a message to Iranian protesters. Posting on its Persian-language X account, the spy agency encouraged Iranians to “go out into the streets together.”
Dozens of people walk down a street in Tehran, Iran, chanting pro-monarchy slogans to denounce the current Islamic Republic’s leadership and call for a return to earlier times amid rising living costs. Reuters confirmed the location of the video as Tehran from the buildings and road layout, which matched satellite and file imagery of the area. The date of the video could not be verified independently, but Iranian state media said protests occurred in Tehran on Dec. 28 and 29.
Reuters
In a post shared via its own Farsi language account on X, the U.S. State Department said Wednesday that it was “deeply concerned by reports and videos that peaceful protesters in Iran are facing intimidation, violence, and arrests.”
“Demanding basic rights is not a crime. The Islamic Republic must respect the rights of the Iranian people and end the repression,” the U.S. government said in the post.
“First the bazaars. Then the students. Now the whole country. Iranians are united. Different lives, one demand: respect our voices and our rights,” the State Department said in a subsequent post.
The protests come amid mounting tension between the U.S. and Iran after President Trump said he had heard, after a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that Iran could be attempting to rebuild its nuclear program following the unprecedented U.S. strikes on its enrichment facilities in June. Mr. Trump warned that if Iran did try to rebuild, “we’ll knock them down. We’ll knock the hell out of them. But hopefully that’s not happening.”
On Tuesday, Iran’s president said Tehran would respond “to any cruel aggression” with unspecified “harsh and discouraging” measures.
The protests, driven by dissatisfaction at Iran’s economic stagnation and galloping hyperinflation, began Sunday in Tehran’s largest mobile phone market, where shopkeepers shuttered their businesses. They gained momentum through Tuesday, with students at 10 universities in the capital and in other cities, including Iran’s most prestigious institutions, joining in.
Nevertheless, the protests remain limited in number and concentrated in central Tehran, with shops elsewhere in the sprawling metropolis of 10 million people unaffected. And the government appeared to be cracking down on the unrest, both on the streets with a heavy security presence, and by declaring a last-minute holiday to prompt the closure of schools and businesses.
Iran’s economy has been in the doldrums for years, with heavy U.S. and international sanctions over Tehran’s nuclear program weighing heavily on it. The currency, the rial, has also plunged in recent months, losing more than a third of its value against the U.S. dollar since last year.
Videos posted on social media have shown crowds chanting anti-government slogans as they marched through the streets, while others show security forces using tear gas and purportedly live ammunition. CBS News has not been able to independently verify the video clips posted online, some of which show heavily armed security forces appearing to detain multiple people, including students, and others in which apparent gunfire can be heard.
The Guild Council of the University of Tehran said six students were detained but later released. There were unconfirmed reports that at least one student was severely injured during a confrontation with security services in Tehran.
A last-minute holiday
The streets of Tehran were calm early Wednesday, a change from the usual chaotic and choking traffic, after authorities announced a national holiday with just a day’s notice. Many schools, banks and public institutions were closed, with officials saying the directive was due to the cold weather and the need to save energy.
People walk past closed shops following protests over a plunge in the currency’s value, in the Tehran Grand Bazaar, Tehran, Iran, December 30, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS – THIS PICTURE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY
Majid Asgaripour/WANA via Reuters
The capital’s prestigious Beheshti and Allameh Tabataba’i universities announced that classes would be held online throughout next week for the same reason, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.
The authorities did not link the bank holiday to the protests. Tehran is experiencing daytime temperatures near the freezing mark, which is not unusual for this time of year.
Weekends in Iran begin on Thursdays, while this Saturday marks a long-standing national holiday.
Iran is no stranger to nationwide protests, but the latest demonstrations have not come close to the last major outbreak in 2022, which was triggered by the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, a young Iranian woman.
Her death in custody after being arrested for allegedly violating the nation’s strict dress code for women sparked a wave of anger across the country. Several hundred people were killed, including dozens of members of the security forces, who waged a dramatic crackdown in response, arresting hundreds of people.
There were also widespread protests in 2019, sparked by a sharp increase in the price of petrol.
Protests erupt across Iran as currency sinks to record low – CBS News
Watch CBS News
Protesters have taken to the streets of Iran’s capital city as the country faces some of its worst economic pressures in years. Iranian journalist and women’s rights activist Masih Alinejad joins to discuss.
On Saturday, protesters took the streets outside of Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport. Their concern was regarding deportation flights administered by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The group was organized by local nonprofit 50501.
“We’re here to protest Signature Aviation as their aiding ICE deportation flights,” said one of the protesters while chanting.
Roughly 40 protesters were on-site and marched between Terminal 2 and Terminal 1 on 70th Street.
70th Street is also where Signature Aviation, who provides private services across the world, can be found. WCCO has not been able to confirm if Signature Aviation is involved with deportation flights.
Community members said they’re attending the protest to support immigrant neighbors.
“They have as many violations as somebody who didn’t renew their car registration. To see someone getting treated so inhumane sickens me,” said Kristin of Saint Paul.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed during her October visit to the Twin Cities that “our local authorities have boots-on-the-ground.”
“Just since January, they have removed 4,300 individuals off of our streets,” said Noem during her October visit.
“They’re using the private terminal here at Signature and straight-up using flights from Denver Air Connection,” said Drew Harmon, the Chair for Minnesota 5051.
Key Lime Air, who’s the parent company of Denver Air Connection said:
Key Lime Air respects the right of all individuals to peacefully protest and share their opinions. As a matter of policy, we are unable to discuss our charter operations. Our focus remains on conducting ALL Key Lime Air flights in accordance with the highest federally mandated safety standards
The Minneapolis Republican Party told WCCO in a statement:
Without evidence of the brutality spoken of, if federal immigration law is being enforced, that is what is important. We fully welcome immigrants who follow our legal process.
“It’s good to be a part of a crowd who feel that same ‘shock-to-your-core passion’ like we need to go out and do something.” Kristin added.
WCCO reached out to Signature Aviation and ICE for confirmation and comment but haven’t heard back. The Metropolitan Airports Commission says they don’t coordinate or get notice of general aviation or non-commercial flights at MSP. This includes government owned or operated aircraft.
An oak leaf in the afternoon sunshine, takes on an autumnal glow, on Wednesday, November 19, 2025 along Durham-Chapel Hill Blvd. in Durham, N.C.
Robert Willett
rwillett@newsobserver.com
Here’s a curated selection of moments across North Carolina as captured through the lens of The News and Observer visual journalists. This feature can be seen in Sunday’s newspaper, as well as in our online Edition. See it at eedition.newsobserver.com.
A Border Patrol agent gives a man a thumbs up after checking his identification on Fox Ridge Drive in Southeast Raleigh, N.C. Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025. The man was not taken into custody. Scott Sharpe ssharpe@newsobserver.com
More than 100 Durham School of the Arts students stage a walkout Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025, to protest recent immigration enforcement arrests carried out by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Durham. The walkout lasted less than an hour. Travis Long tlong@newsobserver.com
A security guard operates an automatic sliding door while watching the parking lot outside the International Foods grocery on New Hope Church Road in Raleigh on Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025, after federal immigration enforcement agents were seen circulating the area in unmarked SUVs. Immigrant rights groups said federal agents detained at least 12 Triangle residents on Tuesday, including in Raleigh, Durham and Cary. Travis Long tlong@newsobserver.com
Visitors tour the North Carolina Chinese Lantern Festival during a preview event at Koka Booth Amphitheatre in Cary on Friday evening, Nov. 14, 2025. The festival opens to the public Nov. 15 and runs nightly through Jan. 11, featuring more than 40 new handcrafted lantern displays created by visiting Chinese artisans. Highlights include a 164-foot floating installation on Symphony Lake and interactive designs celebrating the festival’s 10th year. Travis Long tlong@newsobserver.com
N.C. Central head coach LeVelle Moton calls a time-out as he steps away from North Carolina guard Jonathan Powell (11), who reacts after sinking a three-point basket in the first half on Friday, November 14, 2025 at the Smith Center in Chapel Hill, N.C. Robert Willett rwillett@newsobserver.com
N.C. State’s Tre Holloman defends VCU’s Nyk Lewis during the first half of the Wolfpack’s game on Monday, Nov. 17, 2025, at the Lenovo Center in Raleigh, N.C. Kaitlin McKeown The News & Observer
A day after Target’s third-quarter earnings report revealed a drop in sales, a group of community activists renewed their push Thursday for shoppers to boycott the company and take their money elsewhere this holiday season.
Since late January, they’ve urged customers to stay away from the Minneapolis-based retailer after it announced it was changing its diversity, equity and inclusion programs, sparking backlash. Some of Target’s initiatives were implemented in wake of the murder of George Floyd that rocked Minnesota and the country.
“We say that Target’s actions are not acceptable and they will not receive our dollars as a response,” said civil rights attorney and organizer Nikema Levy Armstrong at a news conference outside of corporate headquarters Thursday afternoon.
Target on Wednesday announced its third-quarter earnings, showing store sales slid by 2.7% in the last three-month period and is its third straight quarterly decline. The company is also expecting fewer sales through the year’s end, too, during the critical holiday season.
In an email to WCCO News, Target said it will complete its commitment to invest $2 billion in Black-owned businesses and has invested $100 million in Black-led community organizations.
“Target has a long-standing commitment to creating growth and opportunity for all. We work every day to unlock potential and create lasting impact by empowering entrepreneurs, supporting small businesses, uplifting our team members and strengthening the 2,000+ communities we operate in,” a spokesperson said.
Rick Gomez, the chief commercial officer, in the earnings call Wednesday said customers are “stretching budgets” and “spending where it matters most.” Company stock dropped nearly 40% year to date.
Officials did not mention the boycott on that call, but its advocates believe the sales slump shows that their efforts are paying off and resonating across the country.
They vow to stay away from shopping there until Target reverses course on its DEI policy changes.
“Many of us love Target. Many of us have friends and family who work at Target. But when Target refuses to see us, it is time for us to move away from that company,” said Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Minnesota.
Target said it’s planning an additional $1 billion investment in new stores and remodels and recently slashed prices of essential items like groceries.
U.S. Border Patrol began making rounds in Charlotte on Saturday morning.
This follows recent Border Patrol activity in Chicago that made headlines, with some reports alleging agents violated people’s rights.
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A Charlotte woman released video footage of her arrest during a protest at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office, and said that the government lied about the felony charge she faces.
The arrest happened Sunday morning, Nov. 16, at the ICE office on Tyvola Centre Drive in Charlotte.
Federal prosecutors said in a news release that 44-year-old Heather Morrow approached an agent from behind while he tried to arrest someone else, grabbed his shoulders and attempted to jump on his back. She and others were there in an “apparent effort to impede law enforcement movement on the property,” prosecutors said.
She has been charged with felony assault, resist, or impede a federal officer.
Morrow’s attorney, Xavier T. de Janon, told The Charlotte Observer that she suffers from fibromyalgia, shingles and arthritis, and that she would not be able to physically do what prosecutors accused her of.
She is a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools bus driver, he said.
The video tells a different story than the one an FBI agent wrote in a criminal complaint against Morrow earlier this week, de Janon said.
U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson’s office did not comment on the video or Morrow’s claims. ICE spokesperson Lindsay Williams also did not respond when The Charlotte Observer shared the video with him.
Since federal Border Patrol agents arrived in Charlotte and began making arrests Nov. 15, activists have hit the streets, tracked and reported their movements and pushed back in other ways.
While ICE is a different agency than Customs and Border Protection, both fall under the federal Department of Homeland Security and enforce immigration law.
What video shows
The 49-second video opens with someone in a police vest telling protesters in the parking lot to “get out of the way.”
A protester puts their hands on the front of a pickup truck moving in the lot, then pushes against it, as if trying to stop it.
“Name and badge number, now!” someone shouts at the agents. “Name and badge number!”
The camera quickly moves to the right as someone out of view shouts, “Come here, motherf***er!”
Then, someone in a green hoodie — seemingly a federal police officer — struggles and spins in the lot with the person who pushed on the truck. Another agent joins in, and they hold that protester against a different vehicle.
While the person who touched the truck is spinning around with an agent, Morrow appears to reach out and touch the agent’s shoulder. A third agent in a police vest tackles her to the ground. She is held down and handcuffed.
De Janon, her attorney, said the video captures all physical interaction between Morrow and the agents.
“The conclusion I reach is that (agents) started arresting someone,” he said. “Ms. Morrow got concerned and walked towards there. She does move her arm towards the officer, and then she gets immediately tackled to the ground. There is no jumping. There’s no grabbing of shoulders.”
What an FBI agent wrote
FBI Special Agent Michael Gregory wrote in a criminal complaint against Morrow that she and others were “attempting to block the entrance” to the ICE office with their bodies and cones.
When an agent driving the pickup truck arrived, they kept him from pulling in, the complaint said. So, the complaint said, he used his PA system five or six times to tell them they would be arrested if they did not move.
Another agent arrived, according to the complaint.
He approached the protesters, pulled out his pepper spray and warned that he would spray and arrest them if they did not leave, the complaint said.
“Please don’t spray me,” Morrow said as she turned away, according to the complaint.
More agents arrived, and the protesters moved enough that the truck was able to get through, the complaint said.
That’s when the complaint said that someone started pushing against the truck, and when it stopped, someone punched the window.
From there, the struggle seen in the video played out.
But the FBI agent’s account claims that one of the agents felt “jolted” from Morrow grabbing his shoulders. One of the agents said that they witnessed Morrow “attempt to jump on the back of (an agent) by placing both of her hands (the agent’s) shoulders while she had one foot off the ground.”
Morrow also said, “Don’t arrest my friend,” and “I’m a U.S. citizen. You can’t arrest me,” the FBI agent’s account said.
Ryan Oehrli covers criminal justice in the Charlotte region for The Charlotte Observer. His work is produced with financial support from the nonprofit The Just Trust. The Observer maintains full editorial control of its journalism.
Barbara Morrow waits for her daughter, Heather Morrow, to be released from Charlotte’s federal court on Monday, Nov. 17, 2025. JULIA COIN jcoin@charlotteobserver.com
This story was originally published November 20, 2025 at 5:11 PM.
Julia Coin covers courts, legal issues, police and public safety around Charlotte and is part of the Pulitzer-finalist team that covered Tropical Storm Helene in North Carolina. As the Observer’s breaking news reporter, she unveiled how fentanyl infiltrated local schools. Michigan-born and Florida-raised, she studied journalism at the University of Florida, where she covered statewide legislation, sexual assault on campus and Hurricane Ian in her hometown of Sanibel Island. Support my work with a digital subscription
Ryan Oehrli writes about criminal justice for The Charlotte Observer. His reporting has delved into police misconduct, jail and prison deaths, the state’s pardon system and more. He was also part of a team of Pulitzer finalists who covered Hurricane Helene. A North Carolina native, he grew up in Beaufort County.
Protests spread across the state as people rally against Border Patrol agents’ presence in Charlotte.
On Sunday, hundreds of people gathered in Moore Square and marched throughout the streets of downtown Raleigh for an “ICE OUT” demonstration.
Demonstrators really directed their messages toward Charlotte, where that border patrol operation is underway, and also called for the end of Trump’s Immigration crackdown and any operations in North Carolina.
“We’re here standing in solidarity with them and letting the Trump administration,
state legislators, border patrol and ICE they are not welcome in North
Carolina,” said Nicole Drapluk, party for socialism and liberation.
Federal officials have said these operations are about making sure Americans feel safe; however, demonstrators say these operations are sparking fear.
North Carolina Governor Josh Stein said in a post on Facebook Sunday said public safety is the top priority and commended local law enforcement for working to keep communities safe.
In his statement, he also commended Customs and Border Patrol agents for arresting what he described as “violent criminals,” but said the “actions of too many federal agents are doing the exact opposite in Charlotte.”
“This is not making us safer,” Stein said. “It is stoking fear and dividing our community.”
People on Sunday were seen carrying signs that read “kindness toward immigrants” and “no border control in North Carolina.”
Some were immigrants themselves and said protests like this carry extra meaning for them.
“I fear for my family, my friends, my neighbors,” said Maria Bautista, a protester from Sunday’s demonstrations who came to the U.S. 25 years ago. “I feel we’re doing good to come out here and protest for them so we can all come together as a community.”
The Los Angeles City Council will consider an ordinance that would prevent the LAPD from using crowd control weapons against peaceful protesters and journalists.
Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez, who represents District 13, is pushing for regulations that would prohibit the Los Angeles Police Department from using “kinetic energy projectiles” or “chemical agents” unless officers are threatened with physical violence.
The Public Safety Committee unanimously approved the proposal and forwarded a vote with all council members on Wednesday. The items would be considered by the council in November or December, said Nick Barnes-Batista, a communications director for District 13.
The ordinance would also require officers to give clear, audible warnings about safe exit routes during “kettling,” when crowds are pushed into designated areas by police.
After the first iteration of the “No Kings” protest over the summer that saw multiple journalists shot by nonlethal rounds, tear-gassed and detained, news organizations sued the city and Police Department, arguing officers had engaged in “continuing abuse” of members of the media.
U.S. District Judge Hernan D. Vera granted a temporary restraining order that restricted LAPD officers from using rubber projectiles, chemical irritants and flash bangs against journalists.
Under the court order, officers are allowed to use those weapons “only when the officer reasonably believes that a suspect is violently resisting arrest or poses an immediate threat of violence or physical harm.”
LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell called the definition of journalist “ambiguous” in a news release Monday, raising concerns that the preliminary injunction could prevent the LAPD from addressing “people intent on unlawful and violent behavior.”
“The risk of harm to everyone involved increases substantially,” McDonnell wrote. “LAPD must declare an unlawful assembly, and issue dispersal orders, to ensure the safety of the public and restore order.”
The L.A. Press Club, plaintiffs in the lawsuit that led to the injunction, has alleged journalists were detained and assaulted by officers during an immigration protest in August. The Press Club is also involved in a similar lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
“This case is about LAPD, but if necessary, we are ready to take similar action to address misconduct toward journalists by other agencies,” the organization wrote in a news release from June.
Vera ruled in September that “any duly authorized representative of any news service, online news service, newspaper, or radio or television station or network” would be classified as a journalist and therefore protected under the court’s orders. Journalists who are impeding or physically interfering with law enforcement are not subject to the protections.
Any ordinance passed by the City Council would apply to the LAPD but not other agencies that could be responding to protests that turn chaotic, such as the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department or California Highway Patrol, thereby complicating operational procedure.
Barnes-Batista, the District 13 spokesman, said the City Council would need to discuss how to craft the rules.
“There are definitely unanswered questions about [how] the city wouldn’t want the city to be liable for other agencies not following policy,” he said. “So that will have to be worked out.”
Last month, the City Council, led by Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, voted unanimously to deny a request by the city attorney, Hydee Feldstein Soto, to push for Vera’s injunction to be lifted.
“Journalism is under attack in this country — from the Trump Administration’s revocation of press access to the Pentagon to corporate consolidation of local newsrooms,” Hernandez said. “The answer cannot be for Los Angeles to join that assault by undermining court-ordered protections for journalists.”
A federal judge in Oregon on Sunday barred President Trump’s administration from deploying the National Guard to Portland, Oregon, until at least Friday, saying she “found no credible evidence” that protests in the city grew out of control before the president federalized the troops earlier this fall.
The city and state sued in September to block the deployment.
It’s the latest development in weeks of legal back-and-forth in Portland, Chicago and other U.S. cities as the Trump administration has moved to federalize and deploy the National Guard in city streets to quell protests.
The ruling from U.S. District Court Judge Karin Immergut, an appointee of Mr. Trump, followed a three-day trial in which both sides argued over whether protests at the city’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building met the conditions for using the military domestically under federal law.
In a 16-page filing late Sunday, Immergut said she would issue a final order on Friday due to the voluminous evidence presented at trial, including more than 750 exhibits.
The purpose of the deployment, according to the Trump administration, is to protect federal personnel and property where protests are occurring or likely to occur. Legal experts said that a higher appellate court order that remains in effect would have barred troops from being deployed anyway.
Law enforcement officers watch from a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025, in Portland, Oregon.
Jenny Kane / AP
Immergut wrote that most violence appeared to be between protesters and counter-protesters and found no evidence of “significant damage” to the immigration facility at the center of the protests.
“Based on the trial testimony, this Court finds no credible evidence that during the approximately two months before the President’s federalization order, protests grew out of control or involved more than isolated and sporadic instances of violent conduct that resulted in no serious injuries to federal personnel,” she wrote.
The complex case comes as Democratic cities targeted by Mr. Trump for military involvement — including Chicago, which has filed a separate lawsuit on the issue — seek to push back. They argue the president has not satisfied the legal threshold for deploying troops and that doing so would violate states’ sovereignty. The administration argues that it needs the troops because it has been unable to enforce the law with regular forces — one of the conditions set by Congress for calling up troops.
Immergut issued two orders in early October that blocked the deployment of the troops leading up to the trial. She previously found that Mr. Trump had failed to show that he met the legal requirements for mobilizing the National Guard. She described his assessment of Portland, which Mr. Trump has called “war-ravaged” with “fires all over the place,” as “simply untethered to the facts.”
One of Immergut’s orders was paused Oct. 20 by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. But late Tuesday, the appeals court vacated that decision and said it would rehear the matter before an 11-judge panel. Until the larger panel rehears the case, the appeals court’s initial order from early October — under which the National Guard is federalized but not deployed — remains in effect.
During the Portland trial, witnesses including local police and federal officials were questioned about the law enforcement response to the nightly protests at the city’s ICE building. The demonstrations peaked in June, when Portland police declared one a riot. The demonstrations typically drew a couple dozen people in the weeks leading up to Mr. Trump’s National Guard announcement.
Federal agents detain someone during a protest held outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland, Oregon, Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025.
Dave Killen / AP
The Trump administration said it has had to shuffle federal agents from elsewhere around the country to respond to the Portland protests, which it has characterized as a “rebellion” or “danger of rebellion” — another one of the conditions for calling up troops under federal law.
Federal officials working in the region testified about staffing shortages and requests for more personnel that have yet to be fulfilled. Among them was an official with the Federal Protective Service, the agency within the Department of Homeland Security that provides security at federal buildings, whom the judge allowed to be sworn in as a witness under his initials, R.C., due to safety concerns.
R.C., who said he would be one of the most knowledgeable people in DHS about security at Portland’s ICE building, testified that a troop deployment would alleviate the strain on staff. When cross-examined, however, he said he did not request troops and that he was not consulted on the matter. He also said he was “surprised” to learn about the deployment and that he did not agree with statements about Portland burning down.
Attorneys for Portland and Oregon said city police have been able to respond to the protests. After the police department declared a riot on June 14, it changed its strategy to direct officers to intervene when person and property crime occurs, and crowd numbers have largely diminished since the end of that month, police officials testified.
Another Federal Protective Service official whom the judge also allowed to testify under his initials said protesters have at times been violent, damaged the facility and acted aggressively toward officers working at the building.
The ICE building closed for three weeks over the summer due to property damage, according to court documents and testimony. The regional field office director for ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, Cammilla Wamsley, said her employees worked from another building during that period. The plaintiffs argued that was evidence that they were able to continue their work functions.
Oregon Senior Assistant Attorney General Scott Kennedy said that “without minimizing or condoning offensive expressions” or certain instances of criminal conduct, “none of these incidents suggest … that there’s a rebellion or an inability to execute the laws.”
It was April 2021 and the LAPD was facing sharp criticism over its handling of mass protests against police brutality. The Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles complaint accused officers of firing less-lethal weapons at demonstrators who posed no threat, among other abuses.
Smith said the assistant Los Angeles city attorney wanted his signature on a prewritten sworn declaration that described how LAPD officers had no choice but to use force against a volatile crowd hurling bottles and smoke bombs during a 2020 protest in Tujunga.
He refused to put his name on it.
Instead, eight months later, Smith filed his own lawsuit against the city, alleging he faced retaliation for trying to blow the whistle on a range of misconduct within the LAPD.
Los Angeles Police Department Capt. Johnny Smith.
(LAPD)
Smith and his attorneys declined to be interviewed by The Times, but evidence in his lawsuit offers a revealing look at the behind-the-scenes coordination — and friction — between LAPD officials and the city attorney’s office in defense of police use of force at protests.
Smith’s lawsuit says he felt pressured to give a misleading statement to cover up for reckless behavior by officers.
The captain’s claim, filed December 2021 in Los Angeles Superior Court, has taken on new significance with the city facing fresh litigation over LAPD crowd control tactics during recent protests against the Trump administration.
The 2020 protests led to a court order that limits how LAPD officers can use certain less-lethal weapons, including launchers that shoot hard-foam projectiles typically used to disable uncooperative suspects.
The city is still fighting to have those restrictions lifted, along with others put in place as a result of a separate lawsuit filed in June by press rights organizations.
Last month, City Atty. Hydee Feldstein Soto drew a rebuke from the City Council after she sought a temporary stay of the order issued by U.S. District Judge Hernán D. Vera.
Feldstein Soto argued that the rules — which prohibit officers from targeting journalists and nonviolent protesters — are overly broad and impractical. Vera rejected Feldstein Soto’s request, but the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is taking up the matter, with a hearing tentatively set for mid-November.
A counterprotestor is arrested after approaching Trump supporters holding a rally in Tujunga in 2020.
(Kyle Grillot / AFP / via Getty Images)
Smith said in his lawsuit that he wouldn’t put his name on the Tujunga declaration because he had reviewed evidence that showed officers flouting LAPD rules on beanbag shotguns, as well as launchers that fire 37mm and 40mm projectiles — roughly the size of mini soda cans — at over 200 mph.
Smith’s lawsuit said the launchers are intended to be “target specific,” or fired at individuals who pose a threat — not to disperse a crowd.
Smith said he raised alarms for months after the Tujunga protest, which occurred amid outrage over the police killings nationwide of Black and Latino people at the end of President Trump’s first term.
But it wasn’t until the city got sued, Smith’s complaint said, that incidents he flagged started to receive attention.
The city has denied the allegations in Smith’s lawsuit, saying in court filings that each LAPD use of force case was thoroughly investigated.
Smith’s lawsuit cites emails to senior LAPD officials that he says show efforts to sanitize the department’s handling of excessive force complaints from the protests.
An internal task force deemed most of the citizen complaints “unfounded.” Yet nearly two dozen of those cases were later reopened after Smith and a small team of officers found that the department’s review missed a litany of policy violations, his lawsuit says.
Smith also called out what he saw as “problematic bias” in the way what occurred at the Tujunga protest was reported up the chain of command.
His complaint describes a presentation given to then-Chief Michel Moore that downplayed the severity of the damage caused by less-lethal projectiles. According to Smith, the report omitted photos of “extensive injuries” suffered by one woman, who said in a lawsuit that she had to undergo plastic surgery after getting shot in the chest at close range with a beanbag round.
The LAPD stopped using bean-bag shotguns at protests after a state law banned the practice, but the department still allows officers to use the weapons in other situations, such as when subduing an uncooperative suspect.
Los Angeles police officers attempt to stop a confrontation between Trump supporters and counterprotestors during a pro-Trump rally in Tujunga in 2020.
(Kyle Grillot / AFP / via Getty Images)
Alan Skobin, a former police commissioner and a friend of Smith’s, told The Times he was in the room when Smith received a call in April 2021 from the city attorney’s office about the declaration he refused to sign.
The exchange appeared to turn tense, Skobin recalled, as Smith repeated that details contained in the document were a “lie.”
Skobin said he wondered whether the assistant city attorney went “back and examined the videotaped and all the other evidence.”
“That’s what I would hope would happen,” Skobin said.
A spokesperson for the Los Angeles city attorney, Karen Richardson, provided The Times with a California State Bar report that said there was insufficient evidence to discipline the lawyer involved; the case was closed in June 2024.
Richardson declined further comment, citing Smith’s pending lawsuit.
According to Smith, other high-ranking LAPD officials went along with the misleading story that the officers in Tujunga acted in response to being overwhelmed by a hostile crowd.
Smith claims he faced retaliation for reporting a fellow captain who said police were justified in using force against a protester who held a placard turned sideways “so that the pole can be used as a weapon against officers.”
Body camera footage showed a different version of events, Smith said, with officers launching an unjustified assault on the man and others around him.
The colleague that Smith reported, German Hurtado, has since been promoted to deputy chief.
The city has denied the allegations in court filings. When reached for comment on Friday, Hurtado said he was limited in what he could say because the litigation is ongoing.
“From what I understand all that’s been investigated and it was unfounded,” he said, referencing Smith’s allegations.
“The lawsuit, I don’t know where it’s and I don’t know anything about it. No one’s talked to me. No one’s deposed me.”
Critics argue that the LAPD continues to violate rules that prohibit targeting journalists during demonstrations.
After a peaceful daytime “No Kings Day” protest downtown Oct. 18, about 100 to 200 people lingered outside downtown’s Metropolitan Detention Center after nightfall. Police declared an unlawful assembly and officers began firing 40mm projectiles.
Lexis-Olivier Ray, a reporter for the news site L.A. Taco who regularly covers demonstrations, was among those hit by the rounds.
Hundreds participate in the No Kings Day of Peaceful Action in downtown Los Angeles on Oct. 18.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
In a video shared widely online, an LAPD officer can be heard justifying the incident by saying they were firing at “fake” journalists.
An LAPD spokesperson said the incident with Ray is under internal investigation and could offer no further comment.
Ray said it wasn’t the first time he’d been struck by less-lethal rounds at protests despite years of legislation and court orders.
“It’s pretty discouraging that stuff like this keeps happening,” he said.
Jim McDonnell was introduced by Mayor Karen Bass to serve as LAPD chief during a news conference at City Hall on Oct. 4, 2024.
(Ringo Chiu / For The Times)
LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell defended the department at the Police Commission’s weekly meeting Tuesday, saying the “No Kings” protesters who remained downtown after dark were shining lasers at officers, and throwing rocks, bottles and fireworks.
Asked about the incident involving Ray, the chief said he didn’t want to comment about it publicly, but would do so “offline” — drawing jeers from some in the audience who demanded an explanation.
McDonnell told the commission that he supported the city’s efforts to lift the court’s injunction. Easing the restrictions, he said, would “allow our officers to have access to less-lethal force options so that we don’t have to escalate beyond that.”
Times staff writer Noah Goldberg contributed to this report.
Did the British really join in on the Oct. 18 “No Kings” protests against President Donald Trump? A social media video tries to make you think they pulled off a coordinated nighttime spectacle.
A video shared in an X post with more than 154,000 views as of the afternoon of Oct. 20 showed protesters forming an illuminated human banner spelling out “No Kings.”
“This No Kings protest in the UK against Trump and his Nazification of America is amazing,” the X user wrote Oct. 18.
Other users on X and Instagram also shared the video.
(Screengrab of X post)
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A couple of things in the video give away the verdict.
The footage has a Veo watermark on the bottom-right corner. Veo is Google’s artificial intelligence video generating model, which can create videos up to 8 seconds long that include audio. This matches the time frame of the X video (without counting the TikTok watermark at the end).
V.S. Subrahmanian, a professor at Northwestern University’s Security and AI Lab, added, “The visual rendering of the words ‘No Kings’ appears unusually pristine and uniform.”
While a human banner during the “No Kings” protests made an appearance Oct. 18 on Ocean Beach in San Francisco, it was during the day and included text saying, “No Kings YES on 50,” a reference to the Proposition 50 question about California’s congressional redistricting.
Other countries participated in the “No Kings” protests, including England, Canada, Germany and Portugal. We found no footage similar to what’s in the X post from the UK.
The video originated on a TikTok account that says it’s “covering the news you need to see.” The account has shared other AI generated videos. For example, on Oct. 19 it shared an almost identical video claiming to show footage from Washington, D.C.’s “No Kings” protests. Back in June, for the first weekend of “No Kings” protests, the account shared another AI generated video of a Philadelphia crowd.
The video doesn’t show a real “No Kings” protest in the United Kingdom. We rate it Pants on Fire!
