LA police announce ‘mass arrests’ as Newsom intensifies criticism of Trump | First Thing

Protesters defy overnight curfew as California governor issues searing rebuke of administration. Plus, who is behind the hedonistic party palaces of New York's Fire Island?

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Good morning.

Los Angeles police have announced they are making mass arrests" in the city's downtown area, as people gathered in defiance of an overnight curfew imposed after days of protests against Donald Trump's immigration crackdown and military deployment.

What has Newsom said? Trump's decision to deploy the national guard in LA was a brazen abuse of power", that has inflamed a combustible situation", Newsom said in a searing rebuke of the administration.

What about Trump? In an address to troops at the Fort Bragg military base in North Carolina yesterday, Trump spread conspiracy theories, maligned California's Democratic leaders and misleadingly portrayed protesters as part of a foreign invasion".

Were they really armed by Israel? Yes. Israeli defence officials acknowledged last week that they had been arming the group, with the aim of undermining Hamas. Aid workers said the group had a long history of looting from UN trucks.