The US military has confirmed it is sending 700 Marines to Los Angeles, after days of protests triggered by immigration enforcement operations.
In a statement the military said: "The activation of the Marines is intended to provide … adequate numbers of forces to provide continuous coverage of the area in support of the lead federal agency”.
Earlier Donald Trump defended his decision to deploy the National Guard in the city, while California’s Governor Gavin Newsom announced he was suing the Trump administration over the move.
2,000 National Guard troops were sent in by Mr Trump who said the move was necessary to uphold "very strong law and order" in the city. He has claimed that LA would have been “completely obliterated” without the deployment. However Mr Newsom and other senior Democrats said the move was intentionally provocative.
The protests began on Friday when Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers began carrying out raids across the city, detaining many people who have lived and worked in Los Angeles for many years.
00:00The governor of California, Gavin Newsom, who's a Democrat, has sued President Trump over his deployment of the National Guard in Los Angeles against his wishes.
00:09He's accused Mr. Trump of seeking to manufacture a crisis.
00:13Rioting was sparked after the Trump administration sent immigration agents to detain unauthorized migrants in the city.
00:20President Trump says the move was necessary for law and order and that without it, L.A. would have been completely obliterated.
00:26Our correspondent John Sudworth is there. John.
00:30Well, things are a little calmer, at least so far today.
00:35You can see the protesters here, I'd say no more than 100 or so, gathered outside this detention center where some of the immigrants detained in those workplace raids are being held.
00:47And on this side, you can see the LAPD.
00:50Their numbers have been boosted today by reinforcements brought in from outside Los Angeles County.
00:55But the most contentious part of this picture is a little bit further over there.
00:59You can see the members of the National Guard stood by.
01:03And although things may be quieter here, they, of course, are at the center of an escalating political storm between the president of this country and the governor of this state.
01:14There's now a huge police presence in this city with reinforcements brought in as the authorities tried desperately to contain the violence.
01:25Overnight, once again, protesters threw fireworks and the police responded with force, making a number of arrests.
01:33But an already tense situation triggered by the workplace raids and arrests of undocumented immigrants now has a complex political dimension.
01:42The National Guard, a reservist military force, is often used to respond to natural disasters and is normally called in by state governors.
01:53Not this time.
01:55For the first time in 60 years, a U.S. president has ordered them in, while members of his administration warn that anyone who gets in the way, even senior politicians, face arrest.
02:05Come after me. Arrest me. Let's just get it over with. Tough guy.
02:09It's a threat that's been met with a furious response from California's governor speaking to MSNBC.
02:15The hell are they doing? These guys need to grow up. They need to stop.
02:20And we need to push back. And I'm sorry to be so clear, but that kind of bloviating is exhausting.
02:25So, Tom, arrest me.
02:27Then this from President Trump. Asked if the governor should be arrested. I would, he replied.
02:34He's an incompetent governor. Look at the job he's doing in California.
02:38He's destroying one of our great states. And if I didn't get involved, if we didn't bring the guard in, and we would bring more in if we needed it,
02:45because we have to make sure there's going to be law and order. You had a disaster happening.
02:52Well, the streets of downtown LA are littered with the debris of last night's trouble.
02:59If you just, anywhere you look, you pick them up, you've got the hundreds and hundreds of these baton rounds,
03:06rubber bullets, the canisters from which they've been fired, and also rocks, which we've seen protesters sometimes throwing at the police.
03:14It's quiet at the moment, but these officers have been drafted in from neighbouring police forces as this city braces for more trouble today.
03:23One sign of just how dangerous things have become.
03:27This reporter from the Australian Channel 9 News was hit by a rubber bullet live on air.
03:34This city now finds itself at the centre of an escalating political fight between a president and a governor.
03:41In response to Mr Trump's comments about his arrest, Gavin Newsom said this was a day he hoped he'd never see in America.
03:51In many ways, some of the biggest constitutional issues of our day are now being played out on the streets of Los Angeles.
03:58Questions over the limits of presidential power are against the extent of state rights.
04:05The authorities here know that those scenes of violence are playing into the president's narrative.
04:10That's why they believe he's deployed the National Guard for those public imaging effects.
04:15And it's also why we are hearing leaders in this city time and time again appealing for the protesters to show restraint and protest peacefully.
