A planned protest in support of a 37-year-old man shot and killed by immigration officers in Minneapolis concluded Saturday evening without incident in downtown Los Angeles, though a few protesters remained near the federal building around 8:15 p.m.
Demonstrators gathered first at the historic Placita Olvera marketplace. A banner fluttered above reading, “From Los Angeles to Minneapolis, stop ICE terror.”
As the afternoon light began to fade, speakers led chants to “abolish ICE” and urged “ICE out of Minnesota, ICE out of L.A.”
They carried signs printed with messages including “America hates ICE” and “Drop the charges on Minnesota activists.”
Aida Ashouri, a candidate running for city attorney, said she couldn’t imagine if she had been snatched as a child and deported to Iran, where her family is from.
Adi Renee, an educator who spoke at the rally, said that Minneapolis protests, during which thousands of workers and hundreds of businesses shut down on Friday, had shown that labor unions could help to lead a political strike against ICE and the Trump administration.
“I’m really grateful to Minneapolis,” she said. “They’ve shown us that our public unions can call a political strike and they need to do it now.”
A speaker at the rally who identified herself as a member of the Democratic Socialists of America denounced violence by federal agents in Minnesota.
“We are here again after another shooting,” she said into a megaphone. “Our elected officials continue to fund ICE [which is] murdering and kidnapping our neighbors in the streets.”
Rachel Lee Goldenberg of L.A. participates in a candlelight vigil during a peaceful protest along Olvera Street after the killing of a 37-year-old man by immigration officers in Minneapolis on Saturday.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
By 5 p.m., the protest had grown to at least 400 people. The crowd began marching down Los Angeles Street, blocking traffic. Demonstrators congregated in front of the federal building, many of them chanting, “The people united will never be defeated.”
A police helicopter circled overhead.
Before the protest, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass issued a statement assailing the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti, a nurse, by federal agents in Minneapolis, the second such death in that city this month involving U.S. immigration officers.
“This morning we learned of yet another tragic shooting in Minneapolis at the hands of federal agents,” Bass said. “This violence has to stop and the president must remove these armed federal forces from Minneapolis and other American cities.”
The Los Angeles County Republican Party cautioned against a rush to judgment in what is certain to be another highly volatile case.
“In the aftermath of any officer-involved shooting, it’s important to figure out what happened, which often is not possible to ascertain immediately,” the party’s chairman said in a statement provided to City News Service. “We were not present at the scene of this regrettable incident in Minneapolis, and neither was Mayor Karen Bass.”
At the federal building demonstration, Oscar Zarate, 30, director of external affairs for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), said that when he watched the video of Pretti’s killing, he had “no words.”
“The violence, the carelessness, the recklessness, the complete abandonment of Alex’s humanity … I just felt it in my soul,” he said.
Zarate said many feel a lack of action from leaders, with House Democrats just last week failing to block a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security. He and others are “tired of feeling impotent and angry.”
But he hopes people in L.A. and across the country find ways to channel their anger toward helping their community.
“I think it looks like what we saw in Minnesota yesterday, with the general strike and the amazing mutual aid after the fires,” he said. “That’s the kind of humanity I’m looking to build.”
As Zarate and other immigrant rights advocates and faith leaders gathered in front of the federal building on Los Angeles Street, around back another group of protesters blew horns and banged on drums.
They marched to a freeway onramp, briefly confronting California Highway Patrol officers, before dispersing.
As the evening turned chilly, the Rev. Janna Louise of Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice, known as CLUE, asked for a moment of silence to honor the three shot by ICE in recent weeks, as well as the 32 people who died in immigration detention centers in 2025.
Many in the crowd held paper cups with lights inside, flickering like candles.
Other speakers urged supporter to lobby Senate Democrats to block the Department of Homeland Security funding bill slated for a vote next week.
The planned vigil ended with clergy singing and a blessing by Rabbi Susan Goldberg, who said numerous others have been affected by immigration enforcement actions, whether they are afraid to go to work or to the doctor.
“We do not yet know the full scale of the death,” Goldberg said, invoking the Jewish expression of sympathy and honor “zikhronam livrakha,” which translates to “may their memories be for a blessing.”
The planned event concluded at 8 p.m. A small group of protesters remained behind the federal building.
City News Service contributed to this report.
