Protesters began gathering early on the west steps of the state Capitol in Sacramento as a so-called "No Kings" protest against Trump administration policies, part of a nationwide day of demonstrations meant to coincide with a military parade marking the 250th anniversary of the U.

Opponents of President Donald Trump's administration on Saturday rallied in nearly 2,000 locations across the country, with thousands demonstrating in Northern California.

The Los Angeles Police Department has declared all of downtown as an unlawful assembly, telling all demonstrators to leave the area immediately. "Downtown Los Angeles has been declared as an UNLAWFUL ASSEMBLY. You are to leave the Downtown Area immediately," police said on X.

The protest comes before leaders vote on whether or not to pass a budget that is expected to lock new undocumented immigrants out of Medi-Cal.

Given the sharp divides in public opinion over the protests, and the deportations that sparked them, Big Tech is steering clear of a combustible situation. “Anything that increases the tension around immigration will just make it harder for tech,” said Nu Wexler, a consultant who formerly worked in policy communications for Facebook and Google.

LAist reporters witnessed LAPD officers firing less-lethal munitions into crowds and taunting protestors from a helicopter. State law and a federal court order restrict the use of crowd dispersal weapons unless specific criteria are met.

Gavin Newsom says the federal military intervention in Los Angeles marks the onset of a much broader effort by President Donald Trump to overturn political and cultural norms.