Majority of LA immigration protesters are young people: CGTN reporter

Around 85 percent of protesters who clashed with National Guard troops last weekend in Los Angeles over U.S. federal immigration raids were young people, according to Matteo Ghidoni, a China Global Television Network (CGTN) reporter who was at the scene.

The clashes followed a series of raids carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal law enforcement agencies at several locations in southern California starting June 6, which sparked widespread protests.

According to Ghidoni, the protest was peaceful at the beginning, but some breakaway groups of protesters started damaging cars on the street.

"Today I was in downtown Los Angeles during the clashes between protesters and the Los Angeles police department. I was there in the middle of protest, and I can tell you 85 percent of the people down in the street protesting were younger people. I guess students, anyway, very younger protesters. Peacefully protesting at the beginning, but then, as it usually happens, a bunch of them separated from the bigger group and started creating damages to the walls around them, the cars. I saw several groups of people, men mainly, setting on fire and destroying at least six different cars right in front of me," he said.

Police fired non-lethal rounds, and the area was engulfed in tear gas.

"When the police was down arresting or blocking these people that was attacking the freeway from above the freeway, people started throwing rocks on police cars - not even just rocks, any kind of objects like even electric scooters, any kind of object. They were throwing it down on top of police cars," Ghidoni said.

According to Ghidoni, when he left the scene at around 20:30, most of the protesters had left.

"We don't know if the protests are going to keep going for seven days in a row waiting for a next Saturday, or maybe they're going to take a pause and they're going to start next Saturday again. We'll see what happens," he said.

Majority of LA immigration protesters are young people: CGTN reporter

Majority of LA immigration protesters are young people: CGTN reporter

Venezuela's acting president Delcy Rodriguez said on Sunday that the country is at a critical stage and must achieve national unity, emphasizing that maintaining internal cohesion is of utmost importance.

In a televised address, Rodriguez called on the public to continue trusting the government under the current highly complex political circumstances.

Her statement comes in the wake of a January 3 military operation conducted by the United States, during which Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife were taken into custody and flown out of the country.

The operation resulted in at least 100 fatalities.

Rodriguez, who was sworn in as acting president two days later on January 5, framed her appeal for unity against this backdrop of external intervention.

Meanwhile, Venezuelan Minister of Communication and Information Freddy Nanez denounced the U.S. actions as a "war crime of the 21st century" when speaking at an international cultural event on Sunday.

Nanez condemned not only the January 3 airstrikes but also the associated cyber and electromagnetic attacks.

He accused the United States of violating international law through the forced removal of President Maduro and his wife, while attacks on civilian infrastructure, including medical facilities, represent a flagrant breach of humanitarian norms.

He reiterated that the stigmatization and military attacks against Venezuela are driven by economic interests, particularly the desire to control its abundant natural resources.

Venezuelan acting president calls for national unity amid complex situation