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Actress Jen Richards in December 2024 (left); law enforcement officers in riot gear advance during protests in Los Angeles on June 8 (right).
The actress uploaded a post to Instagram sharing her experience at the protests taking place.
Protests have sprung up in Los Angeles pushing back against the rising number of immigration raids that are being carried out by U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement agents. Organizers took to the streets to protest over the weekend, where they were met with pushback from police. On Sunday, president Donald Trump deployed National Guard troops in an attempt to quell the crowd, but that only rose tensions.
Activists on the ground are sharing their experiences at the protest, and one of those people was Jen Richards, a transgender actress known for her roles Mayfair Witches and Mrs. Fletcher. Richards uploaded a post to Instagram detailing being hit with rubber bullets and stun grenades.
"We were in downtown LA today. Thousands of peaceful protestors showed up to demonstrate that we won't stand by as our neighbors get rounded up to appease the racist fever dreams of a President and his fragile ego," the caption reads. "I was hit by flashbangs and rubber bullets, all while walking backwards with my hands up (and [Rebekah Cheyne, Richards' partner] was shoved in the chest with a police baton). I'm a rather fragile, sensitive, fight-with-my-words type, but sometimes shit goes too far and you gotta stand up for truth, liberty, and empathy."
Richards also shared a photo of her bruised foot that was hit with the rubber bullet.
A video of an Australian news reporter who was hit with a nonlethal rubber bullet during a live broadcast is going viral on X. In the video, a police officer can be seen aiming at the reporter and firing a round at her leg. A camera person is heard yelling at the officer, saying, "You just fucking shot the reporter." The news network she worked for confirmed to the AP that she is safe and unharmed.
Tensions are continuing to escalate as the president plans to deploy more troops into the city without the governor's permission, invoking the Insurrection Act. The last time a president did so was in 1965, when Lyndon B. Johnson deployed troops to protect a civil rights march in Alabama, according to the Associated Press.
Earlier this morning, California Governor Gavin Newsom told MSNBC that he plans to sue President Trump to compel him to withdraw the troops and stated that the president's decision was "an illegal act, an immoral act, an unconstitutional act."
Trump spoke with reporters Monday and said, "I like Gavin Newsom, he’s a nice guy, but he’s grossly incompetent." He added, "The people that are causing these problems are professional agitators, they’re insurrectionists, they’re bad people. They should be in jail."
Moises Mendez II is a culture journalist based in Brooklyn, New York. He covers internet culture and entertainment including television, movies, music, and more. For the last two years, he was a Culture Reporter at TIME Magazine. Before that, he was a freelance journalist and his work has appeared in The Atlantic, Rolling Stone, Fast Company, and more. Moises holds a master's degree in Arts and Culture journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY.
Moises Mendez II is a culture journalist based in Brooklyn, New York. He covers internet culture and entertainment including television, movies, music, and more. For the last two years, he was a Culture Reporter at TIME Magazine. Before that, he was a freelance journalist and his work has appeared in The Atlantic, Rolling Stone, Fast Company, and more. Moises holds a master's degree in Arts and Culture journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY.
