LA news anchor claims people are having 'fun' watching cars burn, riots 'relatively peaceful'

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A Los Angeles news station went viral after its news anchor characterized the anti-ICE riots as "just a bunch of people having fun watching cars burn" on Sunday.

During its live coverage of the violent demonstrations rocking downtown LA, ABC7 Los Angeles anchor Jory Rand cautioned law enforcement from escalating tensions by interfering.

"It could turn very volatile if you move law enforcement in there in the wrong way, and turn what is just a bunch of people having fun watching cars burn into a massive confrontation and altercation between officers and demonstrators," he said.

Correspondent Tim Caputo, who was reporting live from the scene, also warned about the "fine line" police had to walk to keep the peace but not "provoke" the crowd.

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"It's tough because their presence alone is sometimes agitating the crowd. The police presence, the flashbangs, the tear gas, those are provoking the crowd to fire back, but it's tough because police are not part of the immigration," he said.

Caputo added that it was a "nuanced issue" but violence was "not OK" no matter what your cause is.

Violence erupted on the streets of downtown Los Angeles on Friday night in response to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids. Vehicles were set ablaze, rioters threw objects at police from a freeway overpass and smashed the windows at the LAPD headquarters.

During their live coverage Sunday, both Rand and Caputo emphasized the violence was limited to just a handful of agitators and not reflective of the crowd of protesters at large.

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Caputo said he wouldn't call the situation a "riot" even though President Donald Trump used the term.

"I don't know that I would characterize it [as a riot]," he said. "The vast majority are people taking videos, people waving flags, people walking around, people wanting to be part of the cause, wanting to have their voices heard, and wanting to show the power of numbers and the power of force…[but]you have these pockets of people who are intentionally causing some issues."

"It's tough to describe the crowd as a whole as agitators. I wouldn't even say that, even close to that," Caputo continued. "[I]t doesn't seem like this necessarily encompasses the vast majority of people here, it's just everyone gets caught up in the hoopla."

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"It's a matter of a couple of people kind of ruining everything for everyone else," Rand confirmed. "What might have been a peaceful demonstration certainly is no longer that, as those cars continue to burn and explode."

As more explosions went off in the background, Caputo and his cameraman tried to relocate from the scene. 

Rand then declared that things "look relatively peaceful right now," if you don't count the cars on fire.

"It's hard to say that with three cars burning, things do seem relatively calm minus these cars that have been set on fire," the anchor added.

The news coverage drew criticism on social media after account LibsofTikTok shared a clip of Rand's comments. 

ABC7 Los Angeles did not immediately return Fox News Digital's request for comment.

Trump sent 2,000 National Guard troops to the area on Friday to address the violence, which drew criticism from California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass.

Newsom said Trump had overstepped his boundaries when he deployed the National Guard to help with the anti-ICE riots, claiming "local law enforcement didn't need help."

Fox News' Anders Hagstrom and Audrey Conklin contributed to this report.