A rioter admitting he was "paid to be here". A National Guard soldier filming himself being bombarded by "balloons full of oil". A young man declaring his intention to "peacefully protest", before throwing a Molotov cocktail.

Fake AI-generated videos, photos, and factoids about the ongoing protests in LA are spreading like wildfire across social media, not least on Elon Musk's anything-goes social network X (formerly Twitter).

Made using freely available video and image generation software, these wholly synthetic chunks of outrage usually confirm some pre-existing narrative about the protests — such as the baseless idea that they are being covertly funded and equipped by mysterious outside factions.

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In Los Angeles, about 400 people have been arrested amid ongoing unrest.

Among them are 330 undocumented migrants and 157 people charged with assault or obstruction, including one for attempted murder of a police officer.

Two men have been federally charged for throwing Molotov cocktails at police.

To control the situation, 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines have been deployed, with some troops now authorised to detain individuals until police can take over.

Five Los Angeles protesters accused of hurling fireworks at police during a demonstrations against ICE raids in the city, have been criminally charged, officials announced Wednesday.

LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said at least one officer has been injured by flying fireworks.

“I’ve watched Molotov cocktails and fireworks, shot mortars being launched out of tubes at our officers,” the chief said, according to NBC Los Angeles.

McDonnell continued: “Let’s not forget our officers face uncertain and often dangerous situations every day. And their risk to their lives has been even greater in these last few days.”

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Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass has confirmed that the curfew will once again go into effect at 8pm in a section of downtown LA.

“Curfew remains in effect tonight 8 PM - 6 AM for Downtown Los Angeles to stop bad actors who are taking advantage of the President's chaotic escalation, she wrote on X.

“If you do not live or work in Downtown L.A., avoid the area and follow guidance from law enforcement.

“Vandalism and violence will not be tolerated.”

California Attorney General Rob Bonta said on CNN that local law enforcement agencies don’t know the protocols for engaging with the National Guard or the Marines that were deployed in response to the Los Angeles protests.

CNN’s Kaitlin Collins asked Bonta on her show Wednesday night “ Are you or any of the senior officials in California aware of what the rules of engagement are for the National Guard and for the Marines who are on the ground in your state right now?”

Bonta responded:  I don't think anybody is, and that's a major problem and a huge red flag.”

“I think you just heard the [Los Angeles] police chief say that he's at an information deficit and would love to know more about what the protocols are, how the deconfliction is gonna work between the military forces and the civilian law enforcement agencies, how certain exigencies are gonna be addressed,” the attorney general continued. “What happens if, God forbid, there's an officer involved shooting, who's gonna do the investigation?

That should be known and it requires communication and candor and transparency between the National Guard and the Marines on the one hand, and law enforcement on the other. And I know local law enforcement have been asking these questions because they care deeply about it, but I'm not sure they've been satisfied with all the answers.”

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass took to X to remind Angeleos of the city’s curfew that officials started to enforce last night.

She warned bad actors: “Vandalism and violence will not be tolerated.”

California Governor Gavin Newsom and President Donald Trump have been going head-to-head over the handling of the Los Angeles protests against ICE raids in the city.

In recent days, both sides have posted a flurry of memes on X mocking the other.

The Trump administration, which regularly bashes critics online from government accounts, has used similar tactics.

In another, in a response to a Star Wars-themed meme from Newsom, DHS drew from The Simpsons using a common meme format with the caption, ‘Don’t make me tap the sign,’ in this case pointing to an X post that read, “Liberals don’t know things. They don’t read history, they don’t obsess over stats, the few data points they do see they forget.”

Read more from Josh Marcus.

LA Police Chief Jim McDonnell described in shocking detail the actions of what he calls “anarchists” at protests once nightfall comes in a Wednesday evening interview on CNN:

“ For most of the day and the organized protests, it's people who are out there expressing their feelings peacefully, generally speaking. Once nightfall comes, we start to see a different group of people, and among those people are people I would describe as black block type protestors, anarchists, if you will.

They come prepared and they're very sophisticated. They do have radio communications. They do move around, they do monitor police channels and they'll create distractions in order to draw us away from a scene where we're about to make arrests. So where we have no choice but to go somewhere else.

“They have weapons of all kinds. We arrested a number of people last night for curfew violations. I think three out of the 14 were armed with weapons, handguns...We've seen in those backpacks that they'll have hammers, they'll break up curb stones and concrete bollards, break up [them] into smaller pieces, which they'll then throw at police...I've seen somebody today walking around with golf balls in a backpack...

We've seen commercial grade fireworks being fired at our people with shrapnel being put in, from what I'm told...that is pretty scary stuff when you look at it. Liquid being thrown on our officers.

The attitude of our officers and the professionalism and restraint that they've shown is remarkable. They've done a tremendous job out there, and I'm very proud of them.”