Another raid occurred at a business in the Garment District, with agents in riot gear detaining workers at a clothing store as dozens of people began to gather outside. As workers were hauled off in cuffs, throngs of people yelled at the agents and held up cellphones to record them, according to videos of the showdown. One person threw eggs at one of the vehicles as agents pushed members of the public back, the videos showed.

In the street, immigrant-rights advocates stood on a bed of a truck, using megaphones to speak to the workers inside the store, reminding them of their constitutional rights and instructing them not to sign anything or say anything to federal agents. They also told the agents that lawyers wanted access to the workers, and sometimes called out specific names.

Officials from the Service Employees International Union said in a statement that its California president, David Huerta, was detained and injured during a downtown raid “while exercising his First Amendment right to observe and document law enforcement activity.” The union said he was receiving medical care while in custody and called for his immediate release.

In one particularly harrowing scene, a protester backpedaled in front of a van as it attempted to slowly move forward with people swarmed around the outside. When the man fell back, the van high-tailed it from the area:

Yasmeen Pitts O’Keefe, a spokesperson for Homeland Security Investigations, a branch of ICE, said federal agents were executing warrants of people being harbored in the United States illegally. Los Angeles officials, including Mayor Karen Bass (D), denounced the operation.

“These actions are escalating: agents arrive without warning and leave quickly, aware that our communities mobilize fast,” Los Angeles Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez said in a statement. “I urge Angelenos to stay alert.”