Judge bans LAPD from using non-lethal weapons to control violent anti-ICE protestors

Police have been banned from using a powerful, non-lethal weapon to control protests in an extraordinary federal court decision.Judge Consuelo B.Marshall ruled on Thursday the Los Angeles Police Department violated a standing court injunction by deploying the 40mm and 37mm projectile launchers against protesters who did not pose an immediate threat of physical harm.The ruling arose from protests in Los Angeles during the summer of 2025 following immigration enforcement raids carried out by the U.S Department of Homeland Security. It comes as video, obtained by The Post, shows LAPD using the non-lethal weapons while under fire from protestors using fireworks against them.

The videos were recorded during anti-Trump and anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles in June 2025.Police believe using the projectile launchers is essential for officers facing fast-moving, unpredictable situations.They say they prevent more dangerous confrontations one-on-one confrontations, which increase danger not only to police, but to protesters and innocent bystanders during large-scale unrest.While those demonstrators were not part of the original order, which was made after Black Lives Matter protests, the court said the incidents were relevant in determining whether the city was complying with existing federal laws.In a sharply worded order issued by the U.S.

District Court for the Central District of California, Judge Marshall found that LAPD officers fired 40mm munitions without providing required warnings and struck protesters in areas of the body explicitly prohibited under the court’s earlier injunction.“Here, Plaintiffs provide evidence that Defendants used 40mm munitions on protestors who did not pose an immediate threat of violence of physical harm, did not provide warnings before using the munitions, and hit protestors in restricted areas of the body,” Judge Marshall wrote.The injunction at the center of the contempt ruling dates back to May 2021, when the court imposed str...