Skyy Rincon June 8th, 2025 - 7:48 PM
Protests regarding the presence of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Southern California have been raging throughout the weekend and Billie Joe Armstrong of punk rock band Green Day has spoken out about it. In a recent Instagram post, the frontman published a video of a car on fire in Downtown Los Angeles with the band’s track “Fuck Off” in the background. The caption contains no words with Armstrong instead opting to use the middle finger and ice cube emoji to relay his sentiments.
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The protests began on Friday following reports of immigration operations happening in the Fashion District in which ICE agents were said to be executing search warrants. A federal building in the Downtown area was also targeted by protesters.
Demonstrators have taken to the 101 Freeway as well, prompting law enforcement to shut down both southbound and northbound lanes as they attempted dispersal of the crowd. Several self-driving Waymo vehicles, much like the one in the video Armstrong shared, have been set on fire within the protest area.
President Trump has since deployed 300 members of the National Guard on protesters in the area despite California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’ insistence that Los Angeles Police Department were not in need of assistance. It has also been reported that President Trump is “threatening to deploy” hundreds of active-duty Marines to assist in quelling the demonstrations. According to CNN, the LAPD has started arresting protesters after the declaration of “unlawful assemblies” in the Downtown area.
Armstrong and co have criticized the Trump administration in the recent past, changing the lyrics to their smash hit “American Idiot” to “I’m not a part of the Elon agenda” and “I’m not a part of the MAGA agenda.”
Photo credit: Mehreen Rizvi
