A crackdown by armed forces in Cameroon has killed at least four opposition supporters amid protests over the declared re-election win by President Paul Biya.
Protesters calling for fair results from the African country’s contested presidential election held on October 12 have hit the streets in several cities as 92-year-old Biya prepares for an eighth term, which could keep him in power until 2032 as he nears 100.
Biya, whose election win was finally confirmed by Cameroon’s Constitutional Council on Monday, is Africa’s oldest and among the world’s longest ruling leaders. He has spent 43 years – nearly half his life – in office. He has ruled Cameroon, a country of 30 million people, as president since 1982 through elections that political opponents said have been “stolen”.
Cameroonian President Paul Biya casts his ballot as his wife, Chantal, watches during the presidential election in Yaounde, Cameroon, on October 12, 2025 [Zohra Bensemra/Reuters]
What’s behind the deadly protests?
Supporters of opposition candidate Issa Tchiroma Bakary of the Front for the National Salvation of Cameroon party have defied a ban on protests, setting police cars on fire, barricading roads and burning tyres in the financial capital, Douala, before the announcement of the election result. Around 30 activists have been arrested.
Police fired tear gas and water cannon to break up the crowds that came out in support of Tchiroma, who had declared himself the real winner, and called for Biya to concede.
Samuel Dieudonne Ivaha Diboua, the governor of the region that includes Douala, told the AFP news agency that the protesters attacked police stations in the second and sixth districts of the city.
Several members of the security forces were wounded, and “four people unfortunately lost their lives,” he said. Tchiroma’s campaign team confirmed the deaths on Sunday were of protesters.
Opposition supporters claim the results of the election have been rigged by Biya and his supporters in power. In the lead-up to the announcement of the result, the current government rejected these accusations and urged people to wait for the result.
Who is the main opposition in Cameroon?
The Union for Change is a coalition of opposition parties that formed in September to counter Biya’s dominance of the political landscape.
The forum brought together more than two dozen political parties and civil society groups in opposition to Biya with an aim to field a consensus candidate.
In September, the group confirmed Tchiroma as its consensus candidate to run against Biya.
Tchiroma, 76, was formerly part of Biya’s government, holding several ministerial positions over 16 years. He also served as government spokesperson during the years of fighting the Boko Haram armed group, and he defended the army when it stood accused of killing civilians. He was once regarded as a member of Biya’s “old guard” but has campaigned on a promise of “change”.
What happened after the election?
After voting ended on October 12, Tchiroma claimed victory.
“Our victory is clear. It must be respected,” he said in a video statement posted on Facebook. He called on Biya to “accept the truth of the ballot box” or “plunge the country into turmoil”.
Tchiroma claimed that he had won the election with 55 percent of the vote. More than 8 million people were registered to vote in the election.
On Monday, however, the Constitutional Council announced Biya as the winner with 53.66 percent of the vote.
It said Tchiroma was the runner-up with 35.19 percent.
Announcing the results on Monday, the council’s leader, Clement Atangana, said the electoral process was “peaceful” and criticised the opposition for “anticipating the result”.
Members of the security forces detain a supporter of Cameroonian presidential candidate Issa Tchiroma Bakary during a protest in Douala on October 26, 2025 [Zohra Bensemra/Reuters]
What are the main criticisms of Biya?
Under Biya’s rule, Cameroon has struggled with myriad challenges, including chronic corruption that critics say has dampened economic growth despite the country being rich in resources such as oil and cocoa.
The president, who has clinched wins in eight heavily contested elections held every seven years, is renowned for his absenteeism as he reportedly spends extended periods away from the country.
The 92-year-old appeared at just one campaign rally in the lead-up to this month’s election when he promised voters that “the best is still to come.”
He and his entourage are often away on private or medical treatment trips to Switzerland. An investigation in 2018 by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project found Biya had spent at least 1,645 days (nearly four and a half years) in the European country, excluding official visits, since being in power.
Under Biya, opposition politicians have frequently accused electoral authorities of colluding with the president to rig elections. In 2008, parliament voted to remove the limit on the number of terms a president may serve.
Before the election, the Constitutional Council barred another popular opposition candidate, Maurice Kamto of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement, from running.
Some opposition leaders and their supporters have been detained by police on a slew of charges, including plotting violence.
On Friday, two prominent leaders, Anicet Ekane and Djeukam Tchameni of the Union for Change, were arrested.
The African Movement for New Independence and Democracy party also said its treasurer and other members had been “kidnapped” by local security forces, a move it claimed was designed “to intimidate Cameroonians”.
Analysts also said Biya’s hold on power could lead to instability when he eventually goes.
What is the security situation in Cameroon?
Since 2015, attacks by the armed group, Boko Haram, have become more and more frequent in the Far North Region of the country.
Furthermore, since gaining independence in 1960 from French rule, Cameroon has struggled with conflict rooted in the country’s deep linguistic and political divisions, which developed when French- and English-speaking regions were merged into a single state.
French is the official language, and Anglophone Cameroonians in the northwest and southwest have felt increasingly marginalised by the Francophone-dominated government in Yaounde.
Their grievances – over language, education, courts and distribution of resources – turned into mass protests in 2016 when teachers and lawyers demanded equal recognition of English-language institutions.
The government responded with arrests and internet blackouts, and the situation eventually built up to an armed separatist struggle for an independent state called Ambazonia.
The recent presidential election was the first to take place since the conflict intensified. Armed separatists have barred the Anglophone population from participating in government-organised activities, such as National Day celebrations and elections.
As a result, the Southwest and Northwest regions saw widespread abstention in voting on October 12 with a 53 percent turnout. The highest share of votes, according to the official results, went to Biya: 68.7 percent and 86.31 percent in the two regions, respectively.
People walk past motorcycle taxi riders along a muddy road in Douala, Cameroon, on October 4, 2025 [Reuters]
What will happen now?
Protests are likely to spread, observers said.
After the deaths of four protesters before the results were announced, Tchiroma paid tribute “to those who fell to the bullets of a regime that has become criminal during a peaceful march”.
He called on Biya’s government to “stop these acts of barbarity, these killings and arbitrary arrests”.
“Tell the truth of the ballots, or we will all mobilise and march peacefully,” he said.
Sarah, 53, is most famous for presenting the BBC children’s programme Live and Kicking during the 90s. Viewers will also remember her from hosting Top of the Pops and MTV’s Singled Out. She additionally appeared on Loose Women and Richard and Judy.
She stepped away from television work after becoming a mother, welcoming a son in 2012 and a daughter with her husband in 2013.
Sarah joined This Morning following a social media post where she confessed to feeling “lost” and had been battling emotions of “jealousy” upon witnessing others in the entertainment world thriving, reports Wales Online.
Sarah Cawood opened up about her TV career on This Morning(Image: ITV)
Ben questioned Sarah regarding the worry and “self-doubt” she faced whilst working as a television presenter, leading her to make a heartbreaking confession.
Sarah confessed, “I had the worst imposter syndrome, but I don’t think that’s unusual. Most people that I’ve spoken to, in fact, I bet you two felt the same, ‘Should I really be here? Am I good enough to be?’
“But, I think that was amplified when all the jobs sort of fell away in the mid-noughties. I was like, ‘Oh, maybe I was just rubbish all along. ‘ It was really hard to deal with.”
She continued by disclosing that her television career “fading away” left her devastated, though she has discovered reasons to feel thankful for its conclusion.
Sarah appeared on This Morning alongside Deidre Sanders(Image: ITV)
“I always say that the fading away of my TV career was worse than any heartbreak I ever had from any boy. Telly broke my heart worse,” Sarah added.
“But, I have had time with my children, and I am super grateful for that. And, you find other stuff to do! You just find a way through. I can’t lie, though, it is nice to be here.”
Sarah revealed how she’d been overwhelmed with messages of support following her candid Instagram post, where she’d confessed to feeling “left out” whilst watching her colleagues reach fresh career heights.
She shared with Ben and Cat how countless people had reached out to say they felt exactly the same, and she’d been kept busy chatting with social media followers going through identical emotions.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver on Wednesday pulled back the reins as allegations swirled about the Clippers circumventing the salary cap by orchestrating an endorsement deal for star forward Kawhi Leonard.
Silver, speaking to the media after a previously scheduled meeting of all 30 team owners in New York, said an NBA investigation would need to uncover clear evidence that the Clippers violated rules for owner Steve Ballmer to be punished.
“The burden is on the league if we are going to discipline a team, an owner, a player or any constituent members of the league,” Silver said. “I think, as with any process that requires a fundamental sense of fairness, the burden should be on the party that is, in essence, bringing those charges. …
“I think as a matter of fundamental fairness, I would be reluctant to act if there was sort of a mere appearance of impropriety.”
The Clippers and Ballmer are under league investigation after it was alleged last week on the podcast of Pablo Torre that Leonard was paid $28 million for a do-nothing endorsement role by Aspiration, a sustainability firm that had agreed to a $330-million sponsorship deal with the Clippers and had offered $1 billion for naming rights to the arena that instead became the Intuit Dome.
Aspiration turned out to be a fraudulent company, and co-founder Joseph Sanberg has agreed to plead guilty to defrauding multiple investors and lenders.
Silver said he would hesitate to take action against the Clippers if even a shred of doubt about the situation remains following the investigation, which will be conducted by a law firm experienced in probing wrongdoing by sports franchises, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen and Katz.
“Bringing in a firm that specializes in internal investigations adds a level of expertise and creates separation between the league and the investigation of a team,” said Michael McCann, a sports law expert and a visiting professor at Harvard. “The investigators have a background in prosecutorial work, insight into what documents to request and questions to ask.”
McCann and other legal experts said the investigation would center on whether Ballmer’s $50-million investment into Aspiration was a quid pro quo for the firm to turn around and give Leonard $28 million in cash and $20 million in Aspiration stock to essentially do nothing.
Ballmer is embarrassed by the allegations and about his apparent infatuation with Aspiration — which entered into a $330-million sponsorship arrangement with the Clippers and was nearly awarded naming rights to what became the Intuit Dome, only to be revealed as a fraudulent company run by scam artists.
McCann said the investigation would need to uncover concrete evidence that Ballmer or someone else representing the Clippers directed Aspiration to make the deal with Leonard. The only evidence presented on Torre’s podcast was hearsay — an audio clip of an anonymous former Aspiration employee saying that someone else in the company told them the endorsement deal “was to circumvent the salary cap, LOL. There was lots of LOL when things were shared.”
LOL typically is used in written communication, so if the allegation was made in an email or text, the next step for investigators would be to interview the person who wrote it and determine whether Ballmer was involved.
The investigation presumably will examine all of this. Silver tends to be methodical when conducting a probe and is expected to act on what can be proved, not on the perception of wrongdoing. But he also is charged with protecting and growing franchise values. Anything that could damage the integrity of the league would be a huge concern to him and team owners.
“Silver has quite a few very interesting relationships to protect and to nurture: other owners, his corporate sponsors, the media networks that are distributing the content,” said David Carter, a USC professor of sports business and principal of the Sports Business Group. “Everybody attached to the league is interested in getting to the bottom of this. So he has to balance different stakeholder interests and he is very good at doing that.
“So I have a feeling he will — working with the law firm — get to the bottom of it and then decide to what extent if any punishment is warranted. He’ll do that with the intent of making sure he’s protecting the interests of the other owners.”
Leonard joined the Clippers in July 2019 on a three-year, $103-million contract after leading the Toronto Raptors to the NBA title. The 6-foot-7 forward from Moreno Valley signed a four-year, $176.3-million extension in 2021, when Aspiration made its sponsorship deal with the Clippers and Ballmer invested and became a minority owner in the company.
After signing a three-year, $153-million extension a year ago, Leonard will have been paid or is under contract for $375 million in career salary over 14 years with three teams.
The NBA looked into allegations that the Clippers paid Leonard or his representative and uncle, Dennis Robertson, a side deal when he first joined the team in 2019. No wrongdoing was found, although this week the Toronto Star reported that Robertson made demands of the Raptors in 2019 “that line up almost perfectly with what Leonard reportedly got from Aspiration.”
The Star reported that Robertson demanded $10 million a year in sponsorship income but that Leonard didn’t want to do anything for the money. The Raptors rejected the demand, and Leonard signed with the Clippers.
Should the Clippers be found guilty of circumventing the salary cap, they could be forced to forfeit draft picks and be fined heavily. Ballmer and other team executives could be suspended, and perhaps Leonard’s contract could be voided.
Silver will proceed carefully.
“The goal of a full investigation is to find out if there really was impropriety,” he said. “In a public-facing sport, the public at times reaches conclusions that later turn out to be completely false. I’d want anyone else in the situation Mr. Ballmer is in now, or Kawhi Leonard for that matter, to be treated the same way I would want to be treated if people were making allegations against me.”
Millom, nestled among Cumbrian mountains, might not be one of the country’s best-known towns, but it certainly left a lasting impression and very much shaped me as a person
Millom was built around its ironworks in the 1800s(Image: Jonathan Buckmaster)
Walking around the UK coastal town on the edge of the Lake District where he spent his childhood, a wave of nostalgia and sadness washed over Andrew Papworth.
The assistant editor of The Express was revisiting Millom, a small town nestled among Cumbrian mountains. It may not be well-known across the country, but it certainly left an indelible mark on Andrew.
He said: “As I retraced my steps from our family home in Seathwaite Close to the bottom of Lowther Road, I came across the infant school that gave me the very best start in life.
“Turning down St George’s Road, I passed Millom Park and the children’s play area, where I spent many hours as a boy. In the thriving town centre, I remembered my mum dragging me round the shops. Further along the road, close to the railway station, was The Bridge Cafe, where I used to pop in for sweets on my walk home from Black Combe Junior School.
“Millom was – and is – only a small town, but as a child it felt like my entire universe. In many ways it was, because like any quintessentially English town, it had everything you needed on your doorstep.”
Andrew Papworth beside a statue of a Millom miner in the town’s market square(Image: Jonathan Buckmaster)
Established around its ironworks in the 1800s before their closure in the 1960s, Millom boasted a strong sense of pride and community. Everyone seemed to know everyone, and there was a palpable sense of camaraderie, reports the Express.
Andrew said: “It looked exactly the same as when I left in 1995, aged nine, and when I last visited in 2005. And while that brought back many nostalgic memories, it also broke my heart.
“It appears that little investment has been made in Millom since then, whether in new homes, shops or community facilities.
“All I noticed was that the old Safeway is now a Tesco, and many of the shops that had such a strong presence seem to have long gone.”
Chatting to locals, one of their first comments is often about the lack of financial input into their area.
Andrew said: “It’s a great sadness. By contrast, Canary Wharf in east London, where I now work, didn’t even exist when I was born but has been steadily transformed from barren wasteland into the bustling heart of London’s financial district.
“Of course it’s not really an even comparison, but it feels desperately unfair that some areas of the country have had millions and billions of pounds of investment while a town with such a rich and vibrant history has barely been given a thought.”
The stunning view of the Cumbrian mountains from Millom Park(Image: Jonathan Buckmaster)
There are other potential factors at play. The historic shipyard in nearby Barrow-in-Furness was a significant employer for Millom workers.
The loss of 10,000 jobs in the 1990s must have had a profound effect.
Cumbria didn’t have a university until 2007 and for years, many saw the shipyard and Sellafield nuclear power station, now being decommissioned, as the only major career paths. Many dreaming of different lives must have surely packed up and left.
Millom’s location on the north-west coast also makes the town more challenging to access.
But if we can channel investment into even the most disadvantaged corners of this nation, surely we can achieve it in a town blessed with such incredible natural beauty.
Where Millom has undeniably thrived is in its community spirit, which burns as brightly as ever.
During Andrew’s visit on a glorious Monday afternoon, he chatted to Nicola Armstrong, proprietor of The Bloom Room on St George’s Terrace since 2012. Hers is an extraordinary story of triumph – a completely self-taught florist who’s scooped national accolades and showcased at London exhibitions.
“From a tiny little town, I’ve gone to a lot of places,” she says – but she never overlooks one of the major factors behind her achievements.
Nicola Armstrong’s Bloom Room florist shows the very best of Millom(Image: Jonathan Buckmaster)
“I wouldn’t have got where I am without this community,” she reveals. “They’re my biggest cheerleaders.”
Throughout his stay, Andrew also encountered Coordination Group Publishing (CGP), whose vibrant and amusing study guides he relied upon during his GCSEs and A levels. It remains one of Britain’s premier educational publishers.
Whilst shops have shuttered, one that has persevered is Ferguson’s, which has been a reliable fixture in Millom for 70 years. Proprietor Arthur Ferguson celebrated his 100th birthday this year and is thought to be Britain’s eldest shopkeeper.
Arthur Ferguson, 100, still plays an active role in the running of his shop(Image: Lee Mclean/SWNS)
Andrew said: “While I was in Cumbria, I also visited Barrow to see its dramatic transformation as it builds the next generation of nuclear submarines and becomes the beating heart of Britain’s defence.
“I only hope some of the £220million of government funding going into that regeneration for the national endeavour will benefit Millom, even if only indirectly, because this small town and its people deserve only the best.
“Whatever happens in the future, I know that if I come back in another 30 years, Millom’s soul will remain as strong as ever.”
Watch: BBC’s Chris Mason questions Starmer on Rayner tax investigation
Sir Keir Starmer has repeatedly refused to say if he will sack Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner if his standards adviser concludes she broke the ministerial code.
Rayner referred herself to Sir Laurie Magnus after she admitted underpaying stamp duty on an £800,000 flat in Hove.
She has said the “mistake” was the result of incorrect legal advice which failed to “properly take account” of her circumstances.
Speaking to the BBC, Sir Keir said he would “of course act” on the conclusions of Sir Laurie’s report which he expected to be “comprehensive” and delivered quickly but would not be drawn on whether Rayner would be fired.
The prime minister said he had strengthened the ministerial code and the role of the adviser since taking office.
The code sets out the standards ministers are expected to uphold including honesty and integrity.
Sir Laurie can advise on whether ministers have adhered to the code, but the prime minister decides what if any action to take.
Asked about report,which sources say could be published as early as Friday,Sir Keir said: “I do think in the end we need to establish the facts, which the independent advisor will do and come to a conclusion.
“I don’t think it’ll take long now for that bit of process to conclude and then, of course, it does fall to me.
“I completely accept that, to make a decision based on what I see in that report.”
Sir Keir said he knew on Monday that Rayner was taking further advice on her tax payments.
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Rayner’s team initially said she had paid the right amount of stamp duty on Thursday in response to a report in the Daily Telegraph.
However, on Friday evening she asked a lawyer to review her situation. On Wednesday morning the KC offered their final advice which concluded she had not paid the right amount.
Acknowledging the underpayment, Rayner said: “I deeply regret the error that has been made. I am committed to resolving this matter fully and providing the transparency that public service demands.”
The prime minister – along with other cabinet ministers – has backed Rayner, telling MPs he was “very proud to sit alongside” her.
Both the Conservative and Reform UK have called on Rayner to resign.
Tory Party chair Kevin Hollinrake told BBC Breakfast: “If this was a Conservative member of Parliament, who was in the same situation, I think Angela Rayner would be calling for that person to step down.”
“You cannot be hypocritical in these matters, you’ve got to be consistent.”
THIS is the terrifying moment a petrol station is engulfed in flames after a devastating fireball blast.
Four people died after a gas cylinder is believed to have caught on fire with footage showing a horror inferno as locals ran for their lives.
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A terrifying fireball eruption has killed four people after ripping through a petrol stationCredit: X
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Terrified onlookers were left running for their lives in DagestanCredit: X
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The charred remains of the gas station after it was left decimatedCredit: Telegram
Footage from Dagestan, Russia, shows the gas station up in flames with black clouds of smoke billowing through the air.
As the initial fireball raged on, a second, far more devastating blast erupted as the remaining gas cylinders and pumps all exploded.
Video filmed by a terrified local shows much of the village of Sulevkent in the Khasavyurt district attacked by a bright orange flash as the second blast hits.
The deafening sound of the inferno was met with the sight of debris flying through the air.
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Residents who had left their homes to watch the initial explosion were quickly sent running for their lives as the second blast rang out.
The apocalyptic scenes were said to have been visible from several kilometers away, locals said.
Emergency services rushed to the scene to extinguish multiple fires which continued to burn for some time.
Four people were found and rushed to a nearby hospital with severe burns.
They all tragically died from their injuries.
Officials determined the initial explosion was caused by the depressurisation of a gas cylinder during refuelling operations, according to preliminary reports.
The gas station was left decimated alongside the adjacent service station and food vendors.
Massive explosion kills 27 people including 3 children & leaves 100 injured as fire erupts at petrol station in Russia
The Dagestan prosecutor’s office is now conducting an investigation into the incident.
It comes less than a year after another petrol station explosion killed 13 people and injured 23 just outside the Dagistani capital of Makhachkala.
Two children were among the casualties, authorities confirmed.
Horrifying video showed the enormous explosion – which then hurled a fuel tank 1,000ft towards a high rise block.
Locals claimed the blast was so strong that the ground shook like in an earthquake.
In August 2023, a third massive blast at a gas station in Dagestan killed 35 people and injured 115 more.
The fire started at a car repair shop before engulfing the nearby Nafta 24 filling station – sending it up in flames before triggering a giant explosion.
It took firefighters more than three and a half hours to put out the blaze as it spread to an area of 600 square metres, TASS reports.
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Concerns first rose over the severity of the blast after an initial fireball erupted at a gas cylinder at the stationCredit: X
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Black clouds of smoke billowed through the air as the flames roaredCredit: X
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Locals hugged each other as the flames continued to burn over the village of SulevkentCredit: X
Europe’s top human rights court has ruled that Russia violated international law in Ukraine, marking the first time an international court has found Moscow responsible for human rights abuses since the full-scale invasion in 2022.
Judges at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg are ruling on four cases brought by Ukraine and the Netherlands against Russia, encompassing a wide range of alleged human rights violations since the start of the conflict, including the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 and the kidnapping of Ukrainian children.
Any decision will be largely symbolic. The complaints were brought before the court’s governing body expelled Russia in 2022, following the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
Families of the victims of the MH17 disaster see the decision as an important milestone in their 11-year quest for justice.
The Boeing 777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot down on July 17, 2014, using a Russian-made Buk missile fired from territory in eastern Ukraine controlled by separatist rebels. All 298 passengers and crew were killed, including 196 Dutch citizens.
President Trump broke the law when he mobilized thousands of members of the California National Guard to the streets of Los Angeles amid protests over immigration raids, and must return control of the troops to Gov. Gavin Newsom, a federal judge ruled Thursday.
U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer of San Francisco granted the state of California’s request for a temporary restraining order Thursday evening, but also delayed enforcement of the order until noon Friday, giving the Trump administration time to file an appeal with the U.S. 9th Circuit.
In a 36-page decision, Breyer wrote that Trump’s actions “were illegal — both exceeding the scope of his statutory authority and violating the 10th Amendment to the United States Constitution.” Breyer added that he was “troubled by the implication” inherent in the Trump administration’s argument that “protest against the federal government, a core civil liberty protected by the First Amendment, can justify a finding of rebellion.”
Newsom, who filed the lawsuit along with the state of California, called the ruling “a win for all Americans.”
“Today was really about the test of democracy, and today we passed the test,” Newsom told reporters in a building that houses the California Supreme Court in San Francisco.
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The ruling, California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta told reporters, is “a critical early indication that upon quick review of the facts of our case, the court sees the merits of our argument.”
“We aren’t in the throes of a rebellion,” Bonta said. “We are not under threat of an invasion. Nothing is preventing the federal government from enforcing federal law. The situation in Los Angeles last weekend didn’t warrant the deployment of military troops, and their arrival only inflamed the situation.”
The Trump administration filed a notice of appeal in the case late Thursday, and is seeking to delay Breyer’s order until the 9th Circuit decides on the case. If the 9th Circuit granted the request for a stay, control of the National Guard would not revert back to Newsom on Friday, Bonta said.
If the 9th Circuit does not grant the stay, Breyer’s order will take effect Friday afternoon, sending the National Guard back to Newsom’s control. Newsom said troops would go back to working on counter drug enforcement, border security and forest management.
During a hearing Thursday, Breyer seemed skeptical of the Justice Department’s argument that courts could not question the president’s judgment on key legal issues, including whether the protests and unrest in Los Angeles constituted either “a rebellion or danger of a rebellion.”
“We’re talking about the president exercising his authority, and of course, the president is limited in his authority,” Breyer said. “That’s the difference between the president and King George.”
Trump and the White House have argued that the military mobilization is legal under Section 12406 of Title 10 of the U.S. Code on Armed Forces, which gives the president the authority to federalize the National Guard if there is “a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the government of the United States.”
“The protests in Los Angeles fall far short of ‘rebellion,’” Breyer wrote. There were instances of violence, he said, but the Trump administration did not identify “a violent, armed, organized, open and avowed uprising against the government as a whole.”
“The evidence is overwhelming that protesters gathered to protest a single issue—the immigration raids,” Breyer wrote.
Title 10 of the U.S. Code also requires that orders from the president “be issued through the governors of the States.”
As governor, Newsom is the commander in chief of the California National Guard. Last Saturday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth sent a memo to the head of the California Guard to mobilize nearly 2,000 members, who then sent the memo to Newsom’s office, the state’s complaint said. Neither Newsom nor his office consented to the mobilization, the lawsuit said.
Newsom wrote to Hegseth on Sunday, asking him to rescind the troop deployment. The letter said the mobilization was “a serious breach of state sovereignty that seems intentionally designed to inflame the situation, while simultaneously depriving the state from deploying these personnel and resources where they are truly required.”
“I’m trying to figure out how something is ‘through’ somebody, if in fact you didn’t send it to him,” Breyer asked. “As long as he gets a copy of it at some point, it’s going through?”
Breyer was less willing, however, to engage in the legality of Trump’s deployment of U.S. Marines to Los Angeles. Attorneys for California noted that 140 Marines were scheduled to relieve and replace Guardsmen over the next 24 hours.
Protests emerged across Los Angeles on Friday in response to a series of flash raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents across the county. A handful of agitators among the protesters committed violence and vandalism, prompting Trump to quickly deploy the California National Guard to respond. He added active-duty Marines to the operation Monday. Protests, and some sporadic violent rioting, have continued since the deployments.
Trump has said that the mobilization was necessary to “deal with the violent, instigated riots,” and that without the National Guard, “Los Angeles would have been completely obliterated.”
Breyer said that the Trump administration had identified “some stray violent incidents relating to the protests,” and from there, he said, “boldly claim that state and local officials were ‘unable to bring rioters under control.’”
“It is not the federal government’s place in our constitutional system to take over a state’s police power whenever it is dissatisfied with how vigorously or quickly the state is enforcing its own laws,” Breyer wrote.
The attorneys general from 18 other states, as well as Los Angeles City Atty. Hydee Feldstein-Soto, supported California’s position in the case.
Wilner reported from Washington, D.C., Wong from San Francisco and Nelson from Los Angeles.
