Los Angeles: US President Donald Trump stated that some participants in the protests against the deportation of illegal immigrants in the American city of Los Angeles were “paid rioters.” Trump, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday, said that the city would have burned had he not intervened by sending in the National Guard to put an end to the protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) decisions, according to US media.

According to National Iraqi News Agency, Trump said that some areas of Los Angeles were close to a “state of insurrection,” describing the scene as “horrible,” and asserting that those behind it were “paid rioters.” Trump indicated that protesters used sledgehammers to break pieces of concrete and throw them at police, but he did not provide any evidence of the accusations that the protesters were being funded, according to local media.