Karen Bass downplayed the extent of the anti-ICE protests last year that saw rioting and violent clashes with authorities. (Getty Images)
"Nothing was going on. OK, we have some protests," Bass told Harrison. "You want to know the protests, in my opinion, equaled a Lakers championship."
"You know what happens after a championship right? A few knuckleheads hang around. They're drunk, they start vandalizing things. There was no riot here."
The Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union that represents rank-and-file officers with the Los Angeles Police Department, disagreed.
"We disagree with anyone who characterizes the numerous times these protests turned into riots," the statement from the union's board of directors to Fox News Digital states. "All one has to do is look at the videos of the Waymo vehicles destroyed, the CHP car set on fire, the vandalism of property, looting of businesses and injuries to police officers to call that criminal behavior what it was, a riot."
Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House.
The protests were in response to the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration in and around Los Angeles. Suburbs like Paramount and Compton saw vehicles set on fire, objects thrown at authorities and vandalism.
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Cars set on fire in Los Angeles during anti-ICE protests. (Getty)
Demonstrators responded by blocking a major freeway, setting vehicles ablaze, and hurling rocks, Molotov cocktails and other projectiles at the police, authorities said.
Bass noted that the protests happened in an area that was about 1-square-mile.
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"That majority of the city didn't even know anything was happening. That warrants 4,000 troops?" Bass said.
In December, a federal judge ordered Trump to return the National Guard troops deployed to Los Angeles to Newsom's control, ending the federalization used for immigration enforcement and protests.
Louis Casiano is a reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to louis.casiano@fox.com.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/la-mayor-bass-compares-anti-ice-protests-lakers-championship-disturbance-a-few-knuckleheads