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State Of Emergency Declared In Los Angeles County, National Guard To Be Deployed To City Of LA

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) --  A state of emergency was declared in Los Angeles County on Saturday night amid days of unrest following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

For complete coverage of the situation in Minneapolis visit CBSMinnesota.com and stream CBSN Minnesota

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti also announced that the National Guard will be deployed to the city of Los Angeles overnight "to maintain peace and safety."

Garcetti initially said on Saturday afternoon during a press conference that it was unlikely the National Guard would be called. Instead, he implored citizens to practice non-violent protesting.

Hours after his press conference as crowds continued to gather across the city, Garcetti announced that California Gov. Gavin Newsom approved his request to send in 500-700 National Guard troops to help keep order in the city.

In addition to calling on the military, the city of Los Angeles has also mobilized its entire police department as part of its response strategy for the first time since the major earthquakes of 1994 and 1995.

Thousands of people took the streets in downtown L.A. for the fourth day in a row on Saturday for peaceful protests against police brutality that later took a violent turn, leading to looting and fires across the city and neighboring areas.

Several cities across SoCal have issued curfews to keep crowds off the streets, including in Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, Culver City and Pasadena, where a local state of emergency was also declared.

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