The power of the US military will be sharply on display this weekend – on two different coasts and in two very different ways.

With the downtown facing an 8 p.m. curfew, the Los Angeles police began using tear gas and crowd-control munitions to break up protests after issuing a dispersal order.

“The most threatening sound to an oligarch is laughter.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said President Donald Trump is “pulling a military dragnet” across Los Angeles during a brief public address on Tuesday.

The protests, known as the No Kings Nationwide Day of Defiance, are a response to what the organisers describe as a shift towards authoritarianism and the militarisation of democracy. They are expected to be the largest since Donald Trump began his second term in the White House.

Thousands gathered in Daley Plaza and in suburban events in protests timed to coincide with a military parade in Washington celebrating the Army's 250th anniversary and President Donald Trump's 79th birthday.

The public fight between California Gov. Gavin Newsom and President Donald Trump keeps intensifying, with name calling, insults and accusations traded over television and social media networks.

Tensions are escalating in Los Angeles as protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement grip the city, with demonstrators clashing with law enforcement and setting vehicles on fire downtown. President Donald Trump deployed 2,