Over the weekend, several marches took place in Los Angeles opposing or supporting a variety of domestic and global causes. Rallies were held downtown, in West Hollywood and in Westwood, drawing thousands of participants, and, in some cases, escalating into violence.

These causes included the fatal Minneapolis shooting of an unarmed woman by a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, the U.S. attack of Venezuela and capture of President Nicolás Maduro, the ongoing operation of Guantanamo Bay detention facilities and the civilian uprisings in Iran.

Members of the Trump administration have claimed that the ICE officer in Minneapolis acted in self-defense, and that the woman was a domestic terrorist, attempting to run over the ICE officer.

However, footage of the shooting circulating online appears to show the agent was not in the path of the vehicle when he fired three shots at the victim’s face, nor was the vehicle accelerating in his direction, raising questions about the account from officials.

This was one of several fatal ICE shootings since September  — including one reported in L.A. — with the government also claiming self-defense in the other three incidents.

In response to this, several thousand protestors gathered near Pershing Square in downtown L.A. on Saturday to oppose ICE and the invasion of Venezuela, before marching to the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building and Courthouse.

Jaylen Mackenzi, a visitor from Sacramento, was eating with a friend in Little Tokyo when they saw helicopters and decided to join the protest.

“I’m just absorbing the energy, that’s all,” Mackenzi said. “It’s just messed up, the government in general. It’s been messed up for years.”

Azariah Southworth, a protestor dressed as a Mayflower pilgrim, said they were a direct descendant of Alice and William Bradford — the governor of the first permanent colony in New England — and said that the Southworth lineage is one of defying tyrants and white supremacists.

“Today, we’re out here to let the government know that the people have the power,” Southworth said. “These fascist overreaches of government power will not be tolerated, and we’re reminding the government where the power lies and how this country was really started.”

When asked about the U.S. intervention in Venezuela and ICE shooting earlier this month, Southworth said “it will not be tolerated.” This sentiment of demanding accountability was echoed Sunday in Westwood, where members of the U.S. Hands Off Cuba Committee held a protest advocating for the closure of Guantanamo Bay detention facilities.

Destiny Rivera-Gomez, an organizer for the U.S. Hands Off Cuba Committee, said ICE has been using Guantanamo Bay as a detention facility to cut off detainees’ access to family and legal support since the Obama administration.

“[People are] saying that once the regime change in Venezuela happens, that the United States, if they succeed, will turn to Cuba … which puts a lot of fear and concern on people who are allied with Cuba,” Rivera-Gomez said. “ I wouldn’t speak for the Cubans, necessarily. They’re a very resilient population, but that is a threat, nonetheless.”

Directly across the street, several hundred individuals rallied in support of the ongoing revolution in Iran against the Islamic Republic. Under Iranian, Israeli, American and MAGA flags, protestors rallied in support of Reza Pahlavi, the deposed crown prince of Iran, to become Iran’s new leader.

Pahlavi — who has historically received U.S. support — offers a democratic plan for Iran, according to protest organizer Mike Kazerouni.

“What’s happening in Iran is completely unprecedented,” Kazerouni said. “You have a complete blackout of the internet, telephone. You can’t even call people by landline, and they’re cutting power … in Iran in an effort to limit the number of people that are actually in the streets.

In Iran, the death toll from the suppression of protests has surpassed 500 and more than 10,000 people have been arrested, as reported by Reuters on Sunday. Kazerouni said Pahlavi champions a referendum for the Iranian people to be able to choose and elect their own government, reportedly regardless of whether or not they elect him as their leader.

“To be able to have the space to elect a future government in Iran, it needs to be democratic, and it needs to have separation of church and state that keeps the integrity of the nation in mind … but also to respect all different factions, religions, ethnic backgrounds, and most importantly, women in Iran,” Kazerouni said.

As the demonstrations continued, tensions escalated between groups supporting Iran and members of the U.S. Hands Off Cuba Committee. As an ally of Israel, some supporters of Pahlavi were also supporters of Israel at the protest, causing tension with the U.S. Hands Off Cuba Committee protestors, some of whom wore keffiyehs and pro-Palestine bracelets or pins. Rivera-Gomez said that their interactions were “very hostile.”

“I wish I didn’t have to say that, because I don’t think everyone here is hostile,” Rivera-Gomez said. “We are primarily focused on Cuba, but our immediate interaction was that they came to push us out because they thought we were against them, but we had no idea that they were going to be here on the same day.”

Rivera-Gomez said that her opinions are her own, and not representative of a specific organization present at the protest.

“We were approached by a couple of their protesters and organizers calling us Nazis, calling us a number of names,” Rivera-Gomez said. “I was called a number of slurs, but they had no idea why we were here. They didn’t bother to read our signs at all. They were associating us as being against Israel or being against Palestine.”

Kazerouni said that he rallied for more liberal groups to spread awareness of the uprising in Iran. Regarding the protest across the street, he said he had not seen it.

“I can’t even see past these people, because there’s a number of people here,” Kazerouni said. “But to be clear, the focus of everyone here is Iran and Iranians, because it’s not getting enough attention. Unfortunately, we don’t have the luxury of fighting everyone’s battles. We have our own battle that needs attention, and people aren’t paying attention to it.”

The Hands Off Cuba Committee protestors dispersed as the Free Iran protest grew and tensions flared. Shortly after this, a U-Haul truck drove into the crowd of protestors. It was adorned with a banner reading “No Shah. No regime. USA: Don’t repeat 1953. No Mullah.”

The crowd subdued the driver with flagpoles and debris, according to ABC7. Two individuals at the scene declined treatment and the driver was taken to the hospital in L.A. Police Department custody, ABC7 reported. A dispersal order was given by the LAPD shortly thereafter.