MSNBC: The National Guard ‘Poured Gasoline on the Flames’ of L.A. Protests, Firing Rubber Bullets at ‘Extremely Close Range’

EXCERPT:

NORIEGA: "Yeah, I think that’s exactly right, Ali. I think that’s the right analysis. Look, this — it didn’t really reach this point of the scale and the intensity of this protest and the scale and the intensity of the confrontation between protesters and law enforcement until National Guard troops were deployed here today. That very much poured gasoline on the flames and that very much led to the LAPD, you know, acting in as widespread and aggressive a manner as we saw them acting today. You know, on two or three different occasions I saw LAPD on mounted patrols, on horseback, in vehicles, on foot, really moving in a coordinated and aggressive manner to disperse these protests. Now, of course, again, this was a push-and-pull. We do see, you know, things like what we’re seeing behind me in terms of people, you know, blocking intersections, including with, you know, cars that were set on fire.”