Video shows a police car burning during June 2025 Los Angeles protests.
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A video of a burning police car in Los Angeles is from 2020, not 2025
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This video was taken in Los Angeles during the 2020 protests against police brutality following George Floyd’s murder.
Demonstrations against Los Angeles immigration raids intensified June 8 as protesters clashed with law enforcement officers.
Social media users shared photos and videos of the scenes in downtown LA: people waving Mexican flags, vandalizing self-driving cars and pelting rocks at California Highway Patrol vehicles.
But one video of a burning police car is misrepresented.
"Never seen anything like this before. LA is burning," read one June 8 X post sharing the video. Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones also amplified the video in a June 8 X post. Another June 8 X post read, "Absolute chaos in Los Angeles right now."
(Screenshot from X)
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But this video does show something that has been seen before: It was taken in the Los Angeles area five years ago.
Reverse image search showed that KNBC-TV, Los Angeles’ NBC affiliate, uploaded the video on May 30, 2020. The caption read, "WATCH LIVE: Police vehicles are on fire, as protests continue in the LA area."
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At the time, people organized rallies against police brutality after the May 25, 2020, murder of George Floyd, a Black man, while in police custody.
Tensions in Los Angeles have been building since June 6, when federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents drew protests after they raided workplaces, arresting 44 people who allegedly violated immigration law. On June 7, President Donald Trump ordered the National Guard to respond to the demonstrations over the objections of the state’s Democratic governor who called the move inflammatory.
But this video doesn’t show June 2025 protests. We rate that claim False.
Our Sources
X post, June 8, 2025
X post, June 8, 2025
X post, June 8, 2025
X post by NBC Los Angeles, May 30, 2020
Los Angeles Times, What happened during three days of protests over immigration raids in downtown L.A., June 8, 2025
CNN, LA protests against immigration raids and National Guard deployment, June 9, 2025
The New York Times, What to Know About the Immigration Protests in Los Angeles, June 8, 2025
NBC 4, Gov. Newsom Declares State of Emergency in LA on Fourth Day of Protests, May 30, 2020
PolitiFact, George Floyd did not die of a drug overdose. Why does misinformation about his death persist?, May 23, 2025
USA Today, LA protests went from small to substantial over three days. Here's what unfolded, June 9, 2025
CNBC, Protesters rally against ICE for second day in Los Angeles, June 7, 2025
White House, Department of Defense Security for the Protection of Department of Homeland Security Functions, June 7, 2025
Politico, Newsom blasts deployment of National Guard to LA as ‘purposefully inflammatory’, June 7, 2025
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A video of a burning police car in Los Angeles is from 2020, not 2025
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