HAMILTON, Canada

The UN on Monday urged restraint from all sides as tensions continue to rise in Los Angeles amid public protests of federal immigration raids.

Asked about US President Donald Trump's deployment of the National Guard to address the protests, UN spokesperson Farhan Haq urged all parties to avoid further escalation.

"We certainly hope that that all parties on the ground will de-escalate the situation. We do not want to see any further militarization of this, of this situation and we and we encourage the parties at the local, state, and federal levels to work to do that," Haq told reporters.

Asked if the UN considers Trump's deployment of troops to the city "militarization," Haq said: "I think you are aware of what the situation on the ground is, and what we want is to see a de-escalation of that.”

On Saturday, Trump signed a memo invoking his authority to deploy a minimum of 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles County after confrontations between immigration officials and protesters.

The protests began Friday after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detained hundreds of people in Los Angeles suspected to be living in the US illegally.

The Trump administration said it will continue with its ICE raids despite the protests, as part of the president's immigration crackdown.

Critics of the raids say ICE is going after law-abiding undocumented migrants, a vital part of the community and the local economy, rather than the criminals and “bad hombres” that Trump has long vowed to deport.