Out-of-Context Images Cited as Proof that Agitators Left Bricks for Protesters
By Sarah Komar
What happened: Conservative and conspiracy-oriented accounts are baselessly claiming that agitators placed pallets of bricks around the Los Angeles area during the anti-deportation protests, to be used for attacking police.
A closer look: As videos of protest-related violence circulated online — including protesters torching driverless cars and throwing rocks and glass bottles at officers — conservative commentators and social media users claimed the protests were an organized, violent left-wing operation. As evidence, they posted images purportedly showing pallets of bricks or cinderblocks strategically placed around the Los Angeles area.
Actor and Trump supporter James Woods shared an image of several zip-tied pallets of red bricks stacked side-by-side on an empty residential street and said, sarcastically, “It’s not like these ‘protests’ are organized though…” The post garnered 4.2 million views and 159,000 likes in three days. Woods’ post was displayed during a June 9 episode of Newsmax’s “Chris Salcedo Show,” as host Chris Salcedo stated, “Online observers like famed actor James Woods are openly wondering, ‘Who is financing all the magic pallets of bricks and cinderblocks that are just appearing for no apparent reason in key areas of Los Angeles?’”
In a June 7 X post, conservative account @defense_civil25 — which uses the display name “US Homeland Security News” but is unaffiliated with the department — shared an image of bricks in shrink-wrap and said: “Alert: Soros funded organizations have ordered hundreds of pallets of bricks to be placed near ICE facilities to be used by Democrat militants against ICE agents and staff!! It’s Civil War!!” The post received 820,000 views and 15,000 likes in three days.
Actually: Neither image shows bricks planted for Los Angeles protesters to use against police.
Fact-checking site Lead Stories (Trust Score: 100/100) geolocated the image of the zip-tied brick pallets to the town of West New York, New Jersey.
The image of the bricks in shrink-wrap was actually taken from a listing on the website of a Malaysian construction-material supplier, according to reporting by BBC Verify journalist Shayan Sardarizadeh, which NewsGuard confirmed.
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