The government is busting out the big guns to surveil protesters, according to trackers.

As Trump’s shock troops invade Los Angeles, his administration is using every tool at its disposal to attack and surveil the political protests taking place in the city’s streets. That apparently includes the use of a Predator drone, which 404 Media reports was spotted by an aviation tracker as it zoomed over the city.

The outlet notes that, over the weekend, an MQ-9 Reaper flew over the political protests happening in the city. Onlookers suspected the drone’s presence based on public flight data that picked up movements of a mysterious aircraft:

One aircraft with no callsign, making it initially difficult to determine its model or which agency it belongs to, flew above the areas of the protests in Paramount and downtown Los Angeles on Sunday. The data showed this aircraft flying in distinctive hexagonal patterns, and 404 Media observed it fly afterwards to the U.S.-Mexico border.

  • StrawberryPigtails@lemmy.sdf.org
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    8 days ago

    From it’s publicly available spec sheet:

    Performance and Weights: • Maximum Speed 240 knots (276 mph) • Service Ceiling Altitude 50,000 ft • Endurance 20 hours • Maximum Gross Weight 10,500 lbs

    Seems like that would likely cause pilots and any remaining ATCs in the area ulcers. Especially if it wasn’t following flight rules. I seem to recall that quite a few planes fly around the LA metro area.