LOS ANGELES – Federal agents marching through MacArthur Park, the iconic Los Angeles greenspace and home to protests, did their part for the environment by picking up trash as they went. 

The dozens of agents brought their own trash bags with them, and the supply seemed inexhaustible, according to one observer, certainly more than sufficient to meet demand. At first expecting a confrontation, the agents happily put away their weapons and got busy, removing rubbish on a scale not seen in some time, as concerned residents watched warily from nearby locations. Things got even busier at midday when members of the National Guard arrived, and the result at the end of the day was a park that gleamed with cleanliness.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass had initially opposed further agent activity, after a series of tense developments in recent weeks. However, once Bass saw video of the trash cleanup taking place, she joined in, in a rare instance of state and federal cooperation. “I’m not missing an opportunity to make my city even better,” Bass said as she posed for photos afterward, gleefully showing off her dirt-covered hands. She said that she was a bit of a gardener at heart and so didn’t mind getting her hands dirty in a good cause.

National Guard officials had no comment other than to confirm that the Guard members who took part in the cleanup acted with federal authority. The federal agents who were there from the start vowed to focus on other matters from now on, although they didn’t rule out further greenery protection operations in the future.