U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday announced that he is abandoning plans to deploy federal agents in San Francisco, following a conversation with the mayor, as protesters gathered in front of the U.S. Coast Guard base where the agents were stationed, Associated Press reports.

Trump wrote on social media that Mayor Daniel Lurie told him Wednesday evening that the city had made progress in reducing crime. Trump stated that he is willing to allow San Francisco to continue its efforts independently. U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents began arriving Thursday at the coastal protection island in Alameda, California, to support federal efforts to locate undocumented immigrants in the country.

A few hundred people had gathered at the base shortly after dawn, many singing chants and holding signs reading “Ice in the Bay, No Troops Here,” referencing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Police used at least one flash grenade to disperse a group of protesters as law enforcement vehicles passed. Organizers urged protesters to remain calm as several Coast Guard officers in helmets monitored the situation near the entrance.

Lurie said he received a phone call from Trump Wednesday evening, in which the president informed him that he was “canceling any plans to deploy federal troops in San Francisco.” Lurie noted in a statement that the country’s Secretary of Security, Kristi Noem, confirmed this during a conversation Thursday morning.