Mayhem broke out at continuing anti-ICE protests at Newark’s Delaney Hall Saturday night, as police fired tear gas and moved protesters away following tension that included a “tug of war” over a security fence.
Backed by a fleet of at least 25 police vehicles, officers carrying shields ordered the anti-ICE demonstrators to disperse under threat of arrest.
An ambulance was seen rushing toward the facility as police moved to clear the block.
“There was a tug of war over the fence. And then they brought the shields out on both sides of the street,” said Stephanie, 37, a demonstrator from New York.
“The cops threw the flashbangs,” she continued.
“Then I got away. I started seeing all the shields and I ran. There was a couple of loud bangs. I saw smoke grenades going through the air.”
After the struggle over the fence, police were seen moving people away down the streets from the facility.
“There were more cops tonight than protestors,” Dr. Kathleen Farley, who was at the scene, said.
Here’s the latest on the anti-ICE clashes outside Newark’s Delaney Hall
It wasn’t immediately clear if there were any arrests Saturday in the latest trouble at the controversial immigrant detention center, which came after six people were arrested Friday and nine were arrested Thursday.
Raychell Middlebrooks, works at Essex county correctional facility down the block from Delaney Hall and couldn’t leave work when she tried.
“I was trying to leave at 10 and we were told we had to stay in the building. It was almost a standoff between the protestors and the police,” she said. “The officers started to gas them. They threw five or six canisters of tear gas. It came out of the facility, we could smell it, we had to close the doors.”
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