Live Coverage: Protests Against ICE at Texas Capitol: Tear Gas Used and Arrests Occur in Downtown Austin

AUSTIN (KXAN) A large crowd of people gathered at the Texas Capitol in Austin on Monday in solidarity with those protesting Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions in Los Angeles, according to organizers.

A flyer posted to Instagram invited people to “say ‘ICE out of our cities! Stop the deportations!'” starting at 7 p.m. The post, from the Austin-area anti-capitalism group Party for Socialism and Liberation, was posted Sunday and called for an “emergency protest.”

Since Friday, thousands have taken to the streets in Los Angeles to protest after ICE agents arrested immigrants at a number of places in the city, as well as the deployment of National Guard troops in response to initial protests, according to the Associated Press.

Live blog

11 p.m.: Our crews are wrapping up for the night, but we’ll have more coverage throughout Tuesday and the rest of the week.

10:20 p.m.: Law enforcement is making arrests in the area of 6th and Lavaca and they’ve deployed more pepper spray and tear gas against protesters.

10:18 p.m.: KXAN’s Grace Reader from 6th and Lavaca in downtown Austin as law enforcement makes more arrests and uses pepper spray against protesters:

10:08 p.m.: Protesters are tearing down construction barriers, scooters and other equipment and throwing them in the middle of 6th Street as they walk down.

10:05 p.m.: KXAN’s Brianna Hollis reports from 9th and Congress:

10 p.m.: KXAN’s Grace Reader with another update from downtown Austin:

9:50 p.m.: Protesters moved eastbound down 8th Street

9:38 p.m.: KXAN’s Grace Reader from outside the Capitol building:

9:31 p.m.: Protesters are blocking streets in front of the Capitol building, and law enforcement is telling them to get off the street. We have sent a second crew downtown to help keep track of what’s going on.

9:28 p.m.: Two groups have converged outside the Capitol building, with a significant number of DPS troopers in the area.

9:19 p.m.: The Congress Avenue bridge is clear, our crew has confirmed.

9:13 p.m.: Our crew saw two arrests being made by DPS troopers near the Capitol grounds.

9:05 p.m.: A DPS source tells KXAN that there are “about 100 people” on the Congress Avenue bridge, and APD is trying to disperse the crowd.

9 p.m.: KXAN’s Grace Reader from downtown Austin:

8:51 p.m.: Tear gas has been used against a group of protesters. Our crew got caught up in it. Tune into CW Austin at 9 p.m. to hear the latest, and we’ll continue to update this live blog.

From APD regarding the use of tear gas as a crowd control method during protests:

“APD wasn’t allowed to use tear gas after the protests in 2020. Any tear gas would be deployed by DPS.”

8:40 p.m.: A group of protesters is moving down Brazos Street from 8th Street. 8th Street has scooters lying across it to block law enforcement on motorcycles. The protest is fracturing into smaller groups now.

8:30 p.m.: Law enforcement pepper-sprayed protesters in the street on 9th and Congress. Protesters are now in several groups after marching as one back to the Capitol grounds.

8:27 p.m.: The crowd is now splitting into two groups. One group is walking again in the street. Another group is sticking around the Capitol. Our crew at the protest said the people in the street will get one more warning before being arrested.

8:21 p.m.: Law enforcement got on megaphones to tell people to move to the sidewalks because streets were opening back up. Some protesters are not obeying and yelling obscenities at law enforcement.

8:16 p.m.: The march is back at the Capitol grounds, and with the grounds closed, the crowd is gathering outside the gate. DPS has closed the intersection of 11th and Congress. The crowd is chanting, “No more ICE!”

8:06 p.m.: The crowd is moving away from the federal building and is on Congress Avenue headed back toward the Capitol.

8 p.m.: According to an Austin Police Department post on X, the planned route of the march is as follows:

• South on Congress Ave. to 7th St.
• 7th St. to Trinity
• North on Trinity to 8th St.
• 8th St. back to Congress Ave.
• North on Congress Ave. to the Capitol

The post said if you’re driving in the area to be aware of the crowd.

7:57 p.m.: The march has stopped outside the federal building on 8th and San Jacinto. The crowd is now chanting, “Whose streets? Our streets.”

7:54 p.m.: The march is turning on Trinity Street back toward the Capitol grounds. Texas DPS plans to have the grounds “cleared and closed” at 8 p.m.

7:45 p.m.: “The people, united, will never be defeated,” is the chant now. The group is walking down Congress Avenue.

7:38 p.m.: The crowd is beginning to march and is in the area of 11th and Congress. They are chanting, “We will not put up with ICE. Say it once, say it twice.”

7:25 p.m.: KXAN’s Grace Reader spoke with one of the people at the protest and said she decided to show up because she saw “what was going on in Los Angeles,” and was “very scared and upset about what our President is doing and using his power to turn the military against us.”

“They’re on a hairpin trigger out there, and anything can set it off,” 67-year-old Lynn Tozser said. “I don’t want that to happen.”

7:10 p.m.: A unit of the DPS mounted patrol arrives at the Capitol grounds. Protest leaders said they do intend to march at some point.

7:05 p.m.: Protest leaders went over ground rules for the protest and told the crowd not to engage with “instigators” or law enforcement. It appeared that Texas DPS troopers on bikes led someone who appeared to be counter-protesting away from the crowd. It didn’t appear that DPS arrested the individual, at least from what the KXAN crew could see.

7 p.m.: KXAN has a crew at the Capitol grounds. The protest was scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. with “dozens” of people there, but more were rapidly joining the protest. Texas DPS said the Capitol grounds will be “cleared and closed” at 8 p.m.