Chaos erupted Saturday night during ongoing protests against ICE at Newark’s Delaney Hall, as tensions escalated and police resorted to using tear gas to disperse the crowd. A struggle ensued over a security fence, intensifying the situation.
Supported by a convoy of more than 25 police vehicles, officers armed with shields warned the anti-ICE protesters to leave or face arrest.
Amid the turmoil, an ambulance was seen speeding towards the scene as authorities worked to clear the area.
“There was a back-and-forth struggle over the fence,” recounted Stephanie, a 37-year-old protester from New York. “Then they brought out shields on both sides of the street,” she described.
Stephanie added, “The police deployed flashbangs. As soon as I saw the shields, I ran. There were a couple of loud explosions, and I noticed smoke grenades flying through the air.”
“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.”
