Several protesters were arrested on Saturday after forming a barricade and blocking agents from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in New York City.
Around 11 a.m., protesters reportedly “gathered outside a garage on the edge of Chinatown,” where CBP and DHS agents were “arriving,” and when the agents tried to leave the area, “protesters blocked them,” according to the New York Times.
The protest reportedly came as CBP and DHS agents were “gathering for an immigration raid,” police said, according to the outlet:
As the agents’ vehicles moved to leave, protesters blocked them, forming a barricade at the mouth of the garage with their bodies and piling mounds of garbage bags beside them. The standoff continued for the better part of an hour as more and more protesters arrived.
By the early afternoon, nearly 200 people had gathered on the street outside, chanting and yelling at the agents, who peered out from inside the garage.
Police officers soon arrived on the scene, arresting a handful of protesters and placing metal barricades between the agents and the group outside. But the presence of local law enforcement did little to ease tensions.
Just after 1:15 p.m., the confrontation erupted into chaos when agents burst from the garage in their vehicles and protesters chased them down Canal Street, hurling plants and trash cans after them. At one point, a protester ran in front of one of the moving vehicles and a masked agent sprayed something at protesters from the open windows.
According to video footage posted to social media, police officers were seen trying to clear the road that was blocked by metal trash cans and plants. Crowds of protesters were also seen trying to block the vehicles from driving through the city.
ABC News reported that the protest came after a raid conducted in October, which “targeted vendors on Canal Street in Chinatown,” and led to “at least 9 people” being arrested.
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