NorthJersey.com
HACKENSACK As he peered through a small window inside his cell at the Bergen County Jail, José Suchite Salguero knew something was amiss.
Protesters had been gathering outside the River Street building nightly to support the Newark man and other immigrant detainees who had been on a hunger strike.
But on the evening of Dec. 12, the scene was different, more volatile. There were far more police than normal, many in riot gear. Suchite Salguero said he saw police cars and trucks parked in an adjacent lot, many from outside the city.
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He had planned to address demonstrators by phone, as in the past, to share the story of his 11 months of detention by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and how desperately he wanted to be free. But as he waited to make the call, a confrontation erupted between police and protesters.
9 arrested after protesters, police clash outside Bergen County jail at anti-ICE demonstration
Updated Dec 13, 2020;
Police arrested nine people, eight of whom live in New York, during anti-U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement protests outside of the Bergen County Jail Saturday evening after demonstrators and police clashed.
The nine people, whose names have yet to be released, were charged with offenses including obstruction of government function, disorderly conduct, aggravated assault on police officers and resisting arrest, Bergen County Sheriff Anthony Cureton said during a press conference Sunday morning.
All have been issued summons and released. Cureton did not take questions.
“This only applies to some individuals, and many were there to protest peacefully and respectfully,” he said, noting there were around 150 people gathered at the demonstration.