HACKENSACK Police gassed demonstrators and arrested several on Saturday after a day of protests against immigration detentions at the Bergen County jail.
Dozens of protesters gathered at the jail and the courthouse on Saturday, according to reports from the scene. At one point, police used what was believed to be pepper spray. Video shows officers taking several people to the ground and arresting them outside the jail.
Immigration advocates have been protesting local contracts in Hudson and Bergen counties with the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which pays to hold immigrant detainees at the county jails as they await court hearings or immigration proceedings.
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.
Subscribe What occurred yesterday was not a peaceful protest. It was not a productive act of political expression, said Cureton, who did note that, in large part, the protesters who gathered on Saturday were there with good intentions.
Cureton, said by 3 p.m. roughly 150 protesters were present outside the jail and demonstrators became increasingly unruly. Law enforcement officials on the ground used tactical smokes in an effort to disperse the crowd, but said no tear gas was used.
Video of Cureton s remarks is below:
In a point that has been denied by activist groups from across the state, Cureton said protesters hopped barricades, threw bricks and used pepper spray against officers. He also said two law enforcement officers were bitten.
Home of N.J. county sheriff vandalized amid ongoing ICE detainee hunger strike
Updated Dec 09, 2020;
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The home of Bergen County Sheriff Anthony Cureton was vandalized Tuesday night after someone spray painted the words “Free them all” in black paint on his garage door, authorities said.
Detectives from the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office were investigating the incident after they were notified about it Wednesday morning, according to a statement from the office.
The vandalism happened sometime after 9 p.m. Tuesday at Cureton’s Englewood home, the office said.
The perpetrator or perpetrators also splattered red paint across the garage door, officials said.
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