December 12 2020 – HACKENSACK, New Jersey:
Abolish Ice Protesters were tear gassed, pepper sprayed, and arrested in a large confrontation outside of the Bergen County jail, where ice detainees have reportedly been on hunger strike for 30 days. Protests have been held in solidarity outside of the jail.
The protest began at 3:30pm, resulted in at least one person arrested. After a long standoff, the group marched through Hackensack to the courthouse where they held another standoff. The group finally returned to the detention center where police in riot gear were waiting. The protesters approached the police and moved a yellow barricade between themselves and the police, who then started marching down the road into the protesters.
The protesters held the barricades as police push into them, after some shoving and objects being thrown, police then started to pepper spray into the crowd. Moments later, what appeared to be tear gas canisters where deployed into the crowd and filled the air.
After the gas began to clear up, police pulled over a vehicle and arrested the driver, who claimed she was trying to avoid running people over.
The police moved the group away from the jail and into the neighborhood streets, where a final standoff was held with a small group outside of the St. Anthony’s church, where the priest came out and said that the protest was disrupting his 6pm mass, another scuffle between police and Protesters ensued before police started to retreat.
Video by Scootercaster and @Newyorkcitypeople (FNTV Freedomnews.tv) [email protected] for licensing
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