Sixty people were arrested Sunday night in San Francisco following a chaotic weekend that included a solidarity protest in the Northern California city following President Donald Trump‘s deployment of 2,000 federal troops to Los Angeles to tamp down immigration protests.
In San Francisco, protests that began peacefully near an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office grew quickly into a tense standoff between demonstrators and law enforcement. Police declared the protest an unlawful assembly, and most of the protesters dispersed. Several others stayed behind, marching through the streets and causing mayhem before officers began making arrests.
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Some of the people who stayed began shattering windows and vandalizing buildings. A Waymo and a San Francisco police car parked near Union Square were damaged. Graffiti was also sprayed on the ICE building, and glass was shattered at a Chase bank.
At least one protester threw an egg in an officer’s direction while another threw a glass bottle that shattered on the ground just behind the officers. The group began shouting, “Fascist pigs, off our streets!” and “Why are you in riot gear? We don’t see a riot here.”
Three police officers were injured, including one who went to a hospital for treatment.
One protester, Spear Mintech, told the New York Times that law enforcement seemed “frustrated with us exercising our freedom of speech.”
“It seemed like they were angry and just wanted to hit me,” said the 35-year-old, who carried a cardboard sign reading, “This is what a police state looks like.” “They were very eager to be violent.”
“Everyone in this country has a right to make their voice heard peacefully, and local law enforcement will always protect that right and the rights of everyone in our city to be safe,” San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie said in a statement Sunday night. “But we will never tolerate violent and destructive behavior. … Violence directed at law enforcement or public servants is never acceptable.”
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“As I have always said, efforts to target members of our immigrant community who contribute to our city, support our economy, and raise their families here make our city less safe,” Lurie added. “We will continue San Francisco’s decades-long practice of prioritizing everyone’s safety by supporting community organizations, investing in immigrant legal services, and continuing to build trust with local law enforcement.”
Last week, at least 15 people, including children, were detained during a scheduled check-in at the San Francisco ICE office.
