Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

Cops Violently Arrest Black Protester at Abolish ICE Demonstration.

Protesters showed up in solidarity with detained immigrants on hunger strike and to call for the abolition of ICE. The police attacked.

Samuel Karlin

December 11, 2020
Facebook Twitter Share
Photo: Montana Samuels/Patch

On Friday, December 11, Bergen County Jail police used violence to shut down a demonstration in solidarity with ICE-detained hunger strikers in the jail. The action, which was scheduled to run from 1-4 p.m. outside the facility in Hackensack, NJ, ended early when a group of cops singled out one of the few Black protesters in the crowd and violently arrested them. Shortly afterward, they threatened to arrest anyone who remained outside the jail.

Protests in front of the jail have had a strong turnout over the last several weeks, especially on weekends. One of the regular protesters, who asked to remain anonymous for their safety,  described the scene of an earlier action which took place on Sunday. “We took the street and we marched over cause we had enough people. There were a ton of people. A wife of one of the detainees spoke and just like the heartbreak in her voice, it was unfathomable. Her kid had a sign that said ‘Please release my daddy.’”

The police claimed that they were arresting the protester because he refused to remain on the other side of the barricade that had only been constructed that Tuesday. After an exchange in which the protester explained that he wasn’t on private property and his taxes paid for the jail where immigrants are being held, the cops attacked him and other protesters who were trying to protect him. While all that took place, immigrants separated from their families were in the jail where they are at a greater risk of catching Covid-19. 

Multiple protesters at the December action said that cops have gotten more aggressive as the protests have continued into the fourth week. Actions have taken place outside the jail consistently since November 27, with a loyal group of people showing up to demand the release of the hunger strikers from the jail and voice support for the greater movement to abolish ICE and the police.

Ridgewood for Black Liberation, one of the groups involved in organizing solidarity actions for the hunger strikers, has called for jail support for the arrested protester. Many of the demonstrators who were forced away from the jail stayed within the area, organizing legal support.

The protest and the police response perfectly highlights the inherent racism and violence of the police. The police used violence to physically separate the group and silence demands for the safety of those in the jail. Enforcing borders and dividing the working class is what cops have always been paid to do and this was just one more example of that. In response it is imperative that the working class continue to support the abolition movement and connect the struggle for the abolition of ICE and the police to the broader struggle against the capitalist system. It will be a long fight, but the consistent, multi-week-spanning solidarity of the Bergen County Jail protesters shows that people are willing to see it through to the end. Ridgewood for Black Liberation has already announced that they’ll be returning tomorrow.

Facebook Twitter Share

Samuel Karlin

Samuel Karlin is a socialist with a background in journalism. He mainly writes for Left Voice about U.S. imperialism and international class struggle.

Guest Posts

Haverford College student Kinnan Abdalhamid and Brown University students Tahseen Ahmed and Hisham Awartani, Palestinian college students who were shot in Burlington, Vermont.

Haverford Faculty for Justice in Palestine Releases Statement Supporting Pro-Palestinian Students

Haverford College Faculty for Justice in Palestine have published a statement following the shooting of three Palestinian students in Burlington, Vermont.

Balata Refugee camp in the West Bank, Palestine following a bombing in November 2023.

“No Wounded, Only Martyrs”: Night Shift Stories from a Nurse in the West Bank

A Palestinian nurse working in Nablus details his experience working the night shift in a hospital following the bombing of the Balata Refugee Camp.

Palestine Is a Worker Struggle: UAW Graduate Student Workers in California Show Solidarity with Palestine

UAW graduate students at the University of Southern California joined the walkout for Palestine during their picket line. U.S. labor must fight for Palestinian liberation!

Maryam Alaniz

November 16, 2023

When History Failed to Turn

One hundred years ago, a communist uprising took place in Hamburg. But the revolution in the rest of Germany was canceled.

Doug Enaa Greene

November 14, 2023

MOST RECENT

A UAW sign is held next to a "Free Palestine" sign

The UAW Has Called for a Ceasefire. It’s Time for All of Labor to Stand Up.

The UAW International union has joined calls for a ceasefire and is exploring how to divest from Israel. This is a step which should inspire union activists to take up the fight to bring their union into the fight against Israel's attack on Gaza and the struggle against imperialism.

Rose Lemlich

December 2, 2023

Robert Habeck Wrote a Play Praising a Right-Wing Mass Murderer

Germany's Green vice chancellor strikes many as an idealist who has been struggling with the tough realities of government. Yet before he was a national politician, he wrote a play that opens a window into a dark soul.

Nathaniel Flakin

December 1, 2023

The World Kissinger Built Must Die Too

Henry Kissinger died at 100 years old. But his legacy remains in the brutal world system he built and the future generations of imperialist ghouls he inspired. They all must go.

Samuel Karlin

November 30, 2023

Fact Check: Did German Leftists Try to Bomb West Berlin’s Jewish Community Center in 1969?

Answer: No. The bombing was undertaken by West Germany’s domestic secret service, originally founded by Nazis.

Nathaniel Flakin

November 29, 2023