Demonstrations outside Newark's Delaney Hall intensified as detainees continued a hunger and labor strike, with federal agents using chemical spray against protesters.
7:59 PM
Tensions escalated outside Delaney Hall immigration detention center in Newark, New Jersey, as protests continued over a hunger and labor strike by detainees now in its fifth day.
The unrest began Sunday afternoon when Gabriela Soto, a U.S. citizen and pregnant woman, arrived to visit her husband Martin Soto, one of the detainees participating in the strike. While waiting to enter, she witnessed several agents forcibly placing a man into a van. Other people nearby told her it was her husband. "I was hitting the door of the van. I was not going to let that happen," Gabriela said, according to reporting by The City.
Within minutes, other demonstrators joined her and blocked the entrances to the complex to prevent the removal. The protest grew throughout the night, with crowds gathering at the facility's access points. Barricades were erected and dozens of people remained stationed at the entrances as the demonstration continued.
On Tuesday night, fresh violence erupted when federal officers responded to the ongoing protests. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel, some masked and armored, deployed chemical spray against demonstrators outside the jail. Federal agents were photographed holding protesters on the ground during the confrontation.
The escalation came a day after ICE officials pepper-sprayed U.S. Senator Andy Kim during his visit to the facility. The hunger and labor strike by detainees at Delaney Hall had prompted the demonstrations, with protesters chanting "We are not criminals" outside the detention center.
Hours of relative quiet preceded the Tuesday night violence, but the arrival of federal enforcement personnel reignited the confrontation between protesters and ICE agents at the Newark facility.
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