Overview
- Demonstrators gathered near Canal and Centre streets after reports of possible immigration raids involving ICE and Border Patrol agents concentrated in a nearby garage.
- The NYPD said officers observed people blocking streets and vehicle exits, issued several dispersal orders, and then detained multiple individuals.
- Videos show officers inside unmarked vehicles spraying an aerosol toward crowds, which witnesses cited by the New York Times said could be tear gas.
- Authorities have not provided the number of detainees or any charges, and immigrant-rights groups are calling for the release of those held and an explanation of tactics used.
- The protest followed large-scale enforcement in the area a month earlier that NBC News reported led to nine arrests, as local politics weighed in with Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s recent remarks on sanctuary policies and a reported call in which NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch labeled the operation “unacceptable.”