After radical, far-left protesters gathered in New York City’s Times Square to protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), nearly one-third of all protesters gathered were arrested by police, according to CNN.
Approximately 300 protesters gathered in Times Square, only to be met by a police presence that was more than triple their numbers. After refusing to disperse and attempting to move into the streets to block traffic, 86 protesters were arrested and are currently facing charges such as disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
Following the mass arrests, a smaller crowd of about 30 protesters subsequently gathered at the NYPD headquarters at 1 Police Plaza to protest the arrests, which subsequently led to even more arrests. Some of the protesters tried to claim, without any evidence, that the arrests themselves were excessively brutal and violent, but video footage showed mostly standard arrests with protesters being led away. The police used a loudspeaker to declare that the protesters were “unlawfully in the roadway and obstructing vehicular traffic,” ordering them to “leave the roadway and utilize the available sidewalk.”