Nine people were arrested as a mob of anti-ICE protesters descended on a Brooklyn hospital and tangled with law enforcement in a chaotic, caught-on-video clash on Saturday night, cops said.
The unruly group of around 100 activists arrived outside Wyckoff Heights Medical Center in Bushwick after they got wind that federal immigration agents were in the neighborhood and had taken a man in their custody to the hospital for medical attention, City Council member Sandy Nurse said on X.
The mob quickly flooded the streets in front of and around the hospital in what appeared to be an attempt to block the ICE agents from leaving with the man, video shows.
Cops responded to the disorderly crowd – who were blocking traffic and emergency entrances and exits to the hospital – around 10:25 p.m., the NYPD said.
Officers on the scene requested that protesters disperse and step back onto the sidewalk, cops said.
But tensions between cops and protesters quickly heated up, leading to an hours-long standoff between the groups.
Videos on social media show scenes of bedlam around the hospital.
Protesters are seen jeering and yelling obscenities at cops as trash cans are strewn across the street.
In one instance, a small scuffle between a police officer and a protester turns into a massive brawl, with cops and demonstrators tackling and swinging on each other.
The chaos came to its peak when ICE agents left the hospital with the man in their custody around 2 a.m. Sunday morning, wildly dousing the crowd with pepper spray and speeding away in an SUV – but not before banging into a person in the crowd, amNY reported.
Protesters and cops dispersed not long after at 2:45 a.m., police said.
Nine people were taken into custody and charged with resisting arrest, criminal mischief, obstructing governmental administration in the aftermath of the chaos, the NYPD said.
Witnesses claimed that they saw the NYPD colluding with ICE, which is forbidden under New York’s sanctuary city policy, which limits cooperation with federal immigration agencies like ICE.
Witnesses also reported seeing the NYPD lend a jack to ICE agents in order to do a quick repair on their vehicle, amNY reported.
The NYPD said they were called to the hospital to maintain order and did not cooperate with ICE in its operation.
