At least 15 detained after protesters and police clash outside Chicago Ice center | Chicago

There were at least 15 people taken He was detained outside the Broadview Ice detention center in the Chicago area following heated clashes between Illinois state police and protesters on Friday.

Authorities had instructed demonstrators to stay in designated “protest zones”, but tensions escalated when police officers moved to clear the road.

according to Chicago TribuneAround 8 a.m., protesters advanced toward the building. Within minutes, dozens of soldiers equipped with helmets and batons moved to push the crowd back. The police caught many people and dragged them away. Much of the conflict was captured on video and social media.

At one point protesters tried to intervene He was detained as a demonstrator. Later in the day, groups blew the whistle against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) officers from entering or leaving the facility.

During the arrests, “Who are you protecting?” slogans were shouted. echoed through the crowd during tense exchanges with police. Chicago Sun-Times reported.

Protesters and congressional candidate Kat Abugazaleh expressed frustration with the restrictions. “A free speech zone means that everywhere else is not a free speech zone,” he told The Associated Press. Abuhazaleh said he was hit in the face with a baton and witnessed an officer push a woman to the ground.

Illinois state police said the 15 protesters taken into custody ranged in age from 23 to 44 and face a number of charges related to resisting, obstructing or disobeying an officer, WGN-TV reported. Some demonstrators remained after the 6 p.m. curfew went into effect, prompting authorities to direct them to a public sidewalk near the detention center, the local station reported.

The Broadview facility has been the scene of repeated unrest in recent weeks. Federal agents have previously used tear gas and other chemicals against protesters and journalists. Some participants blocked a nearby street Friday and refused to go to the permitted protest site, state police said.

Local authorities face increasing difficulties managing hundreds of demonstrators who gather outside the detention center, especially on Fridays and Sundays. Federal agents have repeatedly used chemical irritants and so-called “less lethal” projectiles to disperse crowds.

The protests began around 8 a.m. Friday and appeared to violate Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson’s recent directive limiting demonstrations to the hours of 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Thompson was outspoken in his criticism of federal agents’ behavior, saying, “This is not Putin’s Russia” and urging federal officials to cooperate with ongoing criminal investigations.

On Monday, Thompson reduced the size of the protest area, which was previously designated in an arrangement coordinated with state and county law enforcement, arguing that last week’s demonstrations had “devolved into chaos” and disrupted the village’s 8,000 residents.

Friday’s confrontation follows the issuance a day earlier of a court order requiring federal agents in Illinois to wear body cameras during immigration operations, following multiple incidents involving pepper balls, smoke grenades and tear gas against protesters and local police.

Illinois governor JB Pritzker, who has criticized the deployment of federal forces to the state, praised the decision.

“The idea that there was any justification for tear gassing people in the context of their protests, I think the judge responded to that correctly by ruling that federal agents should have body cameras on them, because they’re clearly lying about what’s going on,” Pritzker said.

The Trump administration targeted Chicago with federal law enforcement in August, claiming there had been an increase in crime in the city in recent years. Since then, there have been reports of Ice using increasingly aggressive enforcement in communities, including helicopters flying over apartment buildings.