Dramatic videos posted online show protesters clinging to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement van Tuesday morning outside a downtown San Francisco courthouse.
Videos shot from offices near the immigration court at 100 Montgomery St. show a group of anti-ICE protesters who appear to be trying to stop a deportation climbing onto the hood of a black minivan to try and stop it from driving away. Two protesters refuse to let go as the van drives away from the court. One is seen falling from the vehicle; that video ends with a single protester still clinging to the van as it swerves in an apparent effort by the driver to shake them off.
“Holy fucking shit — frightening times, right?” someone off-camera says on the video. “What the fuck have we gotten ourselves into?”
A protester said she cut her knee when she fell from the hood of a vehicle driven by federal authorities. Another protester bandaged the gash.
“I was bleeding everywhere,” said Sorin, who declined to give her full name. “They were brutal to those of us trying to exercise our rights and protect our community.”
Another video shows a number of ICE agents in body armor battling with protesters outside the courtroom before the van leaves the scene.
“I’m just trying to go about my day,” said Stevie Sanz, who recorded the footage from his office. “I took a walk to clear my head. It was a lot to see on my lunch break.”
Two protesters were doused with pepper spray, and a few were “clipped” by a departing vehicle, according to a 23-year-old protester who declined to give her name. She said there was a group of three or four people who climbed onto the hoods of five departing ICE vehicles throughout the morning protest.
San Francisco Immigration Court has been the site of regular protests since plainclothes federal agents detained at least four people May 27 in what were believed to be among the first arrests of undocumented immigrants in the city, according to attorneys and advocates.
ICE detained at least one immigrant at court Tuesday, according to Milli Atkinson, who leads immigration defense for the San Francisco Bar Association. An attorney from the Rapid Response Network is “responding,” Atkinson said.
ICE representatives did not respond to a request for comment.
The San Francisco Police Department said it was not involved in the incident, although protesters said officers were present. The San Francisco Fire Department said it was not dispatched to treat injuries.
