Rally held outside Worcester City Council meeting to protest recent ICE arrests
Worcester Mayor Joseph Petty moved Tuesday's City Council meeting from in-person to be virtual for safety concerns, as dozens protested outside City Hall.
'They're taking our people from our community they're kidnapping them and detaining them to unknown places, these are our families,' said Mysti Green, an organizer of the protest with Worcester Indivisible.
A large crowd gathered to protest before Worcester's City Council meeting Tuesday over concerns after a chaotic arrest involving ICE agents and Worcester Police was caught on camera last week on Eureka Street.
'I'm here because people are being dragged off the street,' said Gary Hunter, who joined the rally.
Last week ICE arrested a Brazilian woman who they say is here illegally and wanted for assault and battery.
While trying to detain her, others tried to stop police, like Ashley Spring.
She was then arrested for assaulting police officers.
'What I see here in Worcester today and nearly every day since an armed and masked man have been abducting people from the community is a community that's not giving up its power without a fight,' said Spring to the crowd Tuesday.
Many were also upset to see the teenage daughter arrested when she went after police for arresting her mother.
'What would you do if your mother was being taken, you would chase the car, you would try to stop them and two police officers, big ones, threw her on the ground and pushed her face into the ground, this is not America that I know,' said Hunter.
Mayor Petty says he decided to move Tuesday's city council meeting to Zoom for safety reasons after city leaders received threatening messages of violence.
'It is such a cowardly move to close the doors of a building we pay for to prevent us from being heard and from being seen, if they believe they can evade public accountability, they will take that opportunity, but this stunt is just going to make us louder,' said Spring.
Even though the city council meeting was virtual, there was an extended period for public comment, and dozens of people called into the meeting to voice their concerns.
'I feel they're scared to come here and face us,' said Green.
One of the big things people are asking for is to make sure the Worcester Police Department doesn't help ICE agents with their arrests, and to allow for due process for everyone.
Worcester Police say they responded to that scene to keep the peace.
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