Crowd in Oregon blocks ICE detention buses for hours until federal agents intervene

[Nevilledog]

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/13/us/federal-agents-oregon-activists-ice/index.html


(CNN)Scores of people in an Oregon city blocked the path of buses carrying ICE detainees for hours Wednesday, until federal agents arrived and removed the detainees and some officers from the vehicles overnight, CNN affiliate KTVZ reported.

The intervening federal agents appeared to use a spray to compel protesters to move from the unmarked buses after the nearly 12-hour standoff in the city of Bend, KTVZ reported.

The federal agents have since left the scene, near an office building, and the crowd dispersed peacefully, Bend police said in a tweet early Thursday. Details about where the detainees and agents went weren't immediately available.

The arrests that led up to the standoff were of two undocumented people with "a history of criminal violent behavior," the Department of Homeland Security said without releasing further details about them.

*snip*

[SharonClark]

1. From the NY Times. . .

"The district attorney in Deschutes County, John Hummel, said he went to the scene on Wednesday to better understand what was transpiring but could not get answers from federal officials about who had been picked up and why. Mr. Hummel said that as the crowd grew into the hundreds, he worked with the governor’s office to try and talk with federal officials about how to bring things to a calm resolution.

Instead of trying to de-escalate the situation, he said, the federal officials on scene said they were calling in reinforcements from Portland and Seattle to try and reclaim the detainees.

“I hope that if the federal government is going to come in with full tactical gear and weaponry like they did that it’s because all options short of violence have been exhausted,” Mr. Hummel said. “To go to force as the first option was disheartening.”

[crickets]

2. K&R for visibility.