New Jersey imposes curfew near ICE facility after clashes

New Jersey authorities imposed a curfew in the early hours of Sunday around a detention center operated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement following escalating clashes between protesters and police, News.Az reports, citing Xinhua.

The curfew applies to all areas within a half-mile radius of the Delaney Hall Detention Facility and will be in effect from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. until further notice, according to Newark Mayor Ras Baraka.

“Due to the escalating situation at Delaney Hall and the increasing need for police intervention, immediate action is required to protect public safety,” Baraka said in a statement.

He added that “multiple individuals have already been arrested and found in possession of weapons, underscoring the seriousness of the threat.”

Six people were arrested outside the facility late Friday night after they failed to comply with police orders to disperse.

In a separate statement released Sunday morning, Mikie Sherrill said protesters “attacked” a barrier separating law enforcement from demonstrators on Saturday night, and were “throwing projectiles, utilizing the barriers as weapons, and lighting tires on fire in the street.”

Demonstrations have continued for more than a week, driven by allegations of inhumane conditions and reports of a hunger strike by detainees inside the facility. Local media reported that the New Jersey State Police used tear gas and other nonlethal methods to disperse crowds.

The United States Department of Homeland Security said early Sunday on X that the area around the facility had been secured, adding that the agency “WON’T BACK DOWN.”

News.Az 

By Nijat Babayev