Immigration protesters clash with Atlanta Police, 1 arrested
ATLANTA - Tensions between protesters who want to abolish the U.S. Government’s Immigration and Custom Enforcement Agency (I.C.E) and Atlanta Police increased Monday afternoon with protesters harassing officers after they were ordered to leave city property.
Protesters yelled at officers who were on bicycle and standing in front of the Atlanta City Jail who ordered the group to leave the area.
Atlanta Police said they issued the order because the protesters were blocking the area where prisoners are brought into the jail.
After police threatened to arrest anyone who didn’t move, the protesters moved to a nearby private property.
This came after a Sunday night protest where police say some protesters threw frozen water bottles and kicked them.
About 50 protesters camped out in front of the Atlanta City Jail Sunday night, which I.C.E. uses as a detention facility.
Atlanta Police said they had no problem with the protest itself, but say those taking part illegally pitched tents and attached tarps and signs to city trees.
Officers say they asked the protesters three different times to remove the items but the protesters responded by getting belligerent.
Officers then went in to remove the tents and tarps. That's when the confrontation took place.
Atlanta Police arrested 24-year-old Tori Ashton Tremayne and charged her with disorderly conduct.
After her release from the City Jail Monday morning, Tremayne told FOX 5’s Kaitlyn Pratt she was wrapped up in a tent that offices were trying to tear down and fell to the ground.
Tremayne maintains she was never violent towards officers, and denies throwing water bottles at or kicking them.
No police officers were injured in the incident.
MORE: Protestors camp outside jail to call for elimination of I.C.E.
The protest is part of a nationwide effort to occupy I.C.E. offices and detention centers.
Protestors hope doing so will put pressure on lawmakers to do away with the agency.
In response to the administration's controversial policy of criminally charging all immigrants who illegally enter the country, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced the city jail wouldn't take any new detainees.
But that's not enough for the protesters, who want the ones already there freed.