A pickup truck drove through a crowd of protesters outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement prison in Rhode Island on Wednesday evening, sparking a series of chaotic events that left five people injured.
The black truck pulled up to a line of demonstrators on the sidewalk from the group “Never Again,” a Jewish group that compares detention centers with Nazi atrocities during the Holocaust.
In a video of the incident, the crowd stood along the side of the road shouting “close the camp” and “release the parents” as the truck suddenly swerved into them outside the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls.
Protesters said the prison houses immigrant detainees.
The vehicle halted at the entrance of the employee parking lot for a moment and then moved forward again as people banged on the hood, hopped on the bumpers and pushed against it.
”Oh my God, we have a truck that just ran over protesters,” a bystanders said on the video.
Others began chanting, “The whole world is watching.”
Moments later a few men wearing shirts with “corrections” written on the back showed up at the scene.
Suddenly somebody fired a burst of pepper spray into the dozens gathered, as people rubbed their eyes, coughed and stumbled from the area.
Protesters said the driver of the truck was an employee of the facility and one of the guards set off the pepper spray.
Five people were injured – two struck by the truck and three hit with pepper spray.
Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha and the state police said they will launch an investigation.
“Once we have a full understanding of the relevant facts, we will determine how to proceed,” Neronha said in a statement. “Peaceful protest is a fundamental right of all Americans; it is unfortunate last night’s situation unfolded as it did. We urge all to exercise restraint as our investigation proceeds.”
With Post wires
