Photo: PATRICK T. FALLON / AFP / Getty Images
Dozens of protesters were arrested Tuesday evening after occupying the lobby of a Hilton Garden Inn in Tribeca, Manhattan during an anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement demonstration.
According to ABC7 New York, multiple protesters entered the hotel lobby around 6 p.m., with the crowd eventually growing to hundreds of demonstrators both inside and outside the building.
Police say they issued numerous orders to disperse over a 45-minute period, but when protesters refused to comply, officers began making arrests. At least 66 people were taken into custody on trespassing charges, according to law enforcement sources.
The protesters targeted the Hilton chain after it recently dropped a Minneapolis franchise that had banned ICE agents from staying at its property. However, sources confirmed to the New York Post that no federal agents were actually staying at the Tribeca location during Tuesday's protest.
Video footage shared on social media showed demonstrators chanting slogans like "No ICE, No KKK, No Fascist USA" and "ICE out of New York" while blowing whistles and waving signs.
The demonstration comes amid heightened tensions following two recent fatal shootings in Minneapolis involving ICE agents. On January 25, Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse, was shot and killed by Border Patrol agents during an immigration raid. This incident followed the January 7 shooting death of Renee Nicole Good, a mother of three, who was killed by an ICE agent after she allegedly accelerated her vehicle toward him during a confrontation.
Sam Raskin, spokesperson for New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, issued a statement supporting the protesters, saying: "Mayor Mamdani commends the protesters who exercised their right to protest against ICE today. As he has said, ICE is a rogue agency that has repeatedly carried out cruel, inhumane, and lawless raids, arrests, shootings, and even targeted American citizens."
By 8:20 p.m., police had transported the arrested protesters from the scene while remaining demonstrators chanted, "We love you, we will get justice for you."
The NYPD maintained a presence outside the hotel as the crowd gradually dispersed.
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