After protesters’ arrests at anti-ICE rally, advocates decry CPD’s ‘violent and aggressive’ response

Seventeen people were arrested as thousands gathered downtown Tuesday evening to protest President Donald Trump’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants, marking the latest flashpoint in the volatile nationwide struggle over Trump’s push to carry out mass deportations.

Four demonstrators facing felony charges are respectively accused of spitting in an officer’s face, chucking a water bottle at a cop, throwing “an unknown liquid” at another officer and tagging police vehicles, court records show.

One of them, a 37-year-old Chicago man, said his “emotions got the best of him” when he was tackled and struck with a baton after tossing the bottle, according to an arrest report.

The National Lawyers Guild of Chicago had observers monitoring the protest and insisted the “police response was especially violent and aggressive.”

“Many of the people arrested at the demonstrations reported extensive physical injuries, reflecting widespread reports of extreme physical aggression by Chicago police officers,” the lawyers guild said in a statement Wednesday.

The police department said it’s committed to protecting protesters’ rights, touting its handling of pro-Palestinian demonstrations and those surrounding the Democratic National Convention last summer.

“As we protect these assemblies, we will not tolerate any criminal activity or violence,” the department said in a statement. “Those in violation of the law will be held accountable.”

Eleven other people were charged with misdemeanor crimes stemming from Tuesday’s protest, including battery, reckless conduct, resisting arrest and vandalism. Charges were pending against two others, police said.

At least six of the people who were charged appeared in court Wednesday and were ordered released on their new charges. But one of them, a 33-year-old Chicago man, was ordered detained in jail for violating his probation in a drunken driving case.

Many of the demonstrators who were charged are being represented by the Cook County public defender’s office. A spokesperson for the office noted that the “charges are merely allegations at this point and are far from being proven in a court of law.”

“As we saw following arrests at the Democratic National Convention, dozens of those cases were later dropped completely for lack of evidence or resulted in acquittals at trial,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

“The Cook County public defender’s office is dedicated to protecting people’s constitutional rights, including the First Amendment right to protest their government’s actions.”

Simmering tensions

Tuesday’s demonstration came less than a week after advocates and some alderpersons clashed with federal agents detaining people at an immigration check-in office in the South Loop.

CPD responded to the chaotic scene, leading to a proposed City Council inquiry into whether the move violated Chicago’s Welcoming City ordinance, which strictly limits officers’ coordination with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

Public battles over Trump’s immigration policies have spread to cities across the country, including Los Angeles, where Trump has deployed the National Guard and Marines in recent days to protect federal property and tamp down demonstrations that have at times turned riotous.

This weekend, “No Kings” protests are planned in Chicago and other cities to counter the costly military parade Trump has scheduled in Washington on his birthday.

On Tuesday, downtown streets were flooded with demonstrators carrying signs supporting undocumented immigrants and slamming ICE, the agency chiefly responsible for enforcing immigration laws.

There were scattered skirmishes between police and protesters as officers clutched batons and tried to hold their ground. A 22-year-old Summit man was charged with reckless conduct after he refused to move away from a police line and approached officers “in an aggressive stance” near State and Monroe streets, records show.

However, some protesters were also seen trying to quell tensions as clashes erupted. At State and Washington streets, some screamed “no violence” and “let him go” as officers tried to grab a man in a bike helmet. Police supervisors were also seen pulling officers away from scrums.

Perhaps the most jarring moments came when a car drove through the first block of East Monroe Street and struck Heather Blair, a 66-year-old retired federal worker who suffered a broken arm. The police department hasn’t announced charges or a possible motive.

Blair, 66, told the Sun-Times that she’s upset she won’t be able to attend Saturday’s No Kings demonstration because she’s “too beat up.” She said she went to Tuesday’s protest to advocate for a “better, more fair immigration system.”

“Trump is going too far with snatching people off the street. He’s ended asylum, threatening to deport people to Sudan or Libya,” she said. “So it needs to be protested.”

Contributing: Cindy Hernandez, Adriana Cardona-Maguigad, Kade Heather and Kaitlin Washburn