Mayor Lisa Brown issued a 9:30 p.m. curfew, the first such measure since protestors in 2020 marched to support George Floyd.
“Everyone must abide by this curfew. Limited exceptions apply, including law enforcement, emergency personnel, media, people leaving the soccer game at the Podium, residents living in the area, and people going to and from work,” Brown’s directive read.
She made the call in response to hundreds of demonstrators blocked federal agents in Spokane Wednesday evening from leaving a downtown immigration office reportedly with refugees who were detained at court hearings earlier in the day.
The protestors, including former Spokane City Council President Ben Stuckart, gathered outside the facility on West Cataldo Avenue in the afternoon just north of Riverfront Park to prevent a bus with the young men from departing to the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma.
A second protest at Riverfront Park broke out hours after the Stuckart-led event and riot-clad officers began shooting tear gas and making arrests.
Protestors in the park were joined by City Councilman Paul Dillon as officers began deploying gas and pushing against the participants.
At the earlier protest on Cataldo, some protesters deflated the bus’s tires and blocked law enforcement from leaving in patrol cars on the opposite side of the building.
A Spokane Police Department officer spoke over the regional SWAT car speaker system at 7:13 p.m. and ordered everyone present to disperse. The officer gave the demonstrators five minutes to do so. Few left the scene when police warned at 7:22 p.m. that they would use force if the crowd did not leave.
The fracas is arguably the most extreme local showing of resistance, among others in Los Angeles and across the country, to President Donald Trump’s sweeping immigration crackdowns since he took office for the second time in January.
The Cataldo crowd included several prominent politicians, activists and community leaders, including Spokane County Democratic Party Chair Naida Spencer; state Rep. Timm Orsmby; Spokane City Council candidate Sarah Dixit; union advocate and a former Democratic candidate for local, state and federal offices Ted Cummings; Thrive International Director Mark Finney and Latinos en Spokane Director Jennyfer Mesa.
I was there and saw this guy showing people the wound just like you see here. It's for real.
I don't doubt it at all. I wish we had a million of him on our side. In fact, I'm sure we would if everyone could see what is happening here. There are a lot of very good people on both sides. Too bad that so many are spoon fed lies by their chosen media. 😥
I hear you, but I live in a ruby-red county and personally know a lot of good people that have been programmed to believe the GOP's lies without question. They are good people. They are kind. They are generous. And they sincerely believe that they are the good guys in this fight because they never see the real truth of what's going on.
I'm sure a lot of them are very good kind generous people as long as they think you're cis, straight, Christian, and white. I used to live in Georgia, so I'm not a stranger to people in ruby red areas.