More than 30 people were arrested Wednesday evening during a demonstration against federal immigration tactics in downtown Spokane.
The event took place near The Podium, outside a building where the two detainees were being held in advance of their transport to the ICE detention facility in Tacoma.
One of the men is identified as 21-year-old Cesar Alexander Alvarez Perez. He was in a van that a group of protesters tried to block from leaving. That group included former City Council President Ben Stuckart, who was Alvarez Perez’s legal guardian. Stuckart had organized the protest. He was joined by others, including Laura Tewel.
“There were 15 to 20 of us. They shoved us down to the ground, pushed us, threatened us with tear gas, said they were going to arrest us. They had the cars all lined up to escape, but we held the line and we got back up and they pushed us down and they closed the gate and they tried a different route and we’ve been standing here ever since, making sure they don’t come out this way again," she said.
Tewel wasn’t arrested, but Police Chief Kevin Hall said more than 30 people were.
There were rumors that officers fired tear gas and rubber bullets into the crowd. Hall denied them.
“However, we did use pepper balls, not against individuals. It’s what we call area dispersal, where we shoot it at the feet of individuals. The pepper goes up into the air and it behaves much like pepper spray. We only did that because the crowd refused to move back after multiple, multiple requests to move back and give space for the officers to work," he said.
Mayor Lisa Brown says invoked a 9:30 curfew for the area that included the initial protest zone, plus Riverfront Park, where a second protest was underway. Brown says this week’s protests in Los Angeles were on her mind as she decided how to proceed.
“It was fairly clear to me that if there was no Spokane Police presence that that could be used as a justification for federal National Guard or other federal agents to come in and take control of the situation," she said.
Hall said nearly all of those arrested will be charged with misdemeanors.
