Yves right here. Protest in opposition to Trump insurance policies up to now seems to not be conducting a lot, even within the face of his rising disapproval scores. Pink pussy hats and No Kings marches don’t seem to have had any affect on his actions.
Nonetheless, in contrast to the Nineteen Sixties Vietnam Warfare and civil rights marches, demonstrations in opposition to Trump have typically been about Trump the particular person or an inchoate opposition to Trump authoritarianism, versus searching for to reverse explicit insurance policies. Right here the ICE element of anti-Trump motion is completely different in having a transparent focus. And as we are going to focus on beneath, a weekend on-the-fly effort in New York Metropolis to cease an ICE raid does seem to have been narrowly profitable, in that the raid didn’t come off, and that regardless of the NYPD coming in to filter the protests, police chief Jessica Tisch known as ICE to complain, apparently fiercely, in regards to the raid.
Although NYPD did are available to help ICE to flee having been briefly contained in considered one of its amenities, I infer (it’s not clearly defined within the accounts I’ve seen up to now) that what could have been the purpose of competition is the best way ICE left when it lastly may depart. Tisch’s objection was that ICE had endangered the protection of NYC residents and the police. Do not forget that even beneath present mayor Eric Adams, NYPD is just not helping ICE; it got here to the scene as a result of conflict with protestors and protestors utilizing pallets and trash to attempt to block the meant ICE advance. From the New York Instances account:
The confrontation, which appeared to foil the raid, underscored the quite a few challenges the federal authorities faces in making an attempt to stage raids in a dense metropolis like New York, the place pushback from protesters in a largely liberal metropolis seems inevitable.
The standoff started simply after 11 a.m., when a handful of protesters gathered outdoors a storage on the sting of Chinatown, on Centre and Hester Streets, the place brokers from U.S. Customs and Border Safety and the Division of Homeland Safety had been arriving.
Because the brokers’ automobiles moved to depart, protesters blocked them, forming a barricade on the mouth of the storage with their our bodies and piling mounds of rubbish luggage beside them. The standoff continued for the higher a part of an hour as increasingly protesters arrived.
By the early afternoon, almost 200 individuals had gathered on the road outdoors, chanting and yelling on the brokers, who peered out from contained in the storage.
Law enforcement officials quickly arrived on the scene, arresting a handful of protesters and putting metallic barricades between the brokers and the group outdoors. However the presence of native regulation enforcement did little to ease tensions…
Simply after 1:15 p.m., the confrontation erupted into chaos when brokers burst from the storage of their automobiles and protesters chased them down Canal Road, hurling planters and trash cans after them. At one level, a protester ran in entrance of one of many transferring automobiles and a masked agent sprayed one thing at protesters from the open home windows.
On the road, law enforcement officials and protesters continued to conflict, shoving one another in the midst of incoming visitors whereas the automobiles sped away…
Jessica Tisch, the pinnacle of the New York Police Division, vehemently criticized the actions of the federal brokers throughout a telephone name on Saturday with Ricky Patel, the particular agent in command of New York’s Homeland Safety Investigations workplace, in response to an individual acquainted with the matter who was not approved to talk publicly. She informed him that the raid was “unacceptable” and that such exhibits of power had put New Yorkers, federal brokers and her officers in hurt’s approach, the particular person mentioned.
It’s modern amongst each conservatives and the avocado toast crowd to denigrate militancy, because it threatens property, which they appear as extra essential than human rights. And usually protest does look ineffective within the close to time period. As reader Richard Kline identified in 2010:
The nut of the matter is that this: you lose, you lose, you lose, you lose, they offer up. As somebody who has protested, and studied the method, it’s plain that one spends most of 1’s time start defeated. That’s painful, humiliating, and intimidating. One can’t anticipate sometimes, as in a battle, to get a clear shot at a transparent win. What you do with protest is simply what Hari discusses, you modify the context, and that change strikes the goalposts in your opponent, grounds out the present of their machine. The nonviolent resistance in Hungary within the 1860s (sure, that’s within the nineteenth century) is a wonderful instance. Communist rule in Russia and its dependencies didn’t fail as a result of protestors ‘received’ however as a result of most easily withdrew their cooperation to the purpose it suffocated.
Nonetheless, the Trump administration brooks no opposition and is keen on utilizing violence to get its approach. Will refusniks match them, as Frederick Douglass warned was essential?
Energy concedes nothing and not using a demand. It by no means did and it by no means will. Discover out simply what any individuals will quietly undergo and you’ve got came upon the precise measure of injustice and fallacious which can be imposed upon them, and these will proceed until they’re resisted with both phrases or blows, or with each. The boundaries of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of these whom they oppress.
By Gwynne Hogan, Alex Krales and Katie Honan. Revealed at THE CITY on November 29, 2025
The NYPD arrested greater than a dozen individuals and unleashed clouds of pepper spray on a spontaneous protest shaped round a SoHo parking storage the place masked brokers with the U.S. Division of Homeland Safety had gathered inside.
It’s unclear precisely what the federal brokers had deliberate for Saturday. Round 11 a.m the brokers started staging contained in the federally owned parking facility at Howard and Middle Streets, close to the spot on Canal Road the place federal brokers utilizing navy gear had carried out a wave of arrests of immigrant road distributors final month.
Hellgate reported ICE had deliberate one other large-scale immigration raid for Saturday afternoon that received unexpectedly known as off as protesters and distributors appeared to have heard of it.
Phrase shortly unfold amongst activists and a rising crowd shaped outdoors the storage chanting “ICE out of New York,” as some demonstrators tried to dam the road and storage exits with visitors cones and overturned trash cans whereas masked brokers seemed on from above.
NYPD officers arrived on the scene and helped the brokers shove protesters out of the best way, erecting metallic barricades across the parking storage and arresting a number of demonstrators. After a standoff that lasted roughly two hours, the officers managed to clear the best way for round two dozen federal automobiles to exit the parking storage and depart the realm.
“It’s actually despicable, it looks like the NYPD — particularly the [Strategic Response Group, the NYPD’s counter-terrorism unit] — is working to clear the best way for ICE brokers to exit in our metropolis to do arrests,” mentioned native Metropolis Councilmember Christopher Marte, who rushed to the road after listening to in regards to the standoff.
An announcement supplied by the NYPD mentioned officers arrived shortly earlier than midday after getting a 911 name for a “disorderly group.”
“Upon arrival, officers noticed a number of people who had been blocking the road and exits at completely different areas. The people had been additionally noticed throwing particles,” the assertion mentioned. “They had been instructed a number of occasions to disperse, and they didn’t comply. In consequence, a number of people had been taken into custody.”
In an emailed assertion, DHS declined to say what brokers had deliberate for Saturday and thanked the NYPD for intervening.
“We’re grateful for the NYPD officers that responded to those violent agitators and stopped the lawlessness that ensued,” the assertion mentioned.
“We’ll by no means apologize for implementing the regulation and eradicating felony unlawful aliens together with murderers, pedophiles, rapists, gang members and terrorists from our communities. We received’t let violent rioters sluggish us down, and anybody who assaults regulation enforcement can be prosecuted them [sic] to the fullest extent of the regulation.”
A spokesperson for Mayor Eric Adams didn’t reply to a request for remark from THE CITY.
Monica Klein, a spokesperson for Zohran Mamdani, mentioned in an announcement that “the Mayor-elect has made it clear — together with to the President — that these raids are merciless and inhumane and fail to advance real public security.”
“The Mayor-elect stays steadfast in his dedication to defending the rights and dignity of each single New Yorker, upholding our sanctuary legal guidelines and deescalation reasonably than use of pointless power,” she mentioned.
Because the stream of federal vans and automobiles tried to depart the realm, smaller teams of protesters left a path of overturned trash cans and particles alongside Canal Road trying to sluggish them down. Dozens of NYPD officers pursued the protesters, unleashing clouds of pepper spray and making a number of extra arrests alongside Canal Road.
“You perceive this isn’t your battle,” mentioned Kaleed Ravis, 52, pleading with NYPD officers to be mild with one protester who had his arm twisted behind his again. Ravis, a New Jersey resident, was out buying when he heard the commotion and joined the protesters.
The throngs of federal brokers, NYPD officers and protesters trigger chaos alongside Canal Road for a number of hours on “Small Enterprise Saturday,” an enormous day for vacationers and vacation consumers.
“We’re actually nosy, it’s the Scottish in us,” mentioned one Scottish vacationer who had stopped to watch, declining to provide her identify.
Nineteen-year-old Ali Boussi had come to Canal Road to “get some pretend Gucci” whereas visiting his dad from Detroit, although he hadn’t been capable of finding any on the market that day, as road distributors — who had been out promoting on Canal on Friday — had appeared to have cleared out for the day.
“Fuck ICE, why are they doing this? We’re all one variety,” he mentioned. “It hurts me inside. We’re all individuals.”
Dozens of federal brokers descended on Canal Road in October focusing on road distributors, arresting 9 West African immigrants, the biggest military-style immigration raids in New York Metropolis. Since then, ICE brokers have randomly detained undocumented New Yorkers on the road, focusing on predominantly Hispanic neighborhoods which activists and attorneys have known as profiling.
There have been different violent raids, together with one earlier this month, when brokers burst into a girl’s residence in East Elmhurst earlier than daybreak searching for a relative that not lived there.
The brokers pointed a gun at a 33-year-old mom and her 4 kids, dragging her by her hair and pointing an assault rifle at her 13-year-old daughter.
“Put your fucking palms up, silly,” one agent was heard yelling in a quick video of the raid.
Earlier this month border czar Tom Homan vowed to extend immigration raids and has mentioned he plans to go to New York Metropolis within the coming weeks.
