NEWARK — In the dead of night on the streets of Newark, just across the river from the bright lights of Manhattan, scenes straight out of a war zone unfolded outside the ICE detention facility at Delaney Hall as New Jersey State Police on horseback charged into a mob of militants, throwing everything but the kitchen sink.
Video captured by independent journalist Nick Sortor shows helmeted troopers on powerful mounts pushing back a surging crowd under the glare of streetlights and flashing blue-and-reds.
Protesters, many in black, masked up, some wielding makeshift shields and umbrellas, pressed in close, hurling large pieces of wood, rocks, and whatever else they could grab directly at the horses’ heads. Thick clouds of tear gas billowed across the asphalt as officers in riot gear held the line.
These ain’t your garden-variety sign-wavers. This is straight-up street warfare in the heart of New Jersey, where a multi-day hunger strike by detainees inside the facility has boiled over into nightly brawls, property damage, assaults on agents, and now attacks on police animals. Gov. Mikie Sherrill called in the State Police to restore order after days of escalating chaos, setting up “protected protest zones”, but the militants weren’t having it.
One moment in the footage captures a trooper on horseback wheeling around as the crowd surges; another shows barriers being dragged and objects flying. Shouts, curses, and the chaos of a city block turned battlefield echo through the night. Officials say officers were trying to clear a path for vehicles when things turned ugly. Arrests have piled up, with reports of bites, kicks, punches, and worse aimed at law enforcement.
Newark’s no stranger to tension, but this has residents on edge. Protesters scream about conditions inside Delaney Hall, poor food, medical care shortages, the works. Federal officials push back hard, saying the facility holds serious cases amid a ramp-up in deportations and that the strike is more political theater than genuine grievance. Counter-protesters, including some right-leaning groups, showed up too, turning the scene into a full ideological cage match.
