I’m in #Lafayette, Louisiana where the all-Black #NFAC militia is planning to march at 4pm EST.
A number of opposing militia groups are also here, setting up across the parade route.
Here, the “Cajun Guard” forms up with officers near the beginning of the march route.
Under police guard, the #NFAC is forming up at Lafayette Public Library.
They are expected to march 3 hours from now, 4pm local time (apologies, in an earlier tweet I said 4pm est.)
For now, they don’t want press nearby.
Police erected barricades that track the entire planned #NFAC march route. Theoretically, the group will march to Parc San Souci which is only a few blocks away.
After a rally there, they are expected to perform the same march in reverse back to the library.
Here at the park itself, folks who aren’t in the NFAC are gathering as well. Some are armed, but most are just hanging out.
A voter registration drive is taking place as well.
Some militia guys are marching / standing outside the park where the #NFAC will expectedly end up.
The few I’ve spoken to today have all referred to themselves as “independent” rather than connecting themselves to a specific militia organization.
About 100 #NFAC members here gathered at library about 2 hours before their anticipated march.
Something usual: they’ve agreed to disarm.
None are carrying guns right now, and just before this clip, as one went to join his friends with a rifle, they made him out it away.
Near the park that the NFAC will show up at, militia groups are hanging out.
One sat down with his gun and his Bible and said a prayer.
I asked about their plans for the day:
As some NFAC members roll up with rifles, a member ran over to them to tell them “no guns, no guns!”
It seems this event will actually proceed unarmed.
Right wing militias and some Black Panther types outside the NFAC are still plenty armed around Lafayette.
NFAC’s “Grandmaster Jay” scolds some members of his group.
“Grandmaster Jay” checks members’ ID’s.
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VIDEO THREAD: Protesters gathered outside the Portland ICE facility again Sunday afternoon, where they were forced back by federal agents firing pepper balls outside the front entrance as vehicles went in and out.
"I've literally had spicier breakfast burritos!" one yelled following munitions fired at a person in a dinosaur costume. "How's it feel to have your munitions beaten by a f***ing umbrella?"
2) Agents continued to fire sting balls to clear the entrance. "We're moving man," one replied over a loud speaker. "You're shooting us as we are moving!"
A prisoner transport vehicle left the facility with multiple people apparently detained inside.
3) A man in an "America First" hat had a sign apparently taken by an anti-ICE protester, which he said had touched him previously. It was grabbed back from him.
VIDEO THREAD: Border Patrol agents were followed by activists through the suburbs of Chicago on Friday as they continued their "Operation Midway Blitz" deportation effort.
Tensions escalated in Park City to the point of an agent pointing a weapon into the car of a protester with children in the back, although he abstained from firing.
2) In the town of Skokie, one landscaping worker was taken to the ground and arrested by Border Patrol in the Sokie neighborhood.
He was taken away in an unmarked vehicle with a “Chinga la migra” sticker on the front.
3) "If I see you without your unit, I'm gonna beat the f** out of you, motherf***er" a protester yelled out from a vehicle at Border Control Commander Greg Bovino.
"Who said that?" asked Bovino, handling his bodycam apparently to ensure the capture of the scene.
(quote confirmed with another journalist who caught the sound better)
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3) While the complaint calls the alleged victim "a senior law enforcement member of the Border Patrol Operation Midway Blitz," Chicago Tribune says a source identified the alleged target as Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino.
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"Move back!" the troopers yelled as they used batons to push the crowd.
2) “Get back!” Yelled Illinois Troopers as they continued to push the crowd after they got off the road.
“You could have killed her” a protester yelled after another toppled over. “She hit her head!”
“Unlawful assembly!” repeated the trooper in command.
3) Illinois troopers approached and took the man who had originally led the group to march on the street onto the ground, arresting him.
“Shame! Shame!” The crowd yelled at police, calling them “Gestapo.”
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Some threw objects at ICE vehicles, and agents replied by tossing tear gas out the windows and at crowds.
2) ICE agents threw tear gas into the Brighton Park neighborhood, with canisters ending up on bystander porches and under parked cars.
3) ICE, CBP, ATF, and FBI agents gathered near the scene of the shooting, where protesters yelled at them as well.
One agent danced along to chants of "No hate! No fear! ICE is not welcome here!"
VIDEO THREAD: Illinois State and local police joined forces with ICE and other federal agents to push back protesters outside the Broadview ICE facility, making several arrests Friday morning.
Unlike prior weeks, agents used blunt force rather than chemical irritant weapons.
2) As protesters attempted to block ICE vehicles from entering or exiting the facility, Illinois State troopers pushed them aside, in some cases even physically picking them up, placing them on the grass nearby, and making arrests.
ICE agents waved as they drove by.
3) "Get back!" shouted Illinois State troopers using batons as they shielded ICE agents in vehicles from the protesters.
Broadview Police Chief Thomas Mills, who has previously been critical of ICE, watched the situation closely, in person.