Alameda: Protesters gathered Thursday outside a US Coast Guard base in the San Francisco Bay Area, where US Customs and Border Protection agents began arriving to support federal efforts to track down immigrants in the country illegally.
A few hundred people, many singing hymns and carrying signs saying “No ICE or troops in the Bay,” referring to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, gathered shortly after dawn outside Coast Guard Island in Alameda. Police used at least one flash-bang grenade to clear a handful of demonstrators from the entrance as CBP vehicles drove through.
Organisers urged protesters to remain peaceful, as a line of Coast Guard officers in helmets watched from just outside the entrance.
The San Francisco Chronicle, citing an anonymous source with knowledge of the operation, reported Wednesday that more than 100 CBP and other federal agents would arrive this week. San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, both Democrats, condemned the move, saying it is meant to provoke violent protests.
A statement provided to media by the Coast Guard said that “through a whole of government approach, we are leveraging our unique authorities and capabilities to detect, deter, and interdict illegal aliens, narco-terrorists, and individuals intent on terrorism or other hostile activity before they reach our border.” Newsom’s office said Thursday people should memorize contact information in case they’re detained. “Act intelligently, take care of yourself, and don’t give them the pretext they’re looking for to intensify their repression,” Newsom’s office said in a post on the social platform X.