Police break up encampment outside Philly ICE office

PHILADELPHIA (WTXF) - Police have broken up an encampment outside a Philadelphia immigration office where dozens of protesters have taken over sidewalks to decry the separation of immigrant children from parents who cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally.

Day 4 of protests outside Philadelphia's Immigration and Customs Enforcement office turned ugly Thursday afternoon. Philadelphia police clashed with demonstrators who've been camping out demanding the ICE office at 8th and Cherry be shut down.

"We were complying with their demands as we mostly have and they moved in and started dragging people." protester Lou said. He was arrested Thursday and earlier in the week.

He claims he was roughed up badly.

"I had one of their jack boots in my face--pushing me into the cement," he said.

Police warned protesters to stop blocking access to the building because there are other businesses there. They say they've tried to work with the crowd since Monday

"We tried to negotiate the opening of this door and we ended up making 7 arrests--didn't want to arrest anyone, but we had to,"Deputy Commissioner of Special Operations Dennis Wilson said.

One man says they were given little time to even move their belongings.

"We weren't doing anything--started beating us with clubs. These gave us 3 warnings, so we didn't have time--brutalizing us," he said.

The protesters are demanding an end to the separation and jailing of families at the U.S.-Mexico border and the closure of a immigration detention facility in Berks County.

"What we are trying to do is build a national movement to actually do something because as we know our political leaders from both parties are not doing anything about it," Philly Socialist member Enav Emmanuel said.

"They have a right to protest here, so we want to maintain their safety and we also want to maintain safety of public here," Deputy Commissioner Wilson said.

Police say seven protesters were issued citations for "failure to disperse" when they refused to let people in or out of the building. They were then released.