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EMS units were summoned to treat at two injured sheriff's officers, a ranking officer with direct knowledge of the incident said.
Bergen County Sheriff Anthony Cureton confirmed the report on Sunday.
The sheriff said that he agrees with the anti-ICE protestors but emphasized that "inciting chaos for the sake of chaos will not be tolerated."
SEE: Bergen Sheriff: Eight Of 9 ICE Protestors Arrested Are From NY, Officers Pepper-Sprayed, Bit
Several arrests were made as groups of demonstrators funneled through Hackensack streets and squadrons of police from several Bergen towns, along with State Police, Port Authority police and the Passaic County Sheriiff's Office rushed in to help maintain order.
The group also marched to the Bergen County Courthouse, some with signs that said, "Abolish Police" and "Abolish ICE."
Hours earlier, the sheriff’s officers formed a blue line following a skirmish outside the jail.
Protestors had descended on the River Street lockup to again demand the release of all ICE detainees. This time, however, the officers moved them across the street.
Several protestors refused, claiming the streets belong to the public.
“They’ve got backpacks and bags and you don’t know what’s in them,” a photographer told Daily Voice. “Then they were trying to move the barricade.”
Pushing and shoving erupts in one Instagram video as officers struggle to move the crowd back and reconnect the barricades. At least two people were taken into custody before order was quickly restored.
An officer with a megaphone twice tells the demonstrators to clear the street or be arrested.
“Watch your f*****’ mouth. Don’t tell me what to do!” one woman shouts at another officer.
Eventually, the demonstrators peacefully move back.
Some continue to shout, with one repeatedly telling an officer “you ain’t built for it, bitch,” while another shouts through a megaphone “you are f*****’ soft, man." Others holding up middle fingers or scream epithets.
Eventually the sheriff’s officers -- some with riot helmets and shields -- assemble in a row along the double yellow line in the middle of River Street.
“We don’t see no riot here, why are you in riot gear?” some protestors chant.
“ACAP! All cops are bastards” others sing while one bangs on a drum.
Others shout “F*** 12,” repeating a slang epithet that stems from the police radio code “10-12.”
“Our demands are clear,” the protestor with the megaphone shouts. “Cut the f*****n’ contract [with ICE]! Hear our people! Free them all!”
Another protestor whose voice is amplified tells the officers: “You make your f****n’ money and go home and sit on your nice recliner and watch your f****n’ TV. F**k you. I hope you f****n’ choke on your dinner tonight.”
WATCH: Instagram video of ICE demonstration outside BC Jail (Sat., Dec. 12)
Protestors with signs, drums and megaphones have rallied outside the jail several times the past two weeks, at times blocking traffic on River Street -- and even damaging property, according to law enforcement officials -- in support of what they say are fasting detainees.
All but two of those particular detainees reportedly had been moved to other facilities, but protestors say that still doesn’t address their concerns.
Bergen County Sheriff Anthony Cureton visited the detainees' dorm earlier this week and discovered that "many inmates claiming to be on a hunger strike have actually been eating. They are medically evaluated daily and none are suffering from malnutrition."
Cureton -- a former Bergen County NAACP chapter president -- sat with the detainees to discuss their complaints and said he inspected the "combination sink/fountain/toilet apparatus" and reported that "the majority were fully operational."
"Cleanliness of the dorms is maintained by the detainees," Cureton said. "[T]hey are provided the necessary cleaning supplies to perform those duties."
The protestors say that’s not good enough.
They’re demanding the release of all ICE detainees from custody, regardless of what crimes put them there, at the four facilities that contract with the federal government to hold them -- one of which is a privately-run facility in Elizabeth and the other three county jails in Bergen, Hudson and Essex counties.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement place detainers on the inmates and pay the facilities to hold them to guarantee that they're brought before federal immigration judges for deportation hearings.
The detainees insist they should remain free while they await the hearings.
The situation has escalated in just the past few days.
Incidents include sheriff’s officers arresting a protestor who Cureton said straddled a barricade outside the jail on Friday and refused repeated orders to move back.
SEE: Protestor Taken Into Custody In Brief Clash Outside Bergen County Jail
An hour or so later, a speeding sedan plowed into a group of demonstrators in Manhattan who said they were part of the ICE protest at the Bergen County Jail.
SEE: Bergen County Jail Protestors Struck By Runaway Sedan In Manhattan
Also this past week, someone spray-painted “FREE THEM ALL.” and spattered red paint on the garage door of Cureton’s Englewood home. As sheriff, the former Bergen County NAACP president runs the jail.
SEE: Vandals Paint Graffiti At Home Of Bergen Sheriff Amid ICE Protests
Several detainees went on a hunger strike at the Essex County Correctional Facility in Newark earlier this year, demanding their release for what they called humanitarian reasons amid the first burst of COVID-19.
Since then, more than 40 hunger strikes have been reported at facilities throughout the country.
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