Nine protesters were arrested during Biden's visit to Detroit, the group said

At least nine people were arrested Sunday after protesting against President Biden’s Gaza war policies outside his campaign stop in Detroit, demonstration organizers said, adding that one of them was verbally abused.

Organizer Brian Silverstein of Detroit Will Breathe, one of several groups behind the event, said three protesters were arrested during the rally and six afterward. At least four of them received misdemeanor charges of obstructing an officer and two “were likely charged with felonies,” he said.

A statement from the group released Monday said police used a Taser on one of the organizers while he was pinned to the ground. It also said that all nine had now been released from prison.

“These attacks are part of a nationwide trend of increasing repression of dissent, an attack on the right to free expression and an attack on anyone who opposes the Palestinian genocide and state violence,” the statement said. “These attacks are not only sanctioned by the Democratic Party, but are a clear expression of their willingness to use force and violence to silence the movement.”

The authority did not initially confirm the number of arrests or their reasons.

Video posted on social media showed Detroit police arresting several people after the largely peaceful demonstration outside the 69th annual NAACP Freedom Fund Dinner, where Biden was the keynote speaker. An officer is seen holding a Taser while standing over a protester lying on the sidewalk with his hands zip-tied behind his back.

Dozens marched from Hart Plaza to the event at Huntington Place on Sunday evening, waving Palestinian flags and chanting, “Say it loud, say it clear, Biden, we don’t want you here.”

After being stationed behind barricades outside the building, a police officer asked protesters to move away or face arrest for loitering and said the event was not permitted, video showed.

Tensions rose as a line of police officers in regular uniforms approached the barricades.

In a video posted online, a protester is seen setting up a barricade against officers and an officer responds by grabbing the protester’s head.

Another shows a police lieutenant telling a protester, “Why don’t you go back to Mexico…you hung out there and had a good time.” One of the protest leaders recently posted photos on social media from a trip to Mexico. WXYZ reported that the department was investigating the comment, which the protester in the clip described as racist.

The protest was the second greeted Biden during his Sunday visit to the Detroit area, where he has faced significant backlash over his handling of the Gaza war, particularly among Arab Americans. Earlier in the day, he was greeted with chants of “Genocide Joe” during a visit to the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center in Dearborn.

The United States has provided more than $14 billion in military aid to Israel since the war on Gaza began following the Hamas attacks on October 7.

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