NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – Dozens were arrested as protesters marched through the streets of Midtown, at one point blocking the entrance to a Microsoft store as they decried U.S. immigration policy and got into confrontations with police Saturday afternoon.
Dozens of people were taken into custody by the NYPD as they refused orders and halted traffic by sitting down on Fifth Avenue.
Videos show the protesters also sitting in front of the Microsoft store at Fifth Avenue and East 53rd Street as a group of police officers warns them to move or face arrest.
Many of the demonstrators were chanting, “Being a human being will never be illegal.”
Others were holding signs like “no business with ICE,” “abolish ICE” and “we will not be complicit.”
“Microsoft has a huge contraft with ICE, and so we're protesting Microsoft for that,” one woman told 1010 WINS.
Jessie Ortiz said Microsoft made it easy for ICE to do its job, which he said was to abuse immigrants and separate children from families.
“If we believe ICE is acting injusticly, unfairly targeting people, then we need to take a look at how they're doing their work,” Ortiz said.
Protesters have been targeting Microsoft earlier this year for the company's $19.4 million contract with the immigration enforcement agency.
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