ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - Albany police officers clashed with demonstrators Thursday as they ejected them from a makeshift street encampment outside a police station.
Up to 20 demonstrators had been camped outside the department’s South Station for several days to draw attention to police brutality and a recent confrontation with city officers. A line of officers, some with shields, moved through the encampment Thursday afternoon, shortly after Police Chief Eric Hawkins tweeted that for “public safety purposes, it is time to end this unlawful occupation.”
A video posted to Twitter by a reporter for the Times-Union of Albany shows officers and demonstrators scuffling as officers moved between the tents. One officer swings a nightstick but does not appear to hit anyone.
Police did not immediately provide information on whether there were injuries or arrests.
The newspaper reported that at least a few people were taken into custody.
“There is no excuse for police violence against protestors anywhere in New York state,” the New York Civil Liberties Union’s Caroline Nagy said in a prepared statement. “Protests calling for an end to police brutality against Black New Yorkers should never result in more police brutality.”
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