A piney protest

PINE PRAIRIE - Demonstrators clashed with law enforcement officers Friday, August 14, during a protest over the detention of foreign nationals in the GEO Pine Prairie ICE Processing Center.
The protest was organized by the New Orleans Workers Group, a self-described socialist organization of revolutionary workers fighting back against oppression and exploitation in New Orleans.
The group first arrived in Pine Prairie around 2:30 p.m. and were blocked from going any further by Pine Prairie Police Officers and Evangeline Parish Sheriff Deputies at the intersection of Hampton Dupre Rd and Fourth St.
When the demonstration stalled, one of the organizers, Ashlee Pintos, said the group was there to protest because “48 African migrants have been on a hunger strike inside (the prison) since March.” She added, “We are here to call attention to that, and we are here to stand in solidarity with those people.”
According to Pintos, law enforcement officers “are denying us our Constitutional right to protest. They’re denying us access to a public road, and they are telling us we are not allowed to be here.”
Pine Prairie Police Chief L.C. Deshotel was on scene at the intersection and said he told the group they needed a permit from the village in order to protest. “They are not going to bombard us and go in just because they want to,” he said.
The chief added the group was turned away because the warden of the prison “didn’t want them to be on his grounds. He wants it to be the right way if they do it, and this is not the right way.”
As the demonstrators were driving away, Chief Deshotel thanked his officers and expressed, “I just hope they don’t come back.”
But come back they did. The group circled around Jeanus Rd and came down La. Hwy 13 where they parked on the shoulder of the road across from the prison.
With traffic passing on both sides of the highway and law enforcement from Pine Prairie Police Department and Evangeline Parish Sheriff’s Office on the ready, chants of “a people united will never be defeated” and “un pueblo unido nunca será derrotado” broke out in perfect rhythm to drum beats and tambourine bangs.
Pintos then exclaimed over a bull horn, “We came from New Orleans today to stand in solidarity with all of those detained in these ICE concentration camps.”
As she continued making her remarks, protestors and law enforcement officers began pepper spraying each other. One of the officers could be heard telling the demonstrators to “get off the side of the road.”
Unphased by the pepper spray, the chanting continued, and other demonstrators spewed their comments on the bull horn. One of the speakers spoke out against what he called U.S. imperialism, U.S. intervention, and United States failed foreign policy. Another spoke out against for profit concentration camps owned by GEO.
The demonstration lasted roughly an hour and began to fizzle out shortly after State Police arrived on scene. Other law enforcement officers there consisted of Turkey Creek Police, Eunice SWAT, St. Landry Parish SWAT, and others.