SPOKANE, Wash. — Two defendants in a court case being watched across the country testified Tuesday in federal court about their roles in a Spokane ICE protest last June.
Bajun Mavalwalla and Jac Archer both took the witness stand to talk about their roles in the protest. Both say their intent was to block the exits of the ICE facility to prevent detainees from leaving.
The prosecution argues they both blocked federal agents from leaving the Spokane ICE office and even got into physical altercations with officers.
Cell phone video and body camera footage shown in court shows Mavalwalla and Archer at the south gate of the ICE facility when federal agents tried to leave the building.
Mavalwalla testified that he sprinted to the gate when he saw agents trying to drive through it and yelled to other protesters to alert them about what was happening. Mavalwalla says Archer then initiated linking arms in front of the gate.
Archer later testified that the civil disobedience done during this protest was organized on the fly and wasn’t planned in advance. Archer says they wanted people to engage in non violent activity but says protesters talked about risking arrest beforehand.
Cell phone video was shown in court of Mavalwalla getting into a physical altercation with a federal officer at the south gate. The prosecution argued Mavalwalla elbowed a federal agent, but Mavalwalla testified that the agent grabbed his arm and he pulled it free.
After the incident, protesters including Justice Forral were shown in pictures putting benches and lime scooters to allegedly block the gate. Witnesses testified that Jac Archer and others removed those items from in front of the gate and stayed there for the remainder of the protest.
The three defendants face conspiracy charges to impede or injure officers. The defense attorneys are indicating they plan to rest Wednesday. From there, it will be up to the jury to decide if all three defendants are guilty of conspiracy to impede or injure officers.
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