Aftermath of anti-Muslim protest at Dearborn City Council meeting

We are promoting peace through strength. We keep on rolling down and showing our bellies to the Muslims, and they take us over. Far-right anti-Muslim activist Jake Lang speaking to a large crowd outside Dearborn Centennial Library tonight before addressing City Council. Good evening, I'm Rup Raj. We are covering this story from all angles tonight. Coming up, we'll be speaking live to U.S. Senate nominee Abdul Al-Sayed, as well as state representatives on both sides of the political spectrum, law enforcement experts, legal experts, and community activists. A lot going on tonight, but we have live team coverage tonight with Fox 2's Dave Spencer and Dave Kinchin. Both have been on the scene all afternoon. Now let's get live to Fox 2's Dave Spencer, who is in the middle of a lot of that chaos. And Dave, overall, the 30,000-foot view here, was this a successful police presence that enabled them to have their protests without a lot of unrest? I think if you would ask them, this went off without a hitch in their minds. They knew that there would be a large contingent of people coming right here to the Henry Ford Centennial Library, and they knew they had to be prepared, and we saw that in action. All's quiet now, as you can see. In fact, they came by with a loudspeaker just about a half hour ago, the police did, and notified the people that were still hanging out here that the meeting is over, it's time to come home. Well, we saw them comply with that order and then get on their way, and it's been quiet ever since. We did know that there were a number of arrests or a number of people that were at least taken into custody after some skirmishes broke out. We witnessed that firsthand. Police did confirm that to us, that there were a number of people taken into custody. So let's kind of walk us through the day. So right around 6 o'clock, that is when Jake Lang made his appearance here. He was set to go speak before the City Council meeting. The City Council moved from its regular chambers in anticipation of the large crowd and moved to the Henry Ford Centennial Library, and that's where a lot of the protests were set up, right outside of the Centennial Library. And we saw a number of bike racks set up as a perimeter around this. Well, those bike racks, those initial ones, were breached by some supporters who were following Lang in as he made his way to the front of the library. The problem is they were letting people in around the back, so they weren't allowing anybody in. So when those two forces met, they were pushed back by the police. In fact, I did witness a couple people wince back, rubbing their eyes as if they had some sort of spray in their face, and then they got back. Then we saw moments after that, police come out in full-fledged riot gear, set a perimeter, a half circle around there, and that's kind of where things kind of maintained for the rest of the evening until the meeting was adjourned. So for four hours or so, these collisions between what would be Lang supporters and then the other side would kind of spar on and off. They would kind of get contentious at times. Police would have to intervene at times. And then they would step back the perimeter. We watched those riot police in unison step back. We saw mounted police. All of this to keep an effort of making sure everyone's safety was first and foremost. And that pretty much transpired for the length and the duration of the meeting. And then again, as I mentioned, they came back out here. The police did, as we watched another group from the other people protesting, walk down Michigan Avenue from west to east, make their way outside of the Centennial Library as things turned from light to dark and have a mild protest out here as well. Some skirmishes there, very few after that, and then the peaceful protest came to a conclusion, and that's where we stand now. We're going to have to wait to hear from police to get the final numbers on how many people were arrested, if there were any injuries, anything to that. But there wasn't anything that you could point to to say this was a failure here. For the most part, it was a very successful demonstration. There was a lot of leeway when it came to free speech, and it was directed at all people, including the police, some of that hatred and vicious talk. And they stood their ground, and they understood that that was a First Amendment right, and then they went on their way. And we'll have to see in the days to follow if anything may come of this. Reporting live in Dearborn tonight, Dave Spencer, Fox 2 News. Yeah, I guess overall this was a tremendous police presence. Dearborn Police, not their first rodeo. They've seen this before, they've dealt with this before, and they were ready on every front from the inside of the building to the out. Yeah, it wasn't the first time Lang has been here either. As you might remember, he burned a Koran and put it on social media, so they kind of knew what was ahead of them and the supporters that he would draw. So they definitely had a plan, and that plan was put into action, and we saw it firsthand. All right, our Dave Spencer for us live tonight. Dave, thank you. Our team coverage, let's continue with Fox 2's Dave Kinchin, also live in Dearborn. He's been covering this all evening long. And Dave, there were some dramatic pictures, dramatic scenes that unfolded. You were live in the middle of it. Tell us how that went here tonight. Yeah, we were even in the middle of a fight. It got pretty chaotic at times out here, but I can say certainly it's calm now. You can take a look behind me here. There's a few people hanging out. Those are the barricades that were used earlier today at the Henry Ford Centennial Library. There were a lot of different people out here for these demonstrations. We did see civilians with weapons that looked like AK-47s, pistols, people who had their sidearms on them, of course, concealed carry and that sort of thing here. All of this prompted by this, the arrival of white nationalist Jake Lang and the Christian Crusader March organized by him and Detroit pastor Lorenzo Sewell. Now, the move was made. They moved, of course, this city council meeting, as Dave Spencer said, from City Hall to the Henry Ford Centennial Library for a few reasons, more availability in terms of seating, but also a way to deal with crowd control and enhance the opportunities for public comment and free speech while enhancing the opportunity for more public safety. We saw police officers on top of the library. Never seen that before. This type of rally has happened at least three, maybe four times now. Never seen police on the rooftops, though, looking down, communicating with officers below in uniform and playing clothes as well as officers on bicycles and on mounted patrol, too. Now, Lang's controversial message of Christian nationalism was met with a message of peace and inclusion by Dearborn city officials. Listen in. Muslims go home before we send you home. We have cruise ships, we have planes, we have trains, and we're going to pack them out with all of the Arabs. You have to go home. We don't want you here. A group of children walked up, and amongst them was a young boy, not older than six or seven. And he looked at me, and he asked if the, quote-unquote, crusaders that were coming were coming to kill him. And that little boy reminded me that what is happening outside is not just political theater. Fear has consequences. So tonight, I want to speak directly to him, and I want to speak to every resident of Dearborn who has felt that fear. I want to boldly say that you belong here. Now, the supporters of Jake Lang say, look, this was simply about saying that this is a Christian nation, that Jesus died for the sins of this country, and that this is one nation under God. They say that is their message and that they're standing by it. Of course, many members of the Dearborn community here, business leaders as well as city officials, say they actually encourage a lot of residents in Dearborn not to come out and take part in this demonstration today. And some city officials saying, in their words, don't take the bait as far as some of the presentations that were made here. Again, it did get heated at times. I did see a few people hurt, at least two people who fell. We saw at least one arrest that we witnessed. There were probably some others. We did see state police swooping in at one point to try to quell a situation as well. So there were some skirmishes here or there. That's happened at these types of things before. But overall, definitely peaceful. Reporting live in Dearborn, Dave Kinch in Fox 2 News.