Politics & Government
Worcester City Councilor Is 'Unapologetic' After Protesting ICE Agents: Report
District 5 Councilor Etel Haxhiaj was one of the many people who protested an ICE arrest in May.
WORCESTER, MA — A Worcester city councilor pleaded not guilty in court on Wednesday, according to a report from MassLive. Etel Haxhiaj was accused of interfering with and assaulting a police officer while protesting against ICE agents who were arresting a mother of three in May.
The District 5 Councilor was charged with one misdemeanor count of assault and battery on a police officer and one common law violation for interfering with a police officer, according to MassLive.
On May 8, ICE agents were detaining a woman on Eureka Street in Worcester. A group of 30 protesters tried to block the agent's vehicle from leaving. The group demanded that they not take 40-year-old Rosane Ferreira-De Oliveira into custody.
One of those protestors was Haxhiaj, who police said obstructed the officers who tried to leave the area, grabbed onto a side mirror of the vehicle, and struck a police officer who was trying to intervene.
Haxhiaj will appear in court again on Sept. 15 for a motion to dismiss hearing, according to the report.
“I am resolute and unapologetic in maintaining my innocence,” Haxhiaj told her supporters, according to MassLive. “The overwhelming number of Worcester residents and Americans across the country are opposed to armed masked men snatching our people off the streets and neighborhoods, terrifying mothers, children, fathers, families and whole communities.”
