 JUNE 11 • 2020 | 25

O

ren Goldenberg, local Jewish 
filmmaker and vice president 
of the Isaac Agree Downtown 
Synagogue in Detroit, was beaten and 
arrested for loitering by Detroit police 
officers on Tuesday, June 2, during a 
peaceful protest against the police killing 
of George Floyd and racial injustice.
Goldenberg said he was one of several 
protesters injured and arrested by police 
in the streets that night. Detroit protests 
since the death of George Floyd have 
been largely led by black activists in the 
city. Goldenberg described his role in the 
protests as that of an “ally” and said there 
were “definitely other Jews there.
”
At the beginning, Goldenberg told the 
Jewish News, there were roughly 1,000 
protesters walking northeast on Gratiot. 
Eventually, the group was split. Shortly 
before Goldenberg was arrested, his 
group had only 200 people left.
The group that Goldenberg was march-
ing in was out past the 8 p.m. curfew that 
was set by the city of Detroit. Though 
he and his friend feared being arrested, 
they ultimately decided that they couldn’
t 
leave the people who were continuing to 
march.
The organizers of the march continued 
to walk shoulder to shoulder until they 
were surrounded by police with tanks, 
shields and weapons.

“I was the first one to 
get attacked by the police 
on our side of the march,
” 
Goldenberg said. “When 
the line of police was two 
feet away from us, one offi-
cer reached out, grabbed 
me and struck me, threw 
me to the ground, ripped 
off my mask, kicked my 
back, forced my face and 
neck into the pavement, 
prodded my ribs with a 
billy club and then, while on the ground, I 
was pepper sprayed directly into my eyes, 
and I was cuffed while on the ground, 
the police damaging my hand with their 
plastic restraints. For the record, I had 
verbally and physically cooperated with 
the police the entire time.
”
Due to the pepper spray, Goldenberg 
says he couldn’
t see for almost two hours. 
The protesters were then put on a bus for 
over an hour, until they were booked at 
Little Caesars Arena. They were eventu-
ally transferred to Mound Road Facility, a 
detention center in Detroit, and released, 
needing to find their own way home, as 
the police had confiscated their bicycles. 
Goldenberg says they have yet to return 
his. 
Protests in Detroit, the largest such 
demonstrations in southeast Michigan, 

have continued on a nightly basis despite 
the city’
s curfew. After the violence of the 
initial showdowns between protesters and 
police, local reports indicate that subse-
quent marches have largely been peaceful, 
with reduced numbers of arrests; local 
and state officials have attended some of 
them, pledging to institute reforms.
“My voice is important now because I 
can help amplify the voices leading this 
movement,
” Goldenberg said. “More 
importantly, I can put my body to use to 
fight for justice and my fellow Americans, 
by showing up to the protests every day, 
letting everyone know there is support 
for justice in America and Detroit and, if 
it is needed, I will put my body in front 
of those who are at greater risk of being 
hurt or killed by police enforcement or 
others.
” 

Attacked in Detroit

Downtown Synagogue VP was among the protesters 
who have suffered injuries at the hands of the police.

CORRIE COLF STAFF WRITER

PHOTOS COURTESY OF OREN GOLDENBERG

