A heavy police presence descended on Dearborn Tuesday as an anti-Muslim demonstration led by a far-right agitator drew hundreds of supporters and counter protesters, transforming the grounds of the Henry Ford Centennial Library into a chaotic gathering of groups spanning the American political spectrum.

Amid heated verbal confrontations and moments that threatened to escalate into broader violence, Dearborn police intervened repeatedly and arrested 22 people while working to prevent the situation from spiraling out of control.

Jake Lang continued making inflammatory and insulting remarks against Muslim Americans during a Dearborn City Council meeting that had been relocated from the Dearborn Administrative Center to the library as part of a series of security measures adopted by city officials ahead of the widely promoted demonstration.

Hours before the meeting, hundreds of demonstrators began arriving from Michigan and other states. They ranged from self-described Christian “crusaders”, neo-Nazis and Christian nationalists to left-wing anti-fascist groups.

Authorities established designated demonstration areas using yellow tape and metal barricades. An unprecedented deployment of Dearborn Police officers and supporting law enforcement agencies formed a security perimeter around the library and nearby streets.

City officials had urged residents to avoid the demonstration and refuse to engage with provocateurs. But hundreds nevertheless attended, some out of curiosity and others seeking to challenge claims targeting Dearborn’s Arab American and Muslim communities.

Crowds of Arab American demonstrators arrive at the protest site

After nearly two hours of gathering, Lang’s arrival at about 6 p.m. energized his supporters and provoked his opponents. The crowds surged, metal barriers fell and tensions escalated, prompting police officers to move aggressively to restore order.

Lang continued denouncing Muslims and calling for their removal while carrying a sign that read, “Jesus Is King of Dearborn.”

Lang, who describes himself as leading a “crusade to stop the Islamification of America,” has repeatedly targeted Muslim communities across the country. Tuesday’s appearance marked at least his fourth recent visit to Dearborn.

He had threatened to burn copies of the Quran and hold a pork barbecue with what he claimed would be thousands of motorcyclists. Neither occurred as advertised, an outcome city officials viewed as a victory for Dearborn.

Lang addresses the City Council

During public comment, Lang attempted to carry a copy of the Quran to the podium in what appeared to be a planned effort to inflame an already tense atmosphere.

City Council President Mike Sareini firmly stopped him, warning that he would be removed if he failed to follow rules prohibiting speakers from bringing books, props or other objects to the podium.

Amid boos from some audience members, Lang claimed White Christians were being displaced.

“As you can see, tell me that White Christians are not being invaded,” he said. “How can you lie to our faces? This is an invasion on every front. Our people are being pushed out of jobs and city councils.”

Lang had been assaulted by several participants in Dearborn’s annual Arbaeen procession about two weeks earlier. Dearborn police subsequently arrested three men in connection with that confrontation.

During his remarks Tuesday, Lang continued making racially charged accusations, claiming Muslims intended to “destroy us and outbreed us.” He alleged that Muslims had not come to the United States to integrate but to steal the country’s wealth and assault women.

Mayor Hammoud speaks at the City Council meeting on August 18.
– Video grab

Lang cited an unsubstantiated figure alleging that 250,000 women in Britain had been sexually assaulted by Pakistani Muslim men. He accused Western political systems of failing to punish the perpetrators.

He then turned his attacks toward Democratic leaders and local Muslim officials, alleging that Democrats were using Muslims to introduce socialism into the United States.

“Look at your prominent Muslim leaders,” he said. “They all pander to the gay and transgender agenda and socialism.”

Lang also claimed Muslims would eventually turn against their current political allies if they gained power.

“All of you cry about Palestine,” he said. “Try being a White Christian man preaching the word of God in Palestine. Guess what would happen to you? The same thing that happened to me here in Dearborn.”

His speech eventually escalated into an open call for the forced expulsion of Muslims from the United States.

“The crusade has begun, and your time in this country is short,” Lang said. “We have ships, we have planes, we have trains, and we will fill them with Muslims. Go home before we send you back by force. We don’t want you here.”

Lang concluded by urging supporters to join his campaign, calling the United States “Christian land” and declaring that they would achieve their objectives through “blood or sweat.”

After finishing his remarks, Lang attempted to retrieve the Quran he had set aside and began tearing pages from it. Police officers immediately surrounded him and escorted him from the meeting area.

Hammoud responds

Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud delivered a forceful response to the demonstration and its attacks on the city’s diverse social fabric.

Hammoud began by recounting a personal encounter earlier that morning while visiting one of Dearborn’s neighborhoods. A group of children approached him, including a boy about 6- or 7-years-old who asked whether the “crusaders” coming from outside the city intended to kill him.

The mayor said the question deeply affected him.

Children that age, he said, should be thinking about playing and enjoying their lives, not fearing for their safety because of how their families pray. The consequences of rhetoric repeatedly targeting Dearborn, he added, extend far beyond “political theater.”

Hammoud rejected attempts to portray Dearborn as an isolated enclave controlled by one religious group.

Mayor Hammoud speaks at the City Council meeting on August 18. – Video grab

“When people portray Dearborn as some place that has been overtaken by Muslims, they aren’t simply attacking our Muslim and Arab communities,” he said. “They’re also trying to erase our Christian brothers and sisters who have contributed immeasurably to this city.”

Dearborn, Hammoud said, was built by residents from many religious and cultural backgrounds who worked in factories, opened businesses and established houses of worship alongside one another.

Addressing residents directly, the mayor urged them not to surrender their daily lives to another person’s hatred.

“We cannot give in and give up our daily lives because of someone else’s hatred and bigotry,” he said, adding that police and partner agencies were working to protect the community while preserving everyone’s constitutional rights.

Hammoud encouraged residents to open their stores, allow their children to play and worship freely in mosques, churches and synagogues without changing their routines out of fear.

He also invited people unfamiliar with Dearborn to visit the city and meet its residents.

“One of the most powerful ways to cure fear is simply to get to know one another,” he said.

Hatred thrives on stereotypes and preconceived ideas, Hammoud added, while direct human interaction can dispel fear and deepen mutual understanding.

“Dearborn welcomes everyone,” he said. “That will not change under our administration.”

Public comment during the City Council meeting was conducted in two sessions and drew numerous speakers, many from outside Dearborn.

Some defended Lang and repeated claims that Islamic law had taken control of the city. Others defended Dearborn residents, describing them as peaceful and welcoming, and praised the Hammoud administration for helping make the city safer and more prosperous.

Police arrest 22

Police arrested 22 people during the demonstrations, which included intense verbal confrontations and limited physical altercations.

Riot control officers and the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office Mounted Unit assisted in controlling the crowds and securing the area. Dearborn police also received support from Michigan State Police, the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office, Detroit Police and the Western Wayne Mobile Field Force.

Dearborn Police Chief Issa Shahin said Wednesday that officers responded professionally and decisively to rapidly changing circumstances while protecting public safety and the constitutional right to free expression.

Most participants on all sides behaved peacefully, Shahin said, but some individuals engaged in unlawful conduct requiring police intervention.

Lang’s opponents hold signs calling him a “clown” and a “fake Christian.”

Those arrested ranged in age from 18 to 64. Most came from outside Dearborn, including individuals from elsewhere in Michigan and as far away as New York and Tennessee.

Police said the arrests involved misdemeanor allegations, including breach of peace and disorderly conduct. The department did not release the names of those arrested or specify the allegations against each person.

Despite the tension outside, the City Council meeting proceeded as scheduled and concluded without any reported incidents inside the meeting room.

Shahin expressed gratitude to the agencies that helped protect demonstrators, residents and public and private property.

“We are incredibly grateful for the efforts of our local and federal law-enforcement partners,” he said. “They worked side by side with our officers to contain an extremely complex security situation, and our entire community thanks them for that tremendous assistance.”

El-Sayed and Siblani respond

Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed addressed the events during an appearance on The Pulse, a FOX 2 Detroit political program.

El-Sayed criticized “outside agitators” who traveled to Dearborn to challenge the inclusive model represented by Michigan.

“What you’re seeing is a set of outside agitators coming into Michigan to challenge and stand against the broad, beautiful American model that we represent here in Michigan,” he said.

Lang, El-Sayed added, repeatedly comes to Dearborn to attack something he does not understand: An expansive vision of America capable of including people from every background.

El-Sayed said the nomination of a Muslim candidate reflects the true meaning of American values and the vision of the country’s founders.

“The idea that someone with a name like mine, or who prays the way I pray, could be elected by his fellow Michiganders is contrary to the narrow image of America that these people want,” he said. “But it is exactly the model the founders understood as part of our country.”

He offered a message of support to Dearborn residents and Hammoud.

“You belong here,” El-Sayed said. “This is your America, too.”

Osama Siblani, publisher of The Arab American News, also appeared on the program and placed the latest events in a broader historical and community context.

“Fourteen years ago, Pastor Terry Jones came to us with a message similar to Lang’s,” Siblani said. “Today, he has disappeared from the stage. Now we have Jake Lang and his gangs. They, too, will disappear, while we will continue to grow and prosper as usual.”

Siblani described the United States as a great country capable of embracing everyone, regardless of religion or background, as long as they believe in American values, the American dream and the American way of life.

He said Lang and similar agitators are alarmed by the achievements of Muslim Americans and their electoral victories at the local and national levels, even though Muslims account for only about 1.5 percent of the country’s population.

Lang’s rhetoric does not represent America, Siblani said. Instead, it reflects a small fringe that disregards facts and exploits fear and hatred for short-term political gain during election seasons.

Numerous Michigan elected officials and religious leaders also condemned the anti-Muslim demonstration in interviews with local media. They rejected attempts to divide the community and emphasized the importance of protecting religious and racial diversity, peaceful coexistence and the rights of all Michigan residents.

Scenes from the demonstrations

■ Before heading to the Henry Ford Centennial Library for the Dearborn City Council meeting, Lang and several supporters stopped at the Islamic Center of America, where he repeated his anti-Muslim rhetoric. He then proceeded to the protest site, where he “baptized” a young woman in the bed of his pickup truck before joining the demonstration.

■ Community member Hassan Aoun, known as “Hass Cash,” was the first person detained by police following a verbal confrontation with another demonstrator. Aoun was livestreaming on social media when he was arrested. He criticized city officials and accused them of failing to respect the First Amendment’s protection of free speech. He also defended Lang’s right to burn the Quran and announced that he intended to welcome the far-right agitator and join him for a pork barbecue outside the Henry Ford Centennial Library.

■ Lang failed to fulfill his promises to burn a copy of the Quran or hold a pork barbecue. He was also prohibited from carrying the Quran to the podium during the City Council meeting. However, he tore several pages from the book while being escorted out of the meeting area. He later continued tearing out pages and scattering them into the air while driving his truck along Michigan Avenue as he left the city.

■ A neo-Nazi group displayed a sign reading, “Jake Lang Is Jewish.” Its members chanted slogans challenging Lang’s claims while also displaying messages supporting Palestinian rights. Some Arab American demonstrators initially mingled with the group before quickly distancing themselves after an activist warned that the scene could be exploited to damage the reputation of Dearborn’s Arab American community.

■ A demonstrator who traveled from California repeatedly accused Muslims of rejecting Jesus and refusing to recognize him as a savior. He engaged in heated exchanges with several counter-protesters, who rejected his claims and explained that Muslims believe in Jesus as a prophet and revere his mother, the Virgin Mary. At several points, the African American man knelt on one knee and asked those debating him to do the same as an affirmation of Christ’s divinity. When they refused, he renewed his accusation that Muslims did not love Jesus.

■ During public comment at the City Council meeting, Detroit African American Pastor Lorenzo Sewell sharply criticized Dearborn’s Arab American officials. He accused them of perpetuating the discriminatory legacy of the late Dearborn Mayor Orville Hubbard and claimed that the wealth of Arab American gas station owners came from the pockets of African Americans in Metro Detroit. A White speaker later responded by telling Sewell to use “Israeli money” to purchase a gas station and give it to one of his Black neighbors, invoking the Biblical commandment to love one’s neighbor as oneself.

■ A group of Arab American demonstrators carrying Lebanese, Iraqi, Palestinian, Yemeni, Syrian and American flags initially engaged in verbal confrontations with opponents, including U.S. military veterans. The exchanges eventually gave way to circles of dabke dancing. Several White and Black demonstrators joined the dancers as Arabic music played.

■ Many demonstrators arrived wearing clothing and costumes carrying religious or political messages. One Lang supporter was dressed in a traditional depiction of Jesus, while others carried large wooden crosses or wore Crusader-style costumes. Some Arab American demonstrators attended dressed as Spider-Man.

■ There was no significant presence of the motorcyclists whom Lang had promised to bring to Dearborn.