Avila Chevalier was on the front lines of Thursday’s protest, and videos circling social media showed her being knocked to the ground by a police officer. She says she “felt a hand grab and then throw [her] down to the ground”.

“At some point, I felt like my feet were not touching the ground. I felt like I flew,” she said, adding that she is “thankfully OK” but was “in some pain” the day earlier. Avila Chevalier had said she was trying to convince police that adding barricades was escalating the situation: “They were literally in a tug of war with people over these barricades,” she said. “People were being hurt and pushed back.”

The police arrested five protesters and said demonstrators “agitated and pushed over barriers” and “repeatedly refused verbal commands to disperse”. The NYPD also said that Avila Chevalier was pushed back by officers in an attempt to prevent the crowd from trampling the captain.