Police in Dearborn, Michigan, say they made 22 arrests during an anti-Islam protest on Tuesday, with some detainees coming from as far as New York and Tennessee.The individuals were charged with misdemeanors, including breach of peace and disorderly conduct.For all the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.The rally was organized by far-right activist Jake Lang specifically to coincide with a Dearborn City Council meeting, to offer a ready-made platform and audience with which to share his message. Lang spent four years in prison over his role in the January 6, 2021 Capitol attack before receiving presidential pardon in 2025. He has repeatedly organized anti-Muslim demonstrations in Dearborn, casting the city's large Arab and Muslim population as a symbol of broader immigration and cultural change.Dearborn became the first Arab-majority city in the US in 2023 with around 55 percent of its residents being of Middle Eastern or North African heritage.Dearborn initially attracted migrant workers from many backgrounds, including from Lebanon and other parts of the Arab world to Henry Ford’s factories in the early 20th century. These communities grew following immigration liberalization and conflicts in the Middle East in the 1960s and 1970s drawing large populations of Palestinians and Lebanese. Iraqi and Syrians arrived in the 1990s and 2010s respectively, also fleeing war, choosing Dearborn for its established social networks, Arab-speaking communities and religious institutions.Lang and his supporters faced off with counter-protestors outside the Henry Ford Centennial Library where the City Council meeting had been relocated over security concerns, as a large police presence worked to maintain order. The protest was promoted as a “Christian Crusader” gathering with a “pig roast” planned outside the library before the meeting, however, the pig roast plans were canceled.Despite the confrontations outside, the City Council meeting went ahead as scheduled. Lang spoke during the public-comment period and told Muslims to “go home” while declaring that “the crusade has begun.” As lang addressed the City Council, protestors continued to gather outside the library including individuals wearing swastikas. After addressing the council Lang ripped pages from a Quran inside the meeting.Lang accused Dearborn of discriminating against Christians and claimed that the city operates under Islamic Sharia law. There is no evidence that Sharia has replaced state or federal law in Dearborn. County commissioner Sam Baydoun pushed back on these claims joking that “we have shawarma law” not “Sharia law”Many Arab Americans in Dearborn are not Muslim with substantial Lebanese, Syrian, Iraqi and Palestinian Christian populations.Mayor Abdullah Hammoud said that rhetoric surrounding the demonstration was affecting families in children in the city. Addressing the council, he described an encounter that day where a boy he estimated was 6 or 7 years old asked whether the “crusaders” coming to Dearborn were going to kill him. He continued, saying that “We can allow fear to make our lives smaller, and we can allow the community to make us smaller, they are attacking the idea that all of us can belong to America. At the same time.”Abdul El-Sayed, Democrat Senate Candidate for Michigan commented on Wednesday, dismissing the protest as a “stunt on behalf of people like Donald Trump”. He asserted that the US is “big enough for everybody.”