The Legal Aid Society is calling out the arrest of Nikki Stone, an 18-year-old trans activist, who was swept up by an NYPD Warrant Squad in an unmarked minivan during a protest march earlier this week. Video of the arrest – which has been widely condemned after going viral on social media – shows plainclothes NYPD muscling Stone into the minivan as uniformed officers rush in to hold back the crowd.

Public defenders throughout the city fear that abduction-like arrests are being used to target activist leaders in order to chill the BLM-themed protests which have continued for months, and left critics slamming the NYPD’s heavy-handed and often discriminatory tactics, reports Gothamist.

“In Black and Brown communities, the NYPD regularly make these abduction-like arrests, and it must stop immediately,” said Corey Stoughton, Attorney-in-Charge of the Criminal Defense Practice.