Twenty-one people were arrested and four officers were injured as protesters clashed with police outside the Broadview ICE facility Friday morning during a demonstration led by a group of faith leaders.

A crowd of about 300 people had gathered in the designated protest area around 9:30 a.m. to sing songs and pray, demonstrating their opposition to the practice of detaining immigrants. They said their message is that God demands everyone be free.

Witnesses said about 15 of the detained protesters were members of the clergy.

At about 9:50 a.m., the leader of the demonstration announced that they wanted some clergy members to be allowed inside the facility to deliver communion. About 10 minutes later, some people pushed past the barricades around the designated protest area. Police pushed people back and some fell down.

There was another surge or two from the crowd before things calmed down.

"We walked into the street knowing that we wanted to get to the detention centers so that we could minister to people there.," said Rev. Beth Johnson, minister of the Unitarian Church of Hinsdale, who was not arrested. "As we started to walk, they pushed us, they shoved us. They grabbed onto us, and they were they took about 15 clergy, and they just basically were trying to push us back."

Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson said two Broadview police officers one ISP officer and one Cook County Sheriff's Deputy were injured in the clashes. The two Broadview officers and the sheriff's deputy were taken to Loyola Hospital, Thompson said.

She said the violence was incited by "out-of-town protesters," and called it "unacceptable and outrageous" in a statement.

"I have repeatedly pleaded to protesters to raise their voices, not their fists. They have chosen their fists. These out-of-towners have chosen to brutalize police officers who have been protecting their free speech and protecting them against assaults by ICE agents. We will see them in court," she wrote.

A large crowd of protesters remain outside Broadview as of 11 a.m. Friday, but there have not been more clashes between police and demonstrators.

A preliminary injunction issued by a federal judge earlier this month banned the use of riot control measures by federal agents against immigrations protesters who do not pose a threat. That judge recently set a trial date for March to discuss use of force by federal agents.