Albany Police Chief Eric Hawkins on Friday released body camera footage from a recent protest outside the department’s South Station and defended the use of pepper spray on demonstrators.

In the video, officers were waiting outside the station Wednesday evening, when a crowd that had marched from Townsend Park approached. At one point, the officers went into the station and locked the doors with two pairs of handcuffs, a move that Hawkins said at a news conference was intended to the move the de-escalate the situation.

“We need to maintain control of our police station,” Hawkins said. “We’ve seen in other places where police stations are overrun.”

Protesters, rallying against police brutality following the death of Daunte Wright in Minnesota, attempted to kick down the doors and broke a window, according to the police chief. Hawkins said officers believed that the behavior was escalating, and it was "imperative for the officers intercede to stop the threat to this building,” leading officers to go back outside to confront protesters.

As officers attempted to move protesters off a ramp leading to the doors of the station, the video shows an officer pulling a megaphone from a woman’s hand, an action that has drawn criticism from some who were at the protest. 

Hawkins said this was done only after the person was ordered to clear the ramp, adding that the megaphone served as a distraction, making it more difficult for officers to manage the situation and monitor radio traffic.

When some protesters that were standing on the ramp and on a railing didn’t move, Hawkins said police used pepper spray, but stopped once an imminent threat on the ramp ended.

“Our officers are trained to use as much restraint as possible,” Mayor Kathy Sheehan said Friday. “Assaulting a police station crosses the line.”

Protest organizer Legacy Casanova said the officers involved should resign, and said another demonstration against police brutality is planned for 1 p.m. Saturday in Townsend Park.