Minneapolis, Minnesota - Minneapolis residents banded together on Tuesday to hinder what many believed to be a coordinated immigration raid by federal and local law enforcement.

Federal agents, later joined by Minneapolis Police Department officers, reportedly descended on the Las Cuatro Milpas restaurant in south Minneapolis around 10:00 AM on Tuesday, prompting residents in the area to take action.

A growing crowd sought to obstruct the officers' movements, with some throwing garbage cans, tires, and other objects, CBS reported.

"It just instantly got violent and people were trying to stop them," witness Brandon Bazile told the outlet."I don't think they realized the community would respond so quick and kind of create a human barrier, so you can kind of see them strategizing a plan to get people out."

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Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey denied the officers were attempting to carry out immigration enforcement activities and claimed police were only on the scene to assist with crowd control.

"This incident was related to a criminal search warrant for drugs and money laundering," the Democratic lawmaker said in a statement, adding that "no arrests were made."

Immigrants' rights activists have denounced Tuesday's law enforcement activities, which took place in an atmosphere of heightened fear caused by the Trump's administration's mass deportation efforts.

"Here is what we know: Rapid responders showed up this morning, relied on their training, and served as legal observers. What we also saw was a plural and diverse convergence of community members worried and trying to make sense of heavy militarized presence, while seeking answers about the safety of our neighbors in our community," the group Unidos MN said in a statement on the action.

"These types of highly militarized operations involving federal agencies, without any information provided to the community, strikes fear and reduces the ability of the community to have confidence that law enforcement is there for protecting the community."