Police and anti-Israel demonstrators clashed in Brooklyn, New York on 21 October night as thousands of people poured into a neighbourhood that is primarily Middle Eastern and Arab. Thousands of the protestors chanted, “Move cops, get out of the way. We know you’re Israeli-trained,” and set small fires in the middle of the roadways as well as blocked traffic in the Bay Ridge area. Furthermore, they refused to leave the Bay Ridge street they had inundated for hours.
Someone air dropped this video at random at the Bay Ridge protest tonight of the NYPD throwing punches into protesters pic.twitter.com/gTMBb6jHgj
— Ceasefire Now (@andipalmur) October 22, 2023
As night fell, members of the procession which was advertised online as ‘Flood Brooklyn for Palestine’ began to grapple with New York Police Department (NYPD) officers as their numbers swelled to an estimated 5,000 over the course of the day. The authorities attempted to escort the protestors out of 72nd Street and Fifth Avenue where they had stopped traffic. Notably, NYPD officers prevented pro-Israelis from joining the procession which could have resulted in greater chaos and violence.
NYPD just attacked the #FreePalestine protest in Brooklyn just now. Multiple brutal arrests happening. pic.twitter.com/fexOOtM5fb
— Ash J (@AshAgony) October 21, 2023
Armed with Palestinian flags and placards in hand, much of the group defied police orders. The belligerent people dug their heels into the ground and demanded that the Western power sever its support for its closest Middle Eastern partner after which a number of demonstrators were arrested and brought into jail.
🚨#BREAKING: The NYPD are making Multiple Arrests on Pro-Palestine Protesters as they Occupy Streets
— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) October 22, 2023
📌#Brooklyn | #NewYork
Currently, the New York City Police Department is making multiple arrests in Brooklyn, New York, following a large Pro-Palestinian march as thousands of… pic.twitter.com/V6scUafW19
It was unknown whether those apprehended by police were formally arrested or given summonses but the NYPD stated that about twenty people were taken into custody during the unrest. The massive protest had begun a few hours earlier in one of New York City’s largest Arab and Middle Eastern communities.
Officers started pulling people from the overwhelming gathering and from one pick-up vehicle that carried the ralliers in an attempt to put an end to the unruly demonstration. A law enforcement source informed, “It got pretty heated.” Protesters kept chanting and shouting in the streets and also built little barbecue fires on the road while some of them threw eggs at the swarming police officers.
They yelled slogans like, “Say it loud, say it clear, we don’t want no Zionists here,” from within the frenzy which police had mostly contained to the area at 72nd Street and Fifth Avenue. “We will free Palestine within our lifetime,” others cried as they held signs displaying sentiments such as, “We stand with Palestine,” and “Once upon a time there was humanity,” among other things.
Meanwhile, more radical attendees who ranged in age from seniors to preteens brandished signs bearing crude writing declaring, “Zionism is genocide” and “Resistance is justified when people are occupied.” The statements seemed to downplay, if not outright deny, the crimes committed by Hamas since 7 October including the abduction of multiple Americans and Israelis in what appeared to be a declaration of war.
One protester yelled, “We are calling for the full liberation of all of Palestine, to every single inch, from river to sea,” echoing the mantra employed by Hamas terrorists and those who support them in their opposition to the Jewish state.
A woman who was sporting a T-shirt from the radical communist group Within Our Lifetime, one of the event’s organisers, continued, “We are not like other groups simply calling for a cease-fire. We are calling not simply for an end to genocide. We are calling for an end to the siege, an end to the blockade. An end to the occupation.” One participant was observed with a repugnant poster of someone tossing the Israeli flag into the trash.
Thousands of females were part of the march which quickly became violent as dusk approached. In addition to the local Palestinian population, a number of other, primarily Middle Eastern groups were present for what Within Our Lifetime had billed as an opportunity to ‘stop US-sponsored genocide in Gaza.’
However, as the afternoon wore on, more people arrived and 5th Avenue was essentially closed for several hours. Police had initially been monitoring to make sure the protest remained peaceful, but they had to intervene when people turned aggressive and threw the entire gathering into turmoil.
Signs circulated by the expanding group accused Joe Biden and other US politicians of “killing babies” through the use of the Israeli military before at least a dozen people were taken into custody. A lot of the inscriptions visible in the throng contained profanities and some of them even charged that Americans were “having blood on their hands” for their continued support of Israel in the fight.
There were even a few Jews present at the scheduled demonstration and one of them remarked, “As a Jewish person, I don’t want the Jewish religion to be the reason for this occupation.” Another person gave an explanation for her presence and conveyed, “All we’re asking is just treat the Palestinians as humans. They deserve every human right as any other civilians. Just treat a human as a human. That is all we are requesting.”
