Clashes broke out between the two camps in Florida and New York, where they were separated by a security cordon
Violent clashes broke out in the city of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, between pro-Israeli demonstrators and pro-Palestinian demonstrators expressing support for Hamas, the day after the start of the war triggered by the terrorist movement in Gaza. Police forces, called to the scene, separated the demonstrators using pepper spray and blocked the access road to the town, considered a Jewish stronghold. Police said a pro-Israel protester had been arrested and was being held for questioning.
Furthermore, New York, where some two million Jews and hundreds of thousands of Muslims reside, was the tense scene on Sunday of a pro-Palestinian demonstration against Israel’s “violence” and a rally in favor of the Hebrew State. A thousand people waving Palestinian flags gathered in Times Square, one of Manhattan’s iconic squares.
Adam Gray/Getty Images/AFPA man prays over the Palestinian flag near the Israeli consulate on October 8, 2023 in New York.
Protesters marched to the Israeli consulate general on Second Avenue and then to the UN headquarters on the banks of the East River. Counter-protesters followed the procession of pro-Palestinian protesters from opposite sidewalks, calling them “terrorists.” The two groups, who never came into contact, were separated by a strong police force. In a separate rally in Manhattan, a few hundred people brandishing Israeli flags lambasted a “cruel and perfidious Hamas.” “They kidnap small children, babies and (…) use them as bargaining chips to try to free their terrorists. It’s insane,” protested Ellen Weisman, a New York resident.
Adam Gray/Getty Images/AFPPeople applaud in support of Israel during protests near the Israeli consulate on October 8, 2023 in New York.
The Democratic governor of New York State (population 20 million), Kathy Hochul, described the pro-Palestinian rally as “abhorrent and morally abhorrent” and declared herself “proud that the largest Jewish community outside Israel resides” in his State. She ordered that the World Trade Center, rebuilt in lower Manhattan, and Niagara Falls, on the Canadian border 800 km to the north, be illuminated in blue and white, the colors of Israel.
2023-10-09 08:44:38
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