NEW YORK (AP) — Hundreds of protesters calling for a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas blocked traffic on several bridges and in a tunnel in New York City, disrupting travel on Monday night. tomorrow and led to more than 300 arrests.
A constant stream of demonstrations have taken place in various cities in the United States and other countries during the war in the Gaza Strip. Protesters interrupted US President Joe Biden’s campaign speech Monday at a South Carolina church with chants of “ceasefire now” and were removed from the venue.
In Manhattan, people shouting slogans and holding anti-war signs sat in the streets and entwined each other with zip ties and even cement-filled tires, sometimes forcing officers to use power tools to remove them. separate the protesters.
The New York Police Department reported that 325 people had been arrested, many of them on misdemeanor charges.
Protesters had gathered at the city’s City Hall Plaza at 9 a.m. and later marched to the Brooklyn, Manhattan and Williamsburg bridges, as well as the Holland Tunnel in New Jersey.
Among the organizers of the protests were the Palestinian Youth Movement and Jewish-led groups that have long opposed Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians, such as Jewish Voice for Peace. The groups said they want a permanent ceasefire and an end to the US government’s supply of weapons to Israel, among other things.
“By blocking passage at the city’s exits, protesters created—briefly and imperfectly—a physical analogy of the situation in Gaza, where there is no exit,” the groups wrote in a statement issued after the protests.
At a news conference Monday, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said he understood “the pain of the innocent lives being lost right now” but questioned the tactics employed by protesters.
“The right to protest does not give you the right to block bridges and tunnels, as we saw this morning,” Adams said. “The objective is to protest peacefully without causing major damage to the city.”
The Holland Tunnel reopened at 10:30 a.m., and the last protests dispersed shortly before 11:30 a.m., the New York Police Department reported in X.
Associated Press writer Jake Offenhartz in New York contributed to this report.
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2024-01-08 22:25:31
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