“LONG LIVE THE INTIFADA!,” PROTESTERS CHANTED AS THEY MARCHED THROUGH THE HEART OF NEW YORK CITY ON SATURDAY IN SECOND DAY OF OUTRAGE AGAINST ISRAEL

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About 10,000 people marched through the heart of New York City to protest Israel’s invasion and bombing of the Palestinian-controlled Gaza Strip on Saturday.

“CEASEFIRE NOW! CEASEFIRE NOW!,” they chanted as they pumped their fists, waved Palestinian flags and crossed into Manhattan on the Brooklyn Bridge

Saturday was the second day of mass protests against Israel in the city. 335 pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested in Grand Central Station, one of the city’s primary transit hubs, after they shut down the afternoon commute there for three hours Friday evening. That protest was organized by Jewish Voice for Peace.

As protesters marched across the bridge at dusk on Saturday, they also chanted “LONG LIFE THE INTIFADA!” at one point. A man riding a bicycle past replied “FUCK YOU ALL.”

An “intifada” is a revolt. The Palestinians revolted twice against Israeli military occupation of Palestinian territory. First from 1987 until 1993. Then again from 2000 to 2005. Both failed to liberate them from occupation.

Photo credit: JB Nicholas.

The NYPD typically keeps protesters off the Brooklyn Bridge’s roadways. For example, during Occupy Wall Street protests in 2011, the NYPD arrested 732 people for trying to walk across it. But during protests against a white NYPD’s officer’s rape of a black arrestee with a broomstick in 1997 the NYPD allowed protesters onto the roadway. The NYPD also allowed Black Lives Matter protesters to take the bridge’s roadway in 2020.

New York City, Brooklyn in particular, is home to a large Palestinian population. Many appeared to show up for Saturday’s protest.

It began in front of the Brooklyn Museum on Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights. Orthodox Jews make up a majority of the neighborhood to the east. There were fears of a confrontation if protesters marched through the Jewish enclave. Instead, they headed west down Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn’s version of Manhattan’s Broadway.

One man in the crowd surrounded by thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters wore a button with the flag of Israel. He saw this reporter’s city-issued press credential hanging from his neck and beckoned him near. He said he came out because he lived “down the street and it’s in the neighborhood.”

“Can I tell you something?,” he added, without being asked. “No one’s been aggressive with me. Nobody.”

Meanwhile, a group of young Orthodox men watched from across Eastern Parkway. After protesters departed, this reporter approached and asked them what they thought of the protest.

“America’s a great country,” one of them answered in English between Hebrew softly spoken among the men. “Freedom for lots of different opinions.”

Protesters paused the march in front of Barclay’s Center, where the Brooklyn Nets play. Barclays was the epicenter of Black Lives Matters protests after the Minnesota police murder of George Floyd in 2020.

Unlike Friday evenings protest were hundreds were arrested, Saturday’s protest featured no tense moments with police. The NYPD lead the way through the City’s streets for protesters, clearing traffic. It had hundreds of officers available in reserve, but largely kept them out-of-sight to avoid provoking protesters.

The only moment between protesters and police that came even close to tense was when one protester climbed a lamp pole to hang a Palestinian flag. Police simply ordered the young man down because it was “unsafe.” They did not arrest him or even threaten him with arrest—even after he climbed a second lamp-pole to hang another flag.

After the protest, a spokesperson for the NYPD said one protester was arrested for damaging a car and possessing what police called a “graffiti instrument.”

The NYPD was also seeking an Israeli woman who assaulted a pro-Palestinian protester on the Brooklyn Bridge, it confirmed on Monday.

Once in Manhattan, protesters marched through Soho, home to scores of luxury goods stores and fancy restaurants. Against a backdrop of bright, electronic billboards for luxury consumer goods, a wave of Palestinian flags, oversized head scarfs called keffiyehs and chadors were set.

They stopped for several minutes at the corner of Bleecker and LaFayette Streets to pray. A man announced the adhan, the Muslim call to prayer. Then a prayer leader called an imam lead a mixed group of men and women in prayer. Men prayed in the front, women prayed in the back. In front of them, the see—thru glass façade of Kith Soho. Curious, well-heeled shoppers gazed at the sight of dozens of Muslims bent over in prayer on the street below them.

The protest lost marchers once it crossed into Manhattan, but still thousands stayed together to end the long day at Union Square around 8pm. There, young men and women in Halloween costumes including angels and devils made their way through the dwindling crowd.

Small groups of protesters remained together, talking on the large public plaza in the front of park, while the wind rose, into the breezy fall night.

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