Cops took numerous pro-Palestinian protesters into custody on the Manhattan Bridge Saturday afternoon as they trekked from Brooklyn to Manhattan, blocking traffic, police said.
The protesters met in front of the Barclays Center about 2 p.m. before splitting up into groups, with one group marching northwest to the bridge, according to demonstrators.
More than one hundred protesters took over the bridge, blocking traffic on the upper-level west-bound lanes as they marched towards Manhattan, according to NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry and police.
Birds-eye footage that Daughtry posted on X showed officers intercepting the protesters, then taking several into custody.
“More than an inconvenience, this is a public safety hazard,” Daughtry wrote in the post. “The NYPD will always protect freedom of speech and protest, but we will not stand for lawlessness!”
Alex Kent/Getty Images
NYPD Assistant Chief James McCarthy is assisted after seemingly being affected by a chemical irritant as police arrest pro-Palestinian demonstrators blocking traffic on the Manhattan Bridge as they participate in a National Day of Action protest ahead of Nakba Day on May 11, 2024 in New York City.
Protesters later gathered in Chatham Square near the Criminal Courthouse, waiting for arrested protesters to be released.
Cops could not immediately confirm how many people were taken into custody.
Protester Nas Issa, 26, said the Saturday rally was held to commemorate the 76th anniversary of ‘Nakba’, the annual observation of mass Palestinian displacement during the 1948 establishment of Israel.
“What we are seeing is history repeating itself with the destruction of homes, the mass displacement of people, the murder of tens of thousands of Palestinians,” she said, “And so that’s why we called this march for today, both to honor the ‘Nakba’ but also to call for an end to the ongoing genocide.”
Last year, the UN General Assembly requested that the anniversary of the ‘Nakba’ be commemorated on May 15, for the first time in history.