New York City police clashed with anti-Israel protesters after tensions reached a boiling point on a Brooklyn street where thousands had gathered — and refused to leave, video of the chaotic confrontation shows.
The “Flood Brooklyn for Palestine” demonstration Saturday, which attracted 5,000 people, according to the New York Post, took place on 72nd Street and Fifth Avenue in Bay Ridge to demand the United States withdraw support for Israel, its closest ally in the Middle East.
Disturbing footage shows officers trying to take pro-Palestine flag-waving supporters out of the crowd — as well as from the inside of a pick-up truck filled with rally participants — after they blocked the street for hours, shutting down traffic. Some participants also had set small fires, the outlet reported.
“It got pretty heated,” a law enforcement source told The Post.
About two dozen people were taken into custody, the outlet reported.
The demonstration began in one of the largest Arab and Middle Eastern communities in New York City, according to The Post.
“We are calling for full liberation of all of Palestine . . . to every single inch, from river to the sea,” shouted one protester.
“We are not like other groups simply calling for a cease-fire,” added the woman, who wore a T-shirt of one of the event’s organizers, the leftist group Within Our Lifetime, The Post reported.
“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 demonstrator was seen carrying a poster depicting a person throwing the Israeli flag in the trash, the outlet reported.
Republican City Council Member Ari Kagan, who is Jewish, blasted the event, condemning its calls for violence under the guise of a rally for freedom.
“This was not a rally for a two state solution or for liberation of Gaza from HAMAS or public call to free hundreds of kidnapped Israelis & Americans. It was a shameful pro-HAMAS & anti-Israel rally that I strongly condemn,” wrote Kagan on X, formerly Twitter.
According to The Jewish Voice, which posted videos taken at the demonstration, such rallies have been ongoing since Hamas launched a terrorist attack on Jewish communities in Gaza on Oct. 7.
In one Manhattan demonstration against the conflict, pro-Hamas supporters displayed swastikas and burned an Israeli flag, The Jewish Voice reported.
Fran Beyer ✉
Fran Beyer is a writer with Newsmax and covers national politics.
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