Pro-Palestinian rally turns into massive subway ride to confront Kathy Hochul

Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters gathered in Manhattan’s Union Square on Thursday evening, then flooded a subway platform and rode a train to the financial district, where they condemned US military aid to Israel and targeted New York Governor Kathy Hochul. she delivered remarks at a Wall Street restaurant.

The protest, organized by the activist group Within Our Lifetime, began with a 6 p.m. rally in Union Square that drew about 400 people, many of whom wore kaffiyehs and carried Palestinian flags. Protesters then stormed into the Union Square subway station and rode en masse on the No. 5 train to Wall Street, chanting and putting stickers with slogans on the walls of the car.

They disembarked and marched toward Cipriani Wall Street, where Ms. Hochul was scheduled to appear. Finding a police barricade outside the restaurant, they circled the area repeatedly, sometimes clashing with police.

The demonstration was the latest of hundreds of protests in New York City since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7. Those attacks killed at least 1,200 Israelis, according to Israeli officials; Israel’s subsequent military operation in Gaza killed 29,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials. The rising death toll and humanitarian crisis in Gaza have led to international calls for a ceasefire.

At least one protester was arrested by police officers near Cipriani on Thursday. At least a half-dozen people were arrested during a scuffle with officers at the intersection of Broadway and Vesey Street. In the chaos, some protesters fell to the ground. Others were thrown onto the street by officers, their wrists were zip-tied and they were taken to a waiting NYPD van.

Police had taken strong action against protesters near the restaurant. At one point, about 50 officers, many dressed in riot gear, followed protesters through the streets, demanding they stay on the sidewalks and warning of possible arrests.

Nerdeen Kiswani, an organizer with Within Our Lifetime, told the crowd outside Cipriani that the group had chosen to attack Ms. Hochul over her statements about the war, referring to comments the governor made in February suggesting that Israel should have to destroy Gaza. (Ms. Hochul later apologized for the comments.)

“Kathy Hochul, you can’t hide, you support genocide,” the protesters chanted outside the restaurant.

Earlier, at the Union Square rally, protesters condemned Israeli attacks on Palestinians and turned their anger on President Biden, chanting, “Genocide Joe must go.”

Addressing the crowd, Ms Kiswani highlighted the growing hunger crisis in Gaza, drawing attention to the deaths of more than a hundred Palestinians there on Thursday when a crowd gathered near aid trucks and Israeli forces opened fire. The United Nations recently warned that at least a quarter of Gaza’s population is “one step away from famine.” Rally organizers threw flour on the ground Thursday to highlight the easy access to food in the United States, compared to the scarcity of supplies in Gaza.

“Children are starting to die – they have died from the bombs and bullets that Israel has dropped on them – but now they are dying of hunger,” Ms Kiswani said.

The self-immolation of Aaron Bushnell, an American pilot, outside the Israeli embassy in Washington, DC, earlier this week also loomed over the demonstration. One protester held a sign that read “RIP Aaron Bushnell.”

“Some may see his act of self-immolation as an extreme political act,” Ms Kiswani said. “But he himself said that it is not extreme at all compared to what the people of Gaza have had to endure.”

After the arrests on Thursday evening, the march drifted toward Foley Square and dissipated around 9:30 p.m.

In recent months, demonstrators in New York, many calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, have gathered almost daily, sometimes blocking bridges and roads. Some targeted elected officials who had expressed support for Israel during the war and accepted donations from pro-Israel groups.

Last week, demonstrators marched from the United Nations headquarters in Manhattan to the headquarters of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a lobbying group, and then to a building where Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand have offices; some were arrested in the building’s lobby while calling on senators to support a ceasefire.