Protesters descend on Midtown, march to NY Times building to call for cease-fire in Israel-Hamas war
NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- Roughly 1,500 protesters across New York City rallied in the streets Thursday night to call for an end to the war in the Middle East.
The gathering came after students from several schools also walked out of class to call for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war.
The demonstration in Midtown, organized by pro-Palestinian groups, called for people to walk out of school or work for a citywide shutdown.
In addition to calling for a cease-fire they also said that the United States should end its support for what they call Israeli genocide.
By 4 p.m. Thursday, people had filled the steps of the New York Public Library in Midtown and then marched to the New York Times building.
Once there, protesters entered the building, calling for more accountability from the editors for their coverage of the crisis in the Middle East.
Eventually, the protesters emptied out of the building and slowly marched their way back to the steps of the library.
The demonstrations come as police in New York City are tracking an increase in bias crimes targeting Jews in the month since the Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent war.
The total number of bias incidents investigated by the NYPD Hate Crime Task Force increased by 124% (101 v. 45) in October, led by a 214% (69 v. 22) spike in anti-Jewish incidents, the NYPD said.
Overall hate crime investigations year to date, however, trended down with a decrease of 9% (485 v. 531).
The war, now in its second month, was triggered by the Oct. 7 Hamas attack into southern Israel.
The number of Palestinians killed in the war has risen to 10,818, including more than 4,400 children, the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza said.
In the occupied West Bank, more than 160 Palestinians have been killed in the violence and Israeli raids. More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, most of them in the Hamas attack, and 239 hostages were taken from Israel into Gaza by the militant group.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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