Pro-Palestinian demonstrators snarl traffic on Brooklyn Bridge, leading to arrests
NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- Police have made some arrests after Pro-Palestinian demonstrators crossed the Brooklyn Bridge, snarling traffic Monday evening.
Citizen App video shows police making arrests after demonstrators crossed onto the Bridge from the Manhattan side.
Westbound lanes of the Brooklyn Bridge remain closed as police continue to disperse protestors. The New York City's Office of Emergency Management told drivers they should expect delays.
It comes amid an international and multi-city effort to bring awareness to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
In New York City, Wall Street became the site where hundreds of protestors gathered to voice their stance on the tension in the Middle East.
With temperatures rising in the city, the tempers of demonstrators both for and against the war clashed just outside of the New York Stock Exchange.
At one point, police stepped between the feuding sides before the incident escalated beyond pushing and shoving.
For the pro-Palestinian protestors who turned out, their message was this: "Israel bombs. Wall Street profits."
Nerdeen Kiwanis, organizer at Within our Lifetime, said the pro-Palestinian group opted to protest on Tax Day to send a clear message.
"We don't want our tax dollars to fund genocide. There's a strike happening all across the country today. Students are taking off of school, people are calling out of work, people are refusing to shop/spending any money today. There have been action shutting down Chicago O'Hare Airport," she said.
That large pro-Palestinian group clashed with a smaller pro-Israeli group. There was pushing, shoving and tripping as about a dozen counter-protestors made their way through the crowd.
Meanwhile, Bill Schulder of Lincoln Square Synagogue, who was with the smaller pro-Israeli group, said the war is not about the people of Palestine.
"This whole issue is not about Palestine or Palestinians. It's about Hamas. Which is a terrorist organization been around years funded by Iran who tried to attack Israel with 300 plus drone missiles. So Hamas has to be has to be defeated so Gazans can live their normal lives," he said.
The rising tension in New York comes on the same day as the start of the start of the Donald Trump hush money trial, which is also expected to draw large crowds to Lower Manhattan.
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