More than 60 demonstrators were arrested in three separate city protests Friday over the conflict in Gaza, police said.
Marchers took to the streets near Union Square, in lower Manhattan and in downtown Brooklyn beginning at 4 p.m., cops said. At least one of the protests didn’t end till about 3:30 a.m. Saturday morning.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators coupled with International Women’s Day marchers paralyzed traffic as they marched through the streets, decrying the ongoing conflict in Gaza, which is now into its fifth month.
During each protest, marchers were met by a large number of cops backed up by helicopters and drones that flew overhead.
Protesters began marching near Union Square at about 4 p.m. Cops took 30 demonstrators into custody for blocking traffic and refusing to follow orders as demonstrators made their way south to Zuccotti Park in the Financial District, where the Occupy Wall St. demonstrations were held in 2011.
Videos taken during the protest show police in shoving matches with some demonstrators as they try to get some marchers under control.
Out of the 30 taken into custody, 24 marchers were given summonses and six received desk appearance tickets for criminal mischief and obstructing government administration, cops said.
Two hours later, a separate march began at Brooklyn’s Grand Army Plaza. Marchers went down to Tillary St. and the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge. Cops stopped and zip-tied 21 demonstrators who were put in prisoner wagons and taken to NYPD headquarters for processing.
Eighteen protesters were given criminal court summonses, two received desk appearance tickets and one was arrested with a criminal charge and brought to court, cops said.
The protests continued around 8:40 p.m. as marchers protested the war in Gaza at Park Row and Pearl St. in lower Manhattan. Cops took 12 protesters into custody through the night, an NYPD spokeswoman said. Eight of the detainees were given summonses, one was arrested and brought to court and three were given desk appearance tickets.
Details of the two arrests were not immediately disclosed.
No serious injuries were reported in the protests, cops said, although one account of the Manhattan protest said a demonstrator was found lying on the ground unconscious.
Marches against the Israeli-Hamas conflict have taken place in the city almost weekly since Hamas launched a surprise attack against Israeli civilians on Oct. 7, massacring some 1,200 people and taking hostages.
Over the past few months, Gaza war protesters tried to disrupt the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the lighting of the Rockefeller Christmas Tree and picketed the Capitol in Washington during Thursday’s State of the Union address.
