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Pro-Palestine protesters arrested at New York Thanksgiving parade

Pro-Palestine protesters arrested at New York Thanksgiving parade

Number of detainees unknown, charges still pending, says the NYPD.
29 Nov, 2024

New York police arrested a group of pro-Palestinian protesters who briefly interrupted the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on Thursday by attempting to block the parade route just ahead of the Ronald McDonald float.

The 98th annual parade, televised nationwide, is part of the tradition of America’s Thanksgiving holiday, a spectacle of giant balloons of cartoon characters, marching bands and popular music acts performing live. Thousands line the streets of Manhattan to watch.

“The demonstrators were taken into custody without incident,” the New York Police Department said in a statement.

The number of detainees was unknown and charges were pending, the NYPD said.

A line of about 20 protesters sat in the street under a steady rain while others behind them held up a banner saying “Don’t celebrate genocide” and “Arms embargo now!” as the smiling Ronald McDonald floated overhead, Reuters pictures showed.

Police at the scene at first advised the demonstrators to leave without intervening, according to a Reuters witness. Then a team of bicycle-mounted officers arrived, clashing with the protesters and carting them away.

Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, who was sworn in on Monday, told NBC Television ahead of the parade that police were not expecting protesters but were ready for them.

“We’ve got lots of resources out there. We have resources you can see and resources you can’t see. We have our canines, we have our drones. We have the full complement of security out there for the parade,” Tisch said.

The demonstrators were protesting Israel’s aggression in Gaza, which was triggered on October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel’s subsequent assault on Gaza has since killed more than 44,000 Palestinians, according to the local health ministry, while displacing most of the population of 2.3 million, causing hunger and leading to genocide allegations at the World Court that Israel denies.

Comments

Iftekhar Bukhari Nov 29, 2024 12:34pm
Either international law applies or it doesn't there is no inbetween on the matter. The Palestinians have a right to resist even through force under international law. This did not therefore start on the 7th of October 23 because on the one side you have an occupied people on the other the occupied. I wish people especially journalists would stop drawing this false and immoral correlation.
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Laila Nov 29, 2024 02:18pm
Protesting is fine. But they essentially were arrested not for protesting but because they "interrupted the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on Thursday by attempting to block the parade route just ahead of the Ronald McDonald float." People have the right to protest just like people have the right to their national annual Thanksgiving parade. Freedom to public assembly applies both ways. Hence the arrests.
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Dr. Salaria, Aamir Ahmad Nov 30, 2024 12:10pm
Freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and freedom to peaceful protest as enshrined in the American Constitution must be allowed at least on the U.S. soil by the authorities in New York and other parts of the country.
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