The New York City Police Department told JNS that its officers arrested “multiple” people on Monday after activists from Jewish Voice for Peace and other anti-Israel groups tired to enter the Manhattan office of Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) before blocking traffic on Third Avenue.
The NYPD told JNS that the exact number of people arrested was not immediately available.
Video footage that circulated on social appeared to show protesters trying to access a building that they said contains offices for Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.). After being denied entry, some demonstrators appeared to remove outer layers of clothing to reveal shirts stated, “fund people, not bombs.”
Protesters later sat on the sidewalk chanting, “free Palestine” and “stop the bombs on Iran, stop the bombs on Lebanon, stop the bombs on Palestine,” before moving into the street and blocking traffic, according to the footage.
Footage, including from the protest organizers, appeared to show Chelsea Manning, who was convicted in 2013 under the Espionage Act, and Palestinian-American activist Linda Sarsour participating in the protests. Manning appeared to be taken into police custody.
Darializa Avila Chevalier, a candidate for New York’s 13th Congressional District endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America, was arrested “along with 100 others,” according to her campaign, which posted a photo of her being restrained with zip ties.
Jewish Voice for Peace took responsibility for organizing the demonstration, stating that hundreds of protesters were participating in a sit-in to oppose U.S. arms support for Israel and to pressure Schumer and Gillibrand ahead of a Senate vote on weapons transfers.
“Right now, the Israeli military is using the weapons sold by the U.S. to flatten southern Lebanon, ethnically cleanse Palestinians from the West Bank and continue its genocide in Gaza,” the group wrote.
Stu Smith, an investigative analyst at the Manhattan Institute, told JNS that more protests are expected. “With dozens of arrests, Palestinian Political Prisoners Week is off to a hot start in New York,” Smith said.
“People should expect more chaos like this as the week continues, especially as April 17, Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, approaches and the anniversary of the start of the Columbia encampment,” he told JNS, citing a planned Palestinian Prisoners Day March in Herald Square in New York City set for April 18.
