New York Protesters Arrested: Pro Palestinian Sit Ins Briefly Close Brooklyn Bridge And Holland Tunnel

Topline More than 100 protesters were arrested in New York City Monday morning after a pro Palestinian organization staged a series of sit ins disrupting rush hour traffic in the Holland Tunnel and on three major Manhattan bridges as demonstrators demanded a cease fire between Israel and Gaza based militant group Hamas.

Pro Palestinian protesters demonstrate on the Brooklyn Bridge on Jan. 8, 2024. Key Facts The Palestinian Youth Movement, a pro Palestinian activist group, released a video of protesters sitting at the Manhattan entrance to the Holland Tunnel, which connects New York and New Jersey, with the group saying the protest was to “demand an end to the ongoing American funded, American led genocide of the Palestinian people” in the Gaza Strip.

It was not immediately clear if the Palestinian Youth Movement led the protests (Forbes has reached out to the group and to the New York Police Department for comment). Protesters carried banners reading “End the occupation” and “Lift the siege on Gaza,” a major rallying cry that has escalated in the three months since Hamas launched its Oct.

7 attack on Israel and Israel declared war on Hamas, and as the death toll in the Palestinian enclave surpasses 22,000, according to the Hamas led Gaza Health Ministry (Israeli officials estimate 1,200 people died in Hamas’ attack). Some of those protesters were arrested around 10 a.m., while traffic resumed in the Holland Tunnel after 10:30 a.m., the New York Times reported, though videos posted online showed bumper to bumper traffic in Manhattan nearly an hour later.

The New York Police Department told Forbes that protests at all three bridges affected and the Holland Tunnel have been cleared, though the department issued multiple advisories to motorists asking drivers to seek alternate routes due to “residual delays.” Chief Critics Multiple conservative social media accounts also released photos of the protests, with the X account End Wokeness writing : “If MAGA was doing this, every federal department would be on the case.

It would be over in 2 seconds.” Far right account Libs of TikTok also released a video from BreakThrough News of protesters on the Manhattan Bridge, Brooklyn Bridge and the Holland Tunnel, asking “Where are the police” and calling for protesters to be arrested. Key Background Monday’s protests were the latest in a series of demonstrations largely critical of Israel as the war in Gaza enters its fourth month.

Many of those protests have taken place on college campuses, which in recent months have become a hotbed for debate over Israel’s war. Protesters have demanded a stop in the fighting and an end to Israel’s longrunning occupation of the Gaza Strip, though critics have said the protests have escalated antisemitic rhetoric.

At Harvard, a group of students were called out for signing a letter in October putting sole blame on Israel for Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, with billionaire hedge fund manager and Harvard alumnus Bill Ackman calling for the Ivy League to release those students’ names and a conservative group staging a so called doxxing truck to publicly display the students’ faces.

In November, Columbia University suspended its chapters of two student groups, alleging they “repeatedly violated” the school’s policies after they held a campus event critical of Israel, while students at Brown University were arrested for refusing to leave an administrative office building in a protest.

The debate over antisemitism came to a head last month, when the presidents of Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology testified in a contentious congressional hearing, drawing massive pushback from several major donors and lawmakers over concerns the schools were not doing enough to combat rising antisemitism on campus, leading to the resignation of Penn president Liz Magill and Harvard president Claudine Gay (Gay also faced allegations of plagiarism in her academic work).

Further Reading Harvard President Claudine Gay Resigns Amid Plagiarism Allegations And Leadership Criticism (Forbes) Dozens Arrested In Latest Capitol Protest Calling For Israel Hamas Cease Fire (Forbes).