Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters swarmed Manhattan Thursday — with one rowdy group shutting down the front entrance to the World Trade Center’s Oculus and another organizing a solemn funeral procession for children who were killed in Gaza.
About 1,000 joined the “Flood NYC for Palestine” emergency march as it overwhelmed several landmark lower Manhattan locations, including City Hall, Zuccotti Park of the Occupy Wall Street movement fame and the Bank of New York Mellon headquarters.
“From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” the ralliers chanted as they waved Palestinian flags.
“Israel you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide. Israel what do you say? How many kids did you kill today?”
One protester carried a sign reading: “Genocide Joe has got 2 go,” referring to President Joe Biden.
The persistent demand for a ceasefire and an end to US military aid to Israel came just days after the Jewish state escalated its ground invasion of Gaza — despite public pleas from Biden administrators to scale down the campaign.
The military advancement deep into the Gaza Strip forced the exodus of tens of thousands of already displaced Palestinian families.
The Palestinian death toll since Hamas’ surprise Oct. 7 attack has steepened to 21,320 fatalities — nearly 1 percent of the enclave’s population. Thousands more are feared to be dead — with some buried or lost in the ruins.
Nerdeen Kiswandi, founder of event organizer Within Our Lifetime, gave an impassioned speech at Zuccotti Park before the massive group took to the streets.
“Without US backing, without US support politically, financially, in the media and so many other ways, the Palestinian resistance would have defeated Israel a long time ago,” she bellowed.
James Keivom
“But it’s this country that’s waging a genocide against the Palestinian people. It’s this country, the United States, that sent the weapons manufactured by US companies, paid for by our tax dollars – my and your tax dollars – that have killed upwards of 10,000 Palestinian children.”
Peru-born rapper Immortal Technique — who has repeatedly used his platform to condemn Israel’s occupation of Gaza — echoed Kiswani’s sentiment while speaking at the Financial District park.
“It’s important for us to acknowledge that Israel takes orders from the United States, that it’s resupplied by the United States, that it doesn’t do anything without the say-so and the get-go of the United States,” Technique, whose real name is Felipe Andres Coronel, said.
“So when the United States says it doesn’t want a regional war and Israel wants a regional war, just remember the words of the Godfather when he sat there and he said, ‘No, Tattaglia was a pimp. He could have never outfought Santino. I should have known the whole time that it was Barzini.’ Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the United States pulls the strings.”
Protesters marched the two blocks toward the Oculus, where they surrounded the front doors and reiterated their usual chant: “Free, free Palestine.”
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Police officers were seen inside the doors blocking civilians from walking out into the crowd, instead directing them to other exits further from the protest.
The group also stopped outside the BNY headquarters on Greenwich Street and shouted “Shame!” for allegedly financing genocide.
The bank has caught the ire of pro-Palestinian ralliers several times for investing millions in shares to defense contractor Elbit Systems, which supplies weapons and technology to the IDF.
Outside its headquarters, Kiswani gave another speech in which she urged protesters to “take matters into your own hands.”
“Just yesterday we saw a handful of activists, maybe 20 people, shut down the terminal that is going to the Israeli flights. They shut it down to send a message to the world that the Palestinian people that we have no freedom of movement, that we don’t have the right to return,” she shouted.
“They did this on their own to send a message. They stood in front of the Israeli terminal. They shut down the highway to the terminal for 30 minutes and it made worldwide headlines. It took 20 people, it took 30 minutes, to send a message.”
The movement ended with praying at Foley Square.
Though boisterous, the rally remained relatively tame and no arrests were made, according to law enforcement sources.
The march took place simultaneously as thousands of older Jewish pro-Palestinian protesters — donning all-black apparel and marching to a drum beat — silently laid to rest 500 effigies of dead children in the middle of Times Square to mourn the scores of Gaza and Israel’s children killed in the Jewish state’s war against Hamas.
About 1,500 people marched in a dual-file processional funeral line from Bryant Park before placing the bundles on the pavement in a solemn call for a ceasefire and an end to US military aid to Israel.
The lament was initiated by a group of Jewish elders to call “attention to the dire, incalculable human reality of the siege of Gaza by the Israeli military supported by the United States,” according to organizers.
Jewish Elders for Palestine
Although the marchers also mourned the children who were among the 1,200 civilians killed in Hamas’ Oct. 7 surprise attack that kicked off the warfare, the event sympathized more heavily with the Palestinian people.
The organizers warned the death toll will only continue to rise as Israel deepens its invasion of Gaza, and as the Palestinian people are denied necessities such as food, shelter and access to hospitals.
“Stealing the lives of thousands of children is unconscionable. We are here to add to the millions of voices worldwide insisting on an immediate permanent ceasefire,” Ros Petchesky, one of the elder organizers, said in a statement.
“This is a matter of conscience for all human beings. How can we live with ourselves if we don’t do everything possible to end the horror of this genocide?”
