New York Streets Descend Into Chaos During Pro-Palestinian Rally

Dozens of people are believed to have been arrested following an intense day of pro-Palestine protests in New York on Saturday.

Demonstrators demanding an end to attacks by the Isarael Defense Forces that have killed civilians in Palestine took to the streets in the Bay Ridge area of Brooklyn and as the protest continued into the night several people were arrested by the New York Police Department (NYPD), according to clips from the scene.

The demonstrations came as Israel announced it would intensify its strikes on the Gaza Strip and that it continues to prepare for a ground assault. Saturday marked two weeks of fighting between Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants and Israeli forces following surprise attacks on Israel on October 7 in which hundreds were killed and taken hostage. Strikes by Israel have rained down on the Gaza Strip since. As of Thursday, October 19, 3,785 civilians have been killed in Gaza, according to a report by Reuters.

Posting on X, formerly Twitter, the Palestinian-led community organization Within Our Lifetime advertised the rally on what it called the National Day of Action for Gaza. It urged people to take to the streets to collectively demand "an end to U.S.-sponsored genocide in Gaza." Thousands of people turned out to show their support.

Videos taken by ABC7 Eyewitness News show tensions ramping up between police officers and demonstrators, with officers pushing back protesters and "ordering them out of the roadway."

The clips show all manner of people, including Orthodox Jews, coming together to demand an end to the bloodshed in the Middle East. While the day appears to have started off peacefully, by nightfall relations between marchers and police broke down with a number of people being detained.

According to ABC7 Eyewitness News, more than a dozen people have been arrested in this particular wave of demonstrations. Charges brought against protesters, if any, are not known by Newsweek at this time.

A video posted on X by pro-Palestine group the Flame of Liberation shows a demonstrator being taken into a police van. The woman is lifted from the ground and taken into an NYPD vehicle by several officers. Onlookers can be heard disagreeing with the police, booing and shouting at the NYPD presence.

Another clip posted from the same account shows a different woman being hauled by two officers toward a police van. She can be heard screaming while onlookers again call for the woman to be released. A man is also taken to the same van by officers without resisting.

Elsewhere in the city, more than 130 anti-war protesters were arrested after blocking traffic on 5th Avenue in Manhattan on Friday night. Demonstrators called on New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand to endorse a ceasefire, chanting outside her office and denouncing the deaths of innocent civilians.

A video posted by the New York branch of the Democratic Socialists of America shows a line of people surrounded by officers. Many of them seem to be handcuffed with their hands behind their back. They did not appear to be resisting arrest, and the reason for them being detained is unclear.

Newsweek has contacted the NYPD for clarification and comment via email.