Police and organizers stated that hundreds of people were arrested Friday after police broke up a big rally of primarily Jewish New Yorkers who had taken over Grand Central station’s main hall in protest of Israel’s attack on Gaza.
The New York Police Department reported at least 200 arrests, while protest organizers claimed more than 300.
Long lines of young people stood in handcuffs and wearing black sweatshirts with the inscriptions ‘Not In Our Name’ and ‘Cease Fire Now’ emblazoned in white.
The enormous sit-in was organized by the group Jewish Voice for Peace-New York City, which claimed thousands of its members took part in the protest, which shut down the city’s central rail station.
Images showed the station crowded with protesters holding placards stating ‘Palestinians should be free’ and ‘Mourn the dead, fight like hell for the living’.
The nonviolent sit-in was described by organizers as the largest civil disobedience New York City has seen in 20 years.
The gathering was kicked off by rabbis lighting Shabbat lamps and performing the Jewish prayer for the dead, known as the kaddish.
“While Shabbat is traditionally a day of rest, we cannot afford to rest while genocide is taking place in our names”, organizer Rabbi May Ye stated in a statement.
“The lives of Palestinians and Israelis are intertwined, and safety can only come from justice, equality, and freedom for all”, the statement reads.
According to Israeli officials, on October 7, crowds of Hamas gunmen flooded into Israel, killing 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and capturing 224 more.
As per numbers released by the Hamas-controlled health ministry, at least 7,028 individuals have been killed in Gaza as a result of retaliatory Israeli air and artillery strikes, including 2,913 children.
Also read: 57 Employees Killed In Gaza; UN Calls For Meaningful And Uninterrupted Aid
