Rue, a nursing student from Brooklyn, joined hundreds of mostly young pro-Palestinian protesters waving homemade flags and signs on a frigid Manhattan evening during the annual lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree.
Wednesday’s protest was the latest in a series of pro-Palestinian demonstrations and acts of civil disobedience in New York and other cities. They aim to draw attention to Israel’s deadly bombing of Gaza since the massacre and kidnapping of civilians in southern Israel by Hamas on October 7. In recent weeks, protesters have closed bridges in New York and San Francisco and targeted cultural institutions. Several were arrested here last week after putting their hands together in the street to hijack the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Why we wrote this
A story centered on
As protests and rallies against the war between Israel and Hamas continue across the United States, city leaders and law enforcement are being tested by the need to both protect the right to demonstrate and ensure public safety.
With Gaza temporarily becalmed by a week-long ceasefire and hostage exchanges, but with no end in sight to the broader conflict, the challenge of controlling protests and the risk of escalation remains significant for law enforcement. Few have faced sustained mass protests of this scale since the 2020 racial justice marches.
“There’s no easy way out of this,” says David Couper, former police chief in Madison, Wisconsin.
It was a freezing night in midtown Manhattan, and Rue, a nursing student from Brooklyn, had joined hundreds of mostly young pro-Palestinian demonstrators, some dressed in black and white kaffiyehs, waving flags and homemade signs. The occasion was the annual lighting of an 80-foot Christmas tree at nearby Rockefeller Center, a televised event featuring Kelly Clarkson and Cher that had drawn thousands of tourists to watch live.
For Rue, who declined to give her last name, it’s a bittersweet season. “I also like Christmas and the Rockefeller tree, but it’s about people’s lives,” he says. “People [here] seem so unconscious. They continue their daily lives as if people were not dying every day in Palestine.”
He pauses to move a police barricade so more protesters can enter, then adds: “I just want to make an impact, to show that we’re here and that this is happening.” People can’t just forget it.
Why we wrote this
A story centered on
As protests and rallies against the war between Israel and Hamas continue across the United States, city leaders and law enforcement are being tested by the need to both protect the right to demonstrate and ensure public safety.
Wednesday’s demonstration was latest in a series of pro-Palestinian protests and acts of civil disobedience in New York and other cities. They aim to draw attention to Israel’s deadly bombing of Gaza since Hamas’ October 7 massacre of 1,200 civilians in southern Israel and the kidnapping of around 240 hostages. In recent weeks, protesters have closed bridges in New York and San Francisco, targeted the offices of Democratic lawmakers and vandalized cultural institutions. Several were arrested here last week after putting their hands together in the street to hijack the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
With Gaza temporarily becalmed by a week-long ceasefire and hostage exchanges, but with no end in sight to the larger conflict, the challenge of controlling pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian protests, as well as the risk of escalation, remain important for law enforcement. Few have faced sustained mass protests of this scale since the 2020 racial justice marches and must balance allowing peaceful expression, monitoring extremist groups and ensuring public safety.
Andrés Kudacki/AP
“It’s the ebb and flow of protests. We try to maintain calm, we let people move around and we let them exercise their rights. Sometimes things get a little hectic,” Jeffrey Maddrey, chief of the New York Police Department, told the CBS station in New York during last night’s demonstration.
Demonstrations and police presence
Earlier this week, Within Our Lifetime, a pro-Palestinian group that the Anti-Defamation League accuses of anti-Semitism, called for “flooding the light tree for Gaza”; The “flood” was would have a Hamas code word for its October 7 assault. “PALESTINE PRIESTS CALL FOR MOBILIZATION, NOT CELEBRATION! » he said on Instagram.
But a heavy police presence in and around Rockefeller Center prevented protesters from entering the cordoned off tree lighting area or disrupting the ceremony, which culminated at 10 p.m. with the lighting of 50,000 LED bulbs.
Instead, more than 500 protesters gathered near a Christmas tree in front of the News Corp building. nearby, where a a previous demonstration on the ground took place. Protesters later marched for several blocks and some clashed with police, leading to several arrests amid high tension but no major violence.
Experts say the country’s police officers fear being drawn into prolonged clashes with protesters that would fuel tensions, particularly if counter-protesters showed up to goad the other side.
As police chief of Madison, Wisconsin, from the 1970s to the early 1990s, David Couper pioneered a managed response in which police worked with protest groups to set limits on their actions so that they can express their message legally. “It’s part of the Constitution: You have the right to peacefully assemble, so how can we achieve that? But that has changed,” says Mr. Couper. “Once you lose the idea that the police actually want to help and that they’re not bad guys… everything goes crazy. [In some cities] it’s a dangerous game. It’s a contact sport.
Some speakers at Wednesday’s protest harangued the New York Police Department and called them complicit in Israel’s killings of Palestinians, while demonstrators accused police of making arbitrary arrests in past events . “It was largely peaceful,” says Rue, who has participated in several meetings in recent weeks. “But every now and then the police come in and arrest people.”
Before the protest, the department established its ground rules. “The NYPD will be on hand to protect the tree lighting and everyone involved, and we will not tolerate any disruptions or threats to public safety,” a spokesperson said.
Nationwide protests following the police killing of George Floyd in May 2020 highlighted the broader challenge facing law enforcement: Charged with protecting public order, officers can go too far away to protect their own when they are arrested, while the demonstrators, in turn, push the limits of freedom of expression. in order to antagonize the police. The result is a cycle of distrust that will influence the next cycle, says Mr. Couper, who left the police force in 1993 to become an Episcopal priest.
“To be able to control a diverse society, you have to be trusted and supported. Otherwise, the only way to get the job done is with more force,” he says.
Balancing free speech, hate and safety
Among the demonstrators Wednesday was Rivka Rosensweig, a community organizer in New York and a veteran of previous marches for Palestinian rights. “I’m here today because I believe we are witnessing a genocide financed by the United States,” she said.
During recent Israeli military actions in Gaza aimed at destroying Hamas, she participated in four demonstrations in New York and two in Washington. Wednesday’s noisy protest was encouraging, she notes. “I would say for weekday participation, it’s really good. It’s cold outside.
For most American Jews and organizations that monitor hate speech, this wave of protests is far less encouraging. THE The FBI said last month that anti-Semitic threats against Jews had reached a historic level. However, not all threats come from pro-Palestinian activists; analysts say far-right groups continue to pose a greater threat to a minority that makes up 2 percent of the U.S. population. Officials also reported a increase in threats against Arab and Muslim Americans since October 7.
On Wednesday evening, the crowd repeatedly chanted “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” a slogan that for many means the expulsion of Israeli Jews from their country. Protesters also denounced President Joe Biden as “Genocide Joe,” highlighting the division on the left over the administration’s U.S.-Israel policy.
Ms. Rosensweig, who is Jewish, says her views are at odds with those of members of her family whom she describes as Zionist. She believes that everyone must take a position on what is happening in Israel and the Palestinian territories. “Anyone, Jewish or not, with a conscience can see that what is happening is untenable and heinous. »
For Mr. Couper, the balance between the demonstrations is not getting easier. When he led the Madison Police Department, he deployed officers to protect the rights of a small group of neo-Nazis to demonstrate near the Wisconsin State Capitol. Last week, he saw police again take to the streets of Madison to protect passersby from a group of about 25 neo-Nazis, who were shouting anti-Semitic and anti-LGBTQ slogans.
“There is no easy way out,” he says.
Patrik Jonsson contributed reporting.