Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters briefly shut down New York’s Grand Central Station on Friday night as they called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
The demonstrators carrying “Free Palestine” and “End the genocide” banners assembled at Colombus Circle at around 5pm before marching through Manhattan’s Midtown district, bringing traffic to a standstill.
The group then surrounded the New York Times building near Times Square, smearing the entrance with fake red paint to resemble blood, before making their way to Grand Central Station.
Access to the station’s main terminal was blocked and trains were being diverted, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Metro-North Railroad said in a post on X just before 9pm on Friday.
Protestors and police clash outside of Grand Central as protestors banged on the doors pic.twitter.com/55JrbuVYqz
— katie smith (@probablyreadit) November 11, 2023
Footage posted to social media showed demonstrators hitting the doors of Grand Central station, with police standing on the other side.
Six protesters were arrested for disorderly conduct, though the demonstration was largely peaceful, the NYPD said.
It estimated around 2,000 protesters attended the march. Most had left Grand Central by 10pm, while police maintained a heavy presence in the area.
It was the latest in a series of almost daily protests in New York against Israel’s war with Hamas, which has claimed the lives of more than 11,000 people in Gaza.
Israel launched a bombing campaign and ground offensive into Gaza after Hamas terrorists killed about 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped several hundred more on 7 October.
Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters briefly closed down Grand Central Station on Friday night— (CBS News)
On Thursday, a small group of pro-Palestinian demonstrators briefly occupied the New York Times office lobby accusing media of bias towards Israel.
The protesters, led by media workers calling themselves the “Writers Bloc”, entered the Times’ office and occupied the lobby area.
They made their way into the atrium of the NYT building and scattered mock editions of the newspaper called “The New York War Crimes”.
On Tuesday 7 November, activists from Jewish Voice for Peace briefly took over the Statue of Liberty to call for a stop to the violence in Gaza.
In London, 82 far-right protesters were arrested in violent clashes with police and pro-Palestine demonstrators on Saturday 11 November.
