A masked protester was arrested during clashing demonstrations outside a Manhattan drag story hour hosted by state Attorney General Letitia James Sunday, cops said.
The gold-masked man was taken into custody about 11:30 a.m. after an assault at the protest outside the LGBTQ Community Center on W. 13th St. in Greenwich Village.
Video posted on Twitter shows a small group of protesters, including a man in a Proud Boys sweatshirt, across the street from the center while a much larger crowd of counter-protesters lined the sidewalk to show their support for the event.
At one point, the gold-masked man, can be seen rattling police barricades before he’s taken into custody. An NYPD spokeswoman had no additional information about the arrest Sunday afternoon.
Attorney General Letitia James posted photos from the event on her Instagram page.
“It’s time for Drag Story Hour! We’re at @lgbtcenternyc with some amazing @dragstoryhournyc storytellers, New York families, elected officials, and community leaders to kick off our Drag Story Hour read-a-thon!” she posted.
Similar family-oriented events have been canceled across the nation in the wake of harassment and threats from anti-LGBTQ groups like the far-right Proud Boys whose leader, Enrique Tarrio, is on trial along with four other members for sedition in connection with the Jan. 6 insurrection.
In September, the Morrisania Library in the Bronx canceled a show starring drag artist Desmond Napoles after the teenage celebrity received hate-filled violent threats.
One Instagram user wrote, “I’m going to that library, I’m going with a bucked [sic] of dog s—t and I’m pouring it on your parents and rubbing it into their eyes.”
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