Dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters arrested outside New York Stock Exchange

NEW YORK– About 200 demonstrators protesting Israel’s war in Gaza were arrested Monday during a sit-in outside the New York Stock Exchange, police said.

The demonstrators chanted “Let Gaza live!” and “Up with the liberation, down with the occupation!” in front of the monumental building of the stock exchange in Lower Manhattan.

“The reason we are here is to demand that the US government stop sending bombs to Israel and stop profiting from Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza,” said Beth Miller, political director of Jewish Voice for Peace, the group that organized the demonstration. . “Because what has happened over the past year is that Israel is using American bombs to massacre communities in Gaza, while at the same time, arms manufacturers on Wall Street are seeing their stock prices skyrocket.”

A handful of counter-protesters waved Israeli flags and tried to shout over pro-Palestinian chants.

None of the pro-Palestinian demonstrators entered the fair, but at least two hundred managed to enter a security fence on Broad Street, where they sat down to wait to be taken into custody.

A spokesperson for the exchange declined to comment on the protest.

Police arrested the protesters one by one, cuffed their hands behind their backs with plastic ties and led them to vans. Some demonstrators walked limply and were carried by three or four officers.

According to a police spokesperson, approximately 200 arrests have been made. She had no details about the charges they faced.

The protest took place a week after the world… birthday of Hamas’s surprise October 7 attack on Israel and the start of Israel’s retaliatory campaign in Gaza, which has since spread to Lebanon and beyond.

The Lebanese Red Cross said this Israeli airstrike An apartment building in northern Lebanon was hit on Monday, killing at least 21 people.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military and it was not clear what the target was.