On Saturday, hundreds of people in New York City, including actor Susan Sarandon, and the Boston area braved the rain to call for an end to the fighting in Gaza. Other groups held protests in Baltimore, Washington, Albuquerque, and Charlotte.
Around 1 p.m., the New York protest started in Washington Square Park. Protesters then marched up Lower Manhattan to the outside of the main building of the New York Public Library in Midtown. At the same time, protesters took to the streets of Cambridge, which is outside of Boston.
WNBC says Sarandon told the crowd in New York, “There are hundreds more across Manhattan, hundreds of thousands across the U.S., and millions around the world who are standing for Palestine for justice and a ceasefire.”
At one point during the protest, though, things got worse when an NYPD car had to squeak through the crowd to get to a report of a possible bomb in Times Square.
“This is the sound of the NYPD responding to a call from a person who thought they saw a grenade. Thank goodness it was fake. What was real, though? The danger caused by “protesters” who got in the way of our emergency reaction!” This is what NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Doughtry wrote on social media. At first, it wasn’t clear what Doughtry meant when he put marchers in quotation marks.
At the same time, Michael Kemper, the head of transit for the NYPD, said that the protesters blocking the street were “super reckless” and “extremely dangerous.” The head of the NYPD, Jeffrey Maddrey, described a “bomb” scare and stated that the marchers should be “held accountable.” Police say that eleven people were taken during the protest in New York.
Hundreds of very religious Jews stopped a highway to protest Israel’s law that forces people to serve in the military during the war in Gaza. They chanted, “We will die and not be mobilized.”
Israeli police said on social media, “Highway 4 was opened to traffic. Hundreds of protesters illegally demonstrated on Highway 4, blocked the road, and fought with police officers.” From Gaza to Tel Aviv, the highway goes there. When some protesters were being moved out, the cops had to use force to clear the road. After the protest was over, all the roads in the area were made safe for traffic.
The driver of a car seen speeding down Route 20 in Israel was caught. On the hood of the car, there was a protester in Tel Aviv calling for national elections and the return of hostages from Gaza. The driver was said to be from Jerusalem and 28 years old. But police also sent a notice to the protester, who was seen on film blocking traffic.
British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Thursday that her government would look into ending these kinds of waivers from military service.
