Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters denigrated the most popular and sacred American religious holiday in America on Christmas day, while carrying a blood-red mock Nativity scene and shouting “Christmas is canceled here!”
While denigrating Christmas at the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree, the group of roughly 500 protestors made their objectives clear by also yelling the war cry, an Arabic word for “uprising.”
“No Joy In Genocide,” said one of the signs written in fake blood. Another read, “While Ur Shopping Bombs are Dropping.”
After dark, the protests led to some fights outside St. Patrick’s Cathedral, sending NYPD officers into a precarious situation as they tried to navigate through the hostile protestors.
At least six people were arrested for menacing, graffiti and disorderly conduct, according to a report published by the New York Post, which cited “law enforcement sources.”
Some of the arrests were made by Union Square, about 30 blocks from where the protests started at the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree. Others were made by Grand Central Station.
After the demonstrators were dispersed by police at the Union Square Holiday Market, they left behind flyers and stickers that read, “Murdered by Israel” as well as others that said, “Zionism is terrorism” and “Free Palestine.”
Some slogans included derogatory comments about the Jewish state, such as, “Netanyahu is a warmonger,” and “Israel kills babies.”
Others were a call to violence such as, “From NY to Gaza, Globalize the Intifada.”
Since Israel began a military response to the brutal Oct. 7 attacks, pro-Palestinian protestors have flooded the New York City metropolitan area, disrupting regular business, traffic and interfacing with law enforcement officials.
Monday’s protest came after a pro-Palestinian car caravan disrupted Christmas carolers at Washington Square Park the night before on Christmas Eve, blaring music to drown out the holiday cheer.
During the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree protest, NYPD officers safeguarded the perimeter of the News Corp headquarters on Sixth Avenue, which is the corporate center for Fox News, The New York Post, and the Wall Street Journal.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators have stirred up chaos around the building twice in the last month. The protestors held banners accusing Fox News of “cover[ing] up genocide.”
Police also determined that Pro-Palestinian demonstrators have identified News Corp as one of many targets labeled “an enemy of both the Palestinian people and colonized people all over the world.”
Shortly after Thanksgiving, another nationwide American holiday, hundreds of protestors, one of whom was reportedly carrying a swastika invaded the News Corp building after the NYPD thwarted them from a planned “Flood the Tree Lighting for Gaza” demonstration.
At least seven people were arrested in that incident, and the NYPD incurred several assaults on police officers.
