One Arrest after Pro Palestine Protestors Block Manhattan Bridge for 4 Hours

About 1,000 pro-Palestine protestors from the anti-Zionist group Jewish Voices for Peace blocked the Manhattan side of the Manhattan Bridge on Nov. 26., stopping traffic in both directions for about four hours.

Protestors hung a banner from the bridge which said, “Let Gaza Live” and stretched another banner with the same phrase between the colonnades at the base of the bridge on the Manhattan side.

One person was arrested: Maximillian Silver, 34, of Bainbridge St. Brooklyn, who was charged with misdemeanor reckless endangerment. Police said he had hung off the side of the bridge to unfurl the banner.

The largely peaceful protestors at the base of the bridge, sat in the rain and chanted, “President Biden Take our side, no more Gaza genocide” and sang songs.

Traffic was blocked for about four hours on the Manhattan Bridge and that created bumper to bumper traffic at the other East River crossings as well as many travelers were returning from the Thanksgiving weekend.

Police have warned that numerous spontaneous demonstrations are likely to spring up in the days ahead and protestors are apparently aiming to disrupt Christman shopping.

On November 24, hundreds of protestors gathered in Washington Square Park and then marched up Sixth Ave. toward Herald Square and Macy’s in a bid to disrupt Black Friday retail traffic.

There were two separate parade stopping incidents during the Macy’s Thanksgiving day parade in which 34 people were taken into custody.

As Straus News was going to press on Monday, flyers were circulating calling for protestors to disrupt the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting ceremony scheduled for Nov. 29th at 6 p.m.