A group of pro-Palestine protesters have been arrested after briefly disrupting the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City.
The New York Police Department arrested 21 people in Manhattan on Thursday morning, local outlet ABC 7 NY reports, after the group ran in front of the Ronald McDonald float and briefly stopped the parade.
The group locked arms and chanted, “Free, free Palestine!” They also carried a banner that read, “Don’t celebrate genocide! Arms embargo now.”
The crowd booed as protesters took their spot in the middle of the parade, ABY 7 NY reports. Others reportedly chanted “USA! USA!” as police arrested the demonstrators.
The parade was delayed for five minutes, according to ABC 7 NY.
Pictures of the protest show police tussling with protesters over the banner before taking them off the parade route.
Footage showed police pulling some protesters off the street and flipping them onto their stomachs before handcuffing them. Other protesters appeared to go willingly with police.
The New York Police Department said they did not yet have an official count of how many protesters were arrested when contacted by The Independent on Thursday morning.
Mayor Eric Adams warned against protesters interrupting the parade on Wednesday after a similar incident last year.
“I really want to take the moment to tell those grinches that believe they are going to disrupt the parade that it is not going to happen,” Adams said.
On November 23, 2023, around 30 pro-Palestinian protesters interrupted the parade, jumping the barricades, running into the street and reportedly gluing themselves to the ground.
“There’s an ongoing genocide and our planet is dying,” they chanted. “We need a ceasefire.”
Both years, the demonstrators were protesting the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. The war began October 7 when Hamas militants launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking another 250 hostage.
Since then, more than 44,000 have been killed in Gaza, the Associated Press reports. More than half of them were women and children, the Gaza Health Ministry said.
