Protests held in the US before Netanyahu’s UN speech — The Guardian
In New York, United States, on September 24, hundreds of people protested outside UN headquarters ahead of a speech by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Participants blocked traffic on nearby streets, and by the start of the day, several people had reportedly been arrested, The Guardian reports. The New York Police Department did not confirm the exact number of detainees.
Traffic blocked near the UN
New Yorkers of Jewish, Palestinian, Iranian and Lebanese descent joined the action, along with elected officials, candidates in the November elections and celebrities. Participants chanted, among other slogans, “Let Gaza live” and “The whole world is watching.”
Some protesters sat in the middle of the road for more than an hour, causing official motorcades heading to the UN to change their routes. Demonstrators unfurled banners calling for an end to what they describe as genocide and also launched a kite bearing the words “Free Palestine.”
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Other actions and the mayor’s position
Another action was also scheduled in Manhattan for the second half of the day, after which participants were to march to UN headquarters. The day before, members of the New York chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America protested at John F. Kennedy Airport against the transportation on commercial flights of weapons and explosive materials intended for the Israeli military.
Jewish Voice for Peace Action political director Beth Miller said that participants do not want to see “war criminals and architects of genocide” in the city. This is the position of the protest organizers. Actress Hannah Einbinder, who supported the action, called on the US government to stop funding what she called genocide in Palestine.
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani had previously called Netanyahu a war criminal and said that he was not a welcome guest in the city. At the same time, he acknowledged that he had no legal authority to order the Israeli prime minister’s arrest and stressed New Yorkers’ right to protest.
