[News] Palestine solidarity demonstrators block rush hour traffic in NYC

[Anti-Imperialist News]

peoplesdispatch.org
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/01/08/palestine-solidarity-demonstrators-block-rush-hour-traffic-in-nyc/>
Palestine solidarity demonstrators block rush hour traffic in NYC
Peoples Dispatch
January 8, 2024
------------------------------

[image: Bridge-shutdown-NYC-1024x576.jpeg]

Protesters shut down major arteries across New York City including Holland
Tunnel. Photo: Craig Birchfield

Hundreds of protesters blocked three bridges and one tunnel in New York
City on Monday, January 8, during peak morning commute hours. The
demonstrators were protesting the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza, and
highlighted five major demands in the struggle for Palestine: the release
of all Palestinian political prisoners, the end of the occupation in the
West Bank, the lifting of the siege on Gaza, the end of US aid to Israel,
and a permanent ceasefire. Traffic going into Manhattan was blocked on four
major commuter arteries: the Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Williamsburg bridges,
as well as the Holland Tunnel.

The actions were organized by a wide coalition of organizations, including
Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), Al-Awda: The Palestine Right to Return
Coalition, Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, Democratic
Socialists of America (DSA), Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), the Party for
Socialism and Liberation (PSL), Critical Resistance, and Writers Against
the War on Gaza (WAWOG).

The New York Police Department made over 400 arrests related to the traffic
blockages. Some demonstrators used chains, PVC pipes, and concrete to delay
arrest, forcing police to use electric saws
<https://x.com/probablyreadit/status/1744387700419953008?s=20> to separate
the demonstrators. At least two protesters at the Williamsburg Bridge were
creative enough to link themselves together using PVC pipes, which were
poured over with concrete and cemented to a tire. Police were forced to use
a jackhammer to separate these two demonstrators.

Police also brutalized
<https://x.com/wawog_now/status/1744419943590867165?s=20> many protesters
during the arrests. As they were being arrested, protesters chanted “NYPD,
KKK, IDF, you’re all the same,” referencing the history of racism in
policing as well as the close ties
<https://www.amnestyusa.org/updates/with-whom-are-many-u-s-police-departments-training-with-a-chronic-human-rights-violator-israel/>
of US police departments to Israel.

“We jam the arteries of the city and we reclaim the bridges and
tunnels—which are funded by our taxes and fares—in solidarity with
Palestine and all who are immiserated by the forces of capitalism and
imperialism,” wrote the coalition of organizers in a statement
<https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lwhpAjG9-aa9-uK8_7IIrUxFlLpWk2gB/view?pli=1>.
“By blocking the city’s exits, the protesters created—briefly,
imperfectly—a physical analogue for the situation in Gaza, where there is
no getting out. By stopping freedom of movement for drivers, the protesters
drew parallels to the meaningless and cruel evacuation orders that the
Zionist regime, in the midst of its relentless aerial, naval, and ground
assault of Gaza, leaving people with no choice but to wait until their
homes and shelters are bombed or to leave their city on foot.”

The statement touched on the historic significance of the coordinated
action. “This city is ours,” proclaimed the members of ACT UP when, in the
spring of 1995, they became the first (and until today, only) group of
activists to shut down two bridges and two tunnels at once
<https://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/26/nyregion/rush-hour-protest-causes-gridlock.html>.
Today’s protesters echoed the claim: New York City belongs to New Yorkers.
Palestine belongs to Palestinians.”

At the same time, a crowd of hundreds gathered in lower Manhattan to rally
outside the New York Stock Exchange. Organizers at this rally paid homage
<https://x.com/probablyreadit/status/1744371914330476893?s=20> to the
bridge blockades.

Meanwhile, several protesters interrupted President Biden as he was giving
a speech at Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Biden was
holding an event in homage to the 2015 killing of nine Black churchgoers at
Mother Emanuel by a racist shooter. An audience member interrupted Biden’s
speech, shouting, “If you really care about the lives lost here, you should
honor the lives lost and call for a ceasefire in Palestine.” Multiple
protesters then joined in, shouting “ceasefire now!”

This past weekend, multiple actions took place, including a march of over a
thousand people through freezing rain in Midtown Manhattan, which
culminated at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Protesters disrupted
a performance of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, citing Lincoln
Center’s ties to the Zionist project
<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/05/theater/artists-protest-lincoln-center-play-backed-by-israel.html>
.
*Watch: **Protesters in NYC brave snow to demand an end to Israel’s
genocidal war on Gaza*
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/01/08/protesters-in-nyc-brave-snow-to-demand-an-end-to-israels-genocidal-war-on-gaza/>
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