Three protesters linked to radical environmentalist group “Extinction Rebellion” were arrested on Saturday evening after disrupting an Easter vigil at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. The trio of demonstrators—one of whom was arrested last year for a similar incident at the US Open Tennis Championships—were recorded chanting pro-Palestine slogans as police escorted them out of the cathedral in handcuffs.
According to cellphone video of the incident, the protesters began their chants roughly 45 minutes into the service’s second reading, unfurling a white banner that read “Silence = Death.”
The incident was also captured on the cathedral’s live stream of the service.
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Despite the disruption, most attendants seemed to pay the protesters little mind, and the woman reading from scripture in Spanish simply spoke louder. Eventually, the congregation joined the choir in a singing of “Hallelujah,” drowning out the outburst.
Police arrived on the scene just before 9:00 p.m., and promptly escorted the “disorderly group” out of the church. The protesters—later identified as Matthew Menzies, 31, John Rozendaal, 63, and Gregory Schwedock, 35, according to the New York Post—were heard shouting “Free Palestine” as they were led away.
Schwedock, a resident of the Upper East Side, was previously arrested alongside another group of activists in September after disrupting the US Open women’s semifinal match. During that incident, Schwedock and his fellow protesters glued their feet to the bleachers of Arthur Ashe Stadium while holding signs calling for a ban on fossil fuels. This stunt, accompanied by incessant chanting, delayed the tennis match by nearly 50 minutes.
Related: US Open Match Delayed by Eco-Protesters Chanting and Gluing Feet to Floor
Rozendaal has also been arrested for his destructive activism, which included an incident in April in which he spray-painted “Climate criminal and no new oil” on a window at a Citibank. As the Post discovered, he also heaped lavish praise on Aaron Bushnell, the 25-year-old US Airman who self-immolated outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington, DC last month.
The protest at St. Patrick’s Cathedral followed a much larger pro-Palestine gathering in Times Square earlier Sunday in observation of “Palestinian Land Day,” a commemoration of an Israeli land annexation in 1976 that led to the deaths of six Arab civilians. On Saturday, protesters around the world marked the occasion with calls for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
Before the start of the Christian Holy Week, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a call for prayer for peace in the Middle East and also put out a statement urging both sides to end the war.
Related: More Than 50% of Americans No Longer Support Israel’s War in Gaza
“As the Church enters Holy Week and Christ’s suffering on the cross and his resurrection are made present to us so vividly, we are connected to the very source of hope,” the USCCB said. “Thousands of innocent people have died in this conflict, and thousands more have been displaced and face tremendous suffering. This must stop.”
Connor Walcott is a staff writer for Valuetainment.com. Follow Connor on X and look for him on VT’s “The Unusual Suspects.”
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