Pro-Palestine activists descended upon Rockefeller Center to protest the famous Christmas tree lighting, swarming the Midtown ice rink chanting “From the River to the Sea” and “End to Genocide.”
The demonstrators could not reach the tree. Instead remained in the street in front of the News Corp building where Fox News and the New York Post operate. One activist scaled a pillar and held up a sign showing the building’s address.
Protestors waved Palestine flags, fought with and threatened to kill police officers, and harassed Jewish people. Protestors shouted “white male privilege!” while shoving the police, and another called an officer “white man” and said “Get your dumbass in the back!” Cops began use pepper spray on the crowd when things got out of hand.
A pro-Palestinian marcher taunts NYPD officers, praising when police were either killed or shot: “Which one of y’all want to get Derek Chauvin’d? I’d give you that Chris Dorner treatment real quick!” pic.twitter.com/lRD4gOSgb1
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) November 30, 2023
Visibly Jewish person walks by pro-Hamas NYC rally yesterday.
He gets called a “nazi,” “k*ke,” “Jew piece of shit,” and a “genocide supporter”
At what point are we going to stop pretending any of this is about supporting Palestinians or a ceasefire?pic.twitter.com/PyxV2dKJAb
— AG (@AGHamilton29) November 30, 2023
Live from Rockefeller Center.
Chanting:
NYPD KKK IDF They’re all the same! pic.twitter.com/Bg69ubooGZ— Charlie from the river to the sea 🇵🇸 تشارلي ديبه (@IMDibe) November 29, 2023
One protestor was even sporting a swastika, comparing the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to Nazis.
A person displays a swastika sign at the Free Palestine protest during the Rockefeller Center tree lighting in NYC tonight. pic.twitter.com/jrdOVcisk8
— 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐝 𝐃𝐢𝐚𝐫𝐲 (@TheHeraldDiary) November 30, 2023
Fights and arrests at the Free Palestine protest outside Rockefeller Tree lighting in NYC @CBSNewYork pic.twitter.com/H2AixisEBz
— Ali Bauman (@AliBaumanTV) November 30, 2023
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Rabbi Shmuley Boteach went live at the protest, strongly criticizing the demonstrators as “antisemites.” He said they want to make sure “no one ever enjoys anything, ever” including Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, which was blocked by pro-Palestine protestors.
The pro Palestine, anti Israel, antisemites seek to western culture, ruined the entire lighting of the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center today. These people want nothing less than the total eradication of western society, freedoms, and culture. Wake up everyone. pic.twitter.com/7yD5LrtXYf
— Rabbi Shmuley (@RabbiShmuley) November 30, 2023
As was evident from signs, one group involved with organizing the demonstration was the Workers World Party, a socialist organization which publishes an explanatory guide on Marxism. It endorses the 1917 Bolshevik revolution in Russia. It also advocates for world socialist revolution to liberate “LGBTQ” people and “oppressed nations.”
One of the mass produced signs at the “Flood The Tree Lighting For Gaza” says: “Victory to the Palestinian resistance” pic.twitter.com/eTPh9mRMok
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) November 29, 2023
Meanwhile, a blue collar worker in work clothes taunted the crowd, mocking the protestors and tell them, “get a job, go to work.”
A worker tells pro-Palestinians at the Christmas Tree Lighting at Rockefeller Center in NYC to “get a job, go to work.”
— Christopher Skelly (@Skelly4Liberty) November 30, 2023
The protestors also broke into cheers and applause upon learning that former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger died.
Being at a protest for Palestine at Rockefeller center and learning Henry Kissinger has died is absolutely wild https://t.co/3hRXHXokbo
— Read Let This Radicalize You (@JoshuaPHilll) November 30, 2023
Several tree lighting attendees complained to the New York Post about the protest. “I had planned my holiday around this event, being a big fan of Christmas. Now I’m walled in by a bunch of terrorist-loving a–holes calling for intifada,” bemoaned one 42-year-old woman who flew in from the UK for the event.
Another attendee, a 33-year-old from Missouri, offered comment. “It’s super, super annoying. Just excruciating. Seeing these people in such large numbers, it makes me feel embarrassed to be an American because people are watching this happening from abroad. Kudos to the cops for keeping these people under control and for showing restraint, because they deal with a lot of verbal abuse.”
One resident of the Bronx, 40-year-old Lillian Gonzalez, wasn’t going to let the protestors get to her. “Politics has no place at an event like this, but that’s exactly why they do it — to disrupt the status quo, to ruin the things we cherish and take comfort in.”
“The Christmas tree brings a message of peace, not conflict,” she went on. “That’s why we’re gathered here today, not to protest but to welcome in the holiday season. None of this mob activity is going to take that away from us.”
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