Nearly 60 demonstrators were arrested at a Rabbis for Ceasefire protest on Yom Kippur for blocking traffic to the Brooklyn Bridge.
According to the New York Post, at least 56 protesters were detained at the Thursday afternoon event hosted by the Rabbis for Ceasefire organization. The group is composed of rabbis and rabbinical students who oppose Israel’s military action in Gaza and support the Palestinian cause.
Video obtained by the Post shows dozens of protesters sitting in front of a “Not Another Bomb” banner while blocking traffic to the East River span that connects Brooklyn with Manhattan.
The protest reportedly began around 3:30 p.m. at Brooklyn Borough Hall with the Yizkor service, a memorial prayer for the deceased said on Jewish holidays, including Yom Kippur, according to social media posts from event organizers.
Scores of NYPD officers swarmed the scene to arrest protesters as an audio message warned they would be charged with disorderly conduct if they refused to move. Many of those gathered clapped and sang as police moved in and began making arrests. Protesters did not appear to offer any resistance as they were handcuffed and led away to NYPD prisoner transport vans.
When asked why he was getting arrested on Yom Kippur — the holiest day of the Jewish year — and what the demonstration had to do with Judaism, one protester said he wanted “justice and equal rights” for “everybody on that land.”
“We need to disrupt our prayers in order to create the change that we need to bring about the ceasefire and to bring about justice and peace for everybody in the land between the river and the sea,” the man said.
Another protester, a woman with her hands bound in front, was asked if she understood why she got arrested.
“Why I got arrested? Because I’m using this sacred holiday of Yom Kippur, as a Jewish person whose ancestors perished during the Holocaust, to protest against the genocide of the Palestinian people in my name,” the woman, who was wearing a keffiyeh, said. “And I say not in my name.”
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