Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters arrested after blocking New York roadways

(Patria) - Pro-Palestinian protesters blocked several bridges and tunnels in New York on Monday, demanding an immediate ceasefire in the three-month conflict between Israel and Hamas before police arrested hundreds of them and reopened the roads, Reuters reported.

Dozens of chanting protesters sat at the entrances to the Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Williamsburg bridges over the East River, as well as the Holland Tunnel connecting New York and New Jersey over the Hudson River, local media reported.

Police arrested 325 protesters, a police spokesperson said, and all locations were cleared. New York City Mayor Eric Adams said the right to protest does not give the right to block bridges.

Footage posted on social media during the protests showed protesters chanting: "NYPD, KKK, IDF are all the same," referring to the New York Police Department, the Ku Klux Klan, and the Israel Defense Forces. Protesters in the Holland Tunnel carried banners that read "End the Siege of Gaza," "Ceasefire Now," and "End the Occupation."

The protests were organized by Jewish Voice for Peace, the Palestinian Youth Movement, and the New York chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, among other advocacy groups.
In Charleston, South Carolina, protesters interrupted a campaign speech by President Joe Biden at Mother Emanuel AME Church, where a white man murdered nine Black parishioners in 2015.

The protesters chanted "Ceasefire now," and the congregation inside the church responded with a chorus of "four more years" as the protesters were escorted out of the building.