25 Pro-Palestinian Protesters Arrested After Disrupting Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade

NEW YORK (TNND) — A spokesman for the New York Police Department (NYPD) confirmed that dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested Thursday after temporarily blocking the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City.

A total of 25 protesters were arrested around 9:25 a.m. at West 55th Street and Sixth Avenue. An “unscheduled demonstration” was blocking the parade route, according to a New York police spokesman.

A spokesman said each of the protesters was taken into custody without incident and later issued summonses for trespassing.

A video of the incident released online showed protesters chanting “free, free Palestine” while displaying Palestinian flags and a banner reading “don’t celebrate genocide.” Ronald McDonald’s hot air balloon in the parade stopped behind the protesters in the footage.

In the footage, parade spectators can be heard booing the protesters and then applauding as police arrive.

During this year, pro-Palestinian demonstrators took to the streets of New York to protest the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. In October, there were more than 200 protesters arrested at a pro-Palestinian demonstration outside the New York Stock Exchange.

New York police said 206 people were taken into custody at the time as members of the Jewish Voice for Peace, which posted on social media that it was “shutting down” the exchange, demanding that the U.S. end its support for Israel and “profit from genocide.”

Just a few days earlier, anti-Israel protesters also flooded various parts of New York City to mark the first anniversary of the start of the Israel-Hamas war. The demonstrations were largely planned by the pro-Palestinian rights group Within Our Lifetime, which called on New Yorkers via social media at the time to “support Gaza and lift up the Palestinian people who are resisting genocide by any means necessary.”

New York Gov. Cathy Hochul wrote on X Thursday that New Yorkers “must not forget the families grieving for their loved ones who were taken hostage by Hamas 418 days ago.”

“We pray that they will be safely reunited with their families by this time next year,” said Governor Hochul.