‘Death to America’ chanters, counter-protesters clash at NYC Khamenei memorial

NEW YORK — Protesters in New York City chanted “death to America, death to Israel” in Farsi at a vigil honoring late Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in New York City on Friday night, shortly after clashes erupted with counter-protesters, resulting in multiple arrests.

The 86-year-old Iranian supreme leader was killed in Tehran on Saturday in the initial joint US-Israeli airstrikes that started the war, with his death confirmed by the Iranian government the following day.

Protesters set up images of Khamenei on two tables alongside flowers and candles, with signs reading, “Solidarity with Iran.” Other pictures included US civil rights leader Malcolm X and George Floyd, and the display table also carried copies of zines with titles such as “Zionism and Racist Landlords” and “ICE & Friends.”

The event, held in Washington Square Park, was billed as both a memorial for Khamenei — whose death was dubbed by those present as an “assassination by US government forces” — and for “all martyrs of Amerikan [sic] imperialism.”

“We must live like the ayatollah did, with his heart for his people, and we must die like he did,” a speaker told the crowd.

The protesters chanted, “Death to the IDF,” and, “Al Qassam you make us proud, kill another soldier now,” a reference to Hamas’s Al Qassam Brigades. One man waved a Hezbollah flag. Both Hamas and Hezbollah are US-designated terrorist groups.

The protest was endorsed by at least 18 smaller activist groups, such as the Bronx Anti-War Coalition, the far-left Workers World Party and Crown Heights Bites Back, according to a statement from organizers. The larger anti-Zionist activist groups in the city did not sign on.

Some of the organizers have had contact with the Iranian mission to the United Nations.

Meanwhile, Iranian counter-protesters waved American, Iranian and Israeli flags while chanting “USA,” “terrorist,” “Trump,” and “Bibi, thank you” — using the nickname for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — from across a metal police barricade.

“We were waiting for this for 47 years. Finally, we did it. USA did it, Israel did it, taking out the terrorist,” one of the Iranians said. “Finally, they’re going to be free.”

“IDF, thank you,” and, “Khamenei is dead,” the Iranians chanted.

They also mocked the protesters, shouting, “You’re not even Iranian,” and telling them to remove their masks.

A masked man holding a portrait of Khamenei shouted “Allahu akbar,” meaning “God is greatest,” at the Iranians, who called him a “terrorist.”

The protesters waved flags of the Iranian regime, while the Iranians brandished the country’s flag from before the 1979 revolution, showing a lion and a sun.

Some scuffles broke out when Rami Even-Esh, an American-Israeli rapper who goes by the stage name Kosha Dillz, removed one of the photos of Khamenei.

“Take this down,” Even-Esh said, before being attacked by the a man in a Spongebob sweatshirt and other demonstrators. Police quickly broke up the fight.

Even-Esh, who often appears at events for the Jewish community and in support of Israel, later said on social media that he had been arrested.

“I attended a ‘vigil’ for the butcher of Iran who is responsible for murders of tens of thousands of Iranians,” he wrote, alongside a video of the incident. “I took down his ‘portrait’ as you can see as bare minimum out of respect for all my Iranian friends around the world and in nyc.”

At least one protester was also arrested.

There were around 50 demonstrators on each side.

Some of the activist groups that organized the Khamenei vigil have also held events memorializing the late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Hamas’s Yahya Sinwar.

Now in its seventh day, the conflict — codenamed Operation Epic Fury by the US and Lion’s Roar by Israel — the US and Israel have battered Iran with strikes, targeting its military capabilities, leadership and nuclear program.

The stated goals and timelines for the war have repeatedly shifted, as the US has at times suggested it seeks to topple Iran’s government or elevate new leadership from within.

The fighting has killed at least 1,230 people in Iran, more than 200 in Lebanon and around a dozen in Israel, according to officials in those countries. Six US troops have been killed.