New York Police arrest 22 at anti-Israel demonstration at Brooklyn Museum

New York police have arrested at least 22 people after anti-Israel protesters picketed New York’s Brooklyn Museum, charging some with offenses including assault, according to officers, with the gallery reporting damage to artwork.

Hundreds of demonstrators had descended on the art museum yesterday, chanting anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian slogans, and carrying banners and placards, an AFP correspondent reports seeing.

While many remain outside, some enter the museum, with a giant black and white banner reading “Free Palestine, divest from genocide” unfurled above the museum facade’s six distinctive columns.

A pro-Palestinian organization named Within Our Lifetime urged demonstrators to “flood Brooklyn Museum for Gaza,” alluding to the name that Hamas gave to its October 7 terror onslaught that started the war in Gaza. Within Our Lifetime, which praised the Hamas-led attack in the immediate aftermath of the atrocities, says activists occupied the museum to compel it to disclose any Israel-related investments and to divest any such funding.

The moment that our march arrived at the doors of @brooklynmuseum, which they closed early to arrest activists de-occupying the inside demanding they divest from the Gaza genocide ???????? WOL chair @NerdeenKiswani was targeted and brutally arrested by the NYPD#BoycottBrooklynMuseum pic.twitter.com/1RkOoH6TmA

— Within Our Lifetime (@WOLPalestine) June 1, 2024

There have been waves of protests in New York and across the United States, both pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli, since the outbreak of the war in Gaza, which was triggered by Hamas’s massacre in southern Israel on October 7.

Those arrested are accused of offenses ranging from assaulting police officers, resisting arrest and riding a bicycle on the sidewalk.

Lesser action was taken against seven others, police say.

“Unfortunately, there was damage to existing and newly installed artwork on our plaza, and our public safety staff were physically and verbally harassed,” says a spokeswoman for the Brooklyn Museum, confirming that the site was closed early yesterday morning.