34 anti-Israel protesters in custody after Brooklyn Museum takeover: NYPD
Nearly two dozen people were arrested after anti-Israel demonstrators took over the Brooklyn Museum, clashing with police and dropping a banner from the roof, cops said.
Twenty-two people were collared amid the massive Friday rally, including serial protester Alvin Dan, who was slapped with an assault charge along with resisting arrest and obstruction of justice, cops said.
Dan, 32, of Staten Island, was previously busted at anti-Israel demonstrations protesting the Met Gala in April as well as last year’s iconic Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Seven others were given summonses, according to police, who earlier said 34 people had been taken into custody.
During Friday’s demonstration, rowdy protesters scaled the building before rappelling down its side with climbing equipment and making their way into the museum, police sources said of the demonstration, which included nearly 1,000 people.
Demonstrators then set up an encampment inside, while others scampered to the roof to unfurl a giant banner reading “Free Palestine” and “Divest From Genocide” over the front of the building.
Outside the building, roughly 800 seething protesters continued to mob the area, some of whom scrapped with security guards and hurled slurs at cops. Others tagged the iconic yellow “OY/YO” sculpture with graffiti, including “Free Palestine” and “Free Gaza.”
Charges had yet to be determined for those taken into custody, police said.
At one point doing the protester, violent demonstrators were caught on film assaulting a pro-Israel motorcyclist wearing an Israeli flag as a cape near the museum, according to footage shared on social media.
The aggressive demonstrators surrounded the counter-protester, shouting “Free Palestine” and “I hope you die,” before one grabbed the motorcyclist’s flag and yanked the driver to the ground, video showed.
The demonstration appears to have been organized by the anti-Israel group “Within Our Lifetime,” beginning nearly a mile down the street near the Barclays Center.
The organization had demanded its supporters “flood the Brooklyn Museum for Gaza,” and said in an online flier it planned on occupying the institution until its leaders “disclose and divest” from any investments tied to Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza.
Additional reporting by David Spector.
