NEW YORK: Pro-Palestinian protesters blocked several New York City bridges and a tunnel on Monday to demand an immediate cease-fire in the three-month-old Israel-Hamas conflict.
Dozens of demonstrators sat in the roadway and chanted slogans while holding up traffic on the Brooklyn, Manhattan and Williamsburg bridges across the East River, as well as at the Holland Tunnel connecting New York City with New Jersey across the Hudson River, local media reported.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the Holland Tunnel, said on its website that the lanes to New Jersey were closed “due to police activity.”
Video posted on social media showed protesters chanting: “NYPD, KKK, IDF they’re all the same,” referring to the New York Police Department, Ku Klux Klan and the Israel Defense Forces.
Protesters at the Holland Tunnel carried banners that said “Lift the siege on Gaza,” “Cease-fire 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 groups, they said on X, formerly called Twitter.
“The siege on Gaza needs to end and I’m ready to put my body on the line to end it,” said one protester as she was led away by a police officer with her hands behind her back, video showed.
Israel’s campaign in Hamas-run Gaza has so far killed more than 23,000 Palestinians, local health officials say, while Israel says Hamas holds more than 100 hostages of 240 seized during its Oct. 7 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people.
Israel accuses Hamas of operating among civilians and has released videos and photos it says support the claim. Hamas, which is sworn to Israel’s destruction, denies the accusation.
Pro-Palestinian protesters block New York City bridges, tunnel
https://arab.news/n6zwq
Pro-Palestinian protesters block New York City bridges, tunnel
- Dozens of demonstrators sat in the roadway and chanted slogans while holding up traffic on the Brooklyn
Danish veterans stage protest outside US Embassy
COPENHAGEN: Hundreds of Danish veterans, many of whom fought alongside US troops, staged a silent protest Saturday outside the US Embassy in Copenhagen in response to the Trump administration’s threats to take over Greenland and belittling their combat contributions.
“Denmark has always stood side by side with the USA — and we have showed up in the world’s crisis zones when the USA has asked us to. We feel let down and ridiculed by the Trump Administration, which is deliberately disregarding Denmark’s combat side by side with the USA,” Danish Veterans & Veteran Support said in a statement.
“Words cannot describe how much it hurts us that Denmark’s contributions and sacrifices in the fight for democracy, peace and freedom are being forgotten in the White House,” it said.
Veterans first gathered at a monument honoring fallen Danish service members then began marching to the nearby US Embassy, where they will observe five minutes of silence — one each for Denmark’s army, air force, navy, emergency management agency and police.
Danish veterans are furious at how the White House rhetoric disregards the right to self-determination of Greenland, a territory of NATO ally Denmark. They also strongly object to Trump’s claim that Denmark is incapable of protecting the West’s security interests in the Arctic.
Forty-four Danish soldiers were killed in Afghanistan, the highest per capita death toll among coalition forces. Eight more died in Iraq.
Tensions were further inflamed Tuesday when 44 Danish flags — one for every Danish soldier killed in Afghanistan — that had been placed in front of the embassy were removed by embassy staff.
The State Department later said that, as a general rule, guard staff remove items left behind following demonstrations and other “legitimate exercises of free speech.” The flags were returned to those who left them, it said.
