Dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters arrested outside New York Stock Exchange

Anti-Israel protesters occupy an area in front of the New York Stock Exchange, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024, in New York. (AP)
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Updated 14 October 2024
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Dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters arrested outside New York Stock Exchange

  • The protesters chanted “Let Gaza live!” and “Up up with liberation, down down with occupation!” in front of the stock exchange’s landmark building in lower Manhattan

NEW YORK: About 200 demonstrators protesting Israel’s war in Gaza were arrested in a sit-in outside the New York Stock Exchange on Monday, police said.
The protesters chanted “Let Gaza live!” and “Up up with liberation, down down with occupation!” in front of the stock exchange’s landmark building in lower Manhattan.
“The reason we’re here is to demand that the US government stop sending bombs to Israel and stop profiting off of Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza,” said Beth Miller, political director of Jewish Voice for Peace, the group that organized the demonstration. “Because what’s been happening for the last year is that Israel is using US bombs to massacre communities in Gaza while simultaneously weapons manufacturers on Wall Street are seeing their stock prices skyrocket.”
A handful of counterprotesters waved Israeli flags and tried to shout down the pro-Palestinian chants.
None of the pro-Palestinian protesters got inside the exchange, but at least 200 made it inside a security fence on Broad Street, where they sat down and waited to be taken into custody.
A spokesperson for the exchange declined to comment on the protest.
Police arrested the protesters one by one, cuffing their hands behind their backs with plastic ties and leading them to vans. Some demonstrators went limp and were carried by three or four officers.
A police spokesperson said there were about 200 arrests. She did not have details on the charges they faced.
The protest happened a week after the world marked the anniversary of Hamas’ surprise Oct. 7 attack on Israel and the start of Israel’s retaliatory campaign in Gaza, which has since spread to Lebanon and beyond.
The Lebanese Red Cross said an Israeli airstrike hit an apartment building in northern Lebanon on Monday, killing at least 21 people.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military and it was not clear what the target was.


Trump Maritime Action Plan eyes levies on China goods to resurrect US shipbuilding

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Trump Maritime Action Plan eyes levies on China goods to resurrect US shipbuilding

  • Maritime prosperity zones proposed to boost investment and workforce training
  • Maritime Security Trust Fund to finance shipyard revitalization
WASHINGTON: The ​Trump administration on Friday released its plan to rebuild US shipbuilding and other maritime businesses, paid for in part by port fees on cargo delivered to the United States on ships made in China — levies the US and China agreed to pause for one year.
The Maritime Action Plan offers a road map for the revival of US shipbuilding, which has shrunk since World War Two and now severely lags China and other nations.
Coming in at ‌more than ‌30 pages, the plan calls for establishing maritime ​prosperity ‌zones ⁠to bolster ​investment, reforming ⁠workforce training and education, expanding the fleet of US-built and US-flagged commercial ships, establishing a dedicated funding stream through a Maritime Security Trust Fund and reducing regulations.
The Trump administration early last year announced plans to levy fees on China-linked ships to loosen the country’s grip on the global maritime industry and help pay for a US shipbuilding renaissance. The so-called Section 301 penalties followed a US probe that ⁠concluded China uses unfair policies and practices to dominate ‌global shipping.
The fees, which sparked intense pushback ‌from the global shipping industry and intensified tensions between ​the world’s two largest economies, hit ‌on October 14 and were expected to generate an estimated $3.2 billion annually ‌from Chinese-built vessels sailing to US ports.
But China retaliated with its own port fees on US-linked ships and the tit-for-tat fees disrupted global shipping. Soon after, the two sides struck a deal to put the levies on hold for 12 months.
On Friday, ‌Shipyard owners, investors and the bipartisan sponsors of the Shipbuilding and Harbor Infrastructure for Prosperity and Security (SHIPS) for America ⁠Act welcomed President Donald ⁠Trump’s maritime plan, which landed months later than hoped.
US Senator Todd Young, a Republican from Indiana, said there is substantial overlap between Trump’s vision and the plan in that proposed law, which he reintroduced last year with Democratic Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona and other lawmakers.
Importantly, the SHIPS Act would establish a Maritime Security Trust Fund to reinvest port fee proceeds into maritime security and infrastructure projects such as shipyard revitalization. It has rare backing from both Democratic and Republican lawmakers in Washington, but has not made swift progress.
“The announcement today should serve as a wake-up call for Congress to act quickly ​on this bill in order ​to provide the legal authorities and resources necessary to make this plan a reality,” Young said. “It’s time to make American ships again.”