Hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators closed three vital bridges and a tunnel linking Manhattan to the rest of New York and its surrounding areas on Monday, in a coordinated move to protest the ongoing Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip. Also Monday, protesters interrupted a speech by US President Joe Biden calling on him to demand a ceasefire and end the ongoing Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip.
The demonstrators tied themselves to tires, chairs, and to each other on the Brooklyn Bridge, which connects the borough of Brooklyn to the financial district in Manhattan.
The disruption of Biden’s speech comes a few hours after NYC activists shut down the Holland Tunnel & 3 major Manhattan bridges.
Young people are furious. We will not allow Biden and the U.S. to continue to support the starvation & slaughter of Gaza. pic.twitter.com/P7cVNWCeB6
— IfNotNow🔥✡️ (@IfNotNowOrg) January 8, 2024
Demonstrator Olivia Levine (31 years old), who practices acting and writing professions, said: “These demonstrations are important because we need a ceasefire. It is important to disrupt daily activities to show how important this is and to end the blockade in Gaza .”
The demonstrators who gathered on the Brooklyn Bridge chanted, “Free, free Palestine.” Similar movements were also organized on the Manhattan and Williamsburg Bridges, which connect Manhattan Island to Brooklyn, and the Holland Tunnel, snarling rush hour traffic in one of the busiest cities on the planet.
BREAKING: Activists in South Carolina just took over Biden’s speech to call for a ceasefire.
“20,000 dead Palestinians; their blood is on your hands.”
Biden was shaken. He’s starting to understand the reality: his war on Gaza is horrifically unpopular, and people are fed up. pic.twitter.com/qSSpRETAep
— IfNotNow🔥✡️ (@IfNotNowOrg) January 8, 2024
In an ongoing and increasing number of casualties, the toll of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip rose to 23,084 killed, more than 70% of whom were women and children, and 58,926 wounded, in addition to more than 7,000 people missing under the rubble, since the seventh of last October.
An estimated 8,000 of those killed are children under age 18 – many of them infants and children under 5, buried under the rubble of their homes. 953 Israelis were killed on October 7th, 2023, in an attack by Hamas fighters from Gaza. An estimated 600 of those killed were civilians – although recent evidence has emerged that many of the Israeli civilians killed on October 7th were not killed by Hamas fighters, but by Israeli airstrikes and tank fire.
Over 100 Israeli civilians are still being held as prisoners by Hamas in Gaza, while Israeli officials have refused to negotiate for their release, and instead continue to pound civilian structures in Gaza – including schools, hospitals, mosques and churches.
