The protesters waved Palestinian flags and carried signs with Swastikas while chanting antisemitic slogans.
World Israel News Staff
Hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators stormed the the 89th annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony at the Rockefeller Center in New York on Wednesday night, chanting slogans calling for the annihilation Israel and clashing with NYPD officers whom they referred to as Nazis.
The protesters, waving Palestinian flags and carrying signs demanding an “end to genocide,” assembled along Sixth Avenue, where many tourists were eagerly waiting to witness the lighting ceremony.
This year, the Christmas tree lighting ceremony, which included performances by Cher, Kelly Clarkson, KeKe Palmer, Barry Manilow, David Foster, and Katharine McPhee, coincided with the United Nations-recognized International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.
Chants of “Free free Palestine!” and “From the river to the sea” — an antisemitic clarion call that envisions a state of Palestine replacing all of Israel — echoed through the streets. Masked protesters held signs, including one that featured a swastika, drawing a parallel between the IDF and Nazi Germany, according to the New York Post.
NYPD officers were continuously pushing back the crowds, who in turn pushed back, with some of the protesters calling officers “f**king Nazis.”
Several arrests were made.
The Post cited one attendee, Lillian Gonzalez, a Bronx resident, as saying: “Politics has no place at an event like this, but that’s exactly why they do it—to disrupt the status quo, to ruin the things we cherish and take comfort in.”
UK tourist Jamie Fry, 42, told the paper that the protest was “very annoying.”
“I had planned my holiday around this event, being a big fan of Christmas. Now I’m walled in by a bunch of terrorist-loving a–holes calling for intifada,” Fry said.
It wasn’t the first time pro-Palestinian protesters attempted to ruin a holiday event.
During last week’s annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, hundreds Palestinian protesters held a sit-in in which they glued themselves to the street and shouted “Bombs are dropping while you’re shopping.”
Activists also burned an Israeli flag, as one of the mob leaders yelled threats: “For those who support genocide in the US, your days are numbered…the US government is the number one funder of Israel terrorism.”
Wednesday’s fracas also comes days after anti-Israel protesters held two mass demonstrations, attended by antisemitic Women’s March leader Linda Sarsour, in Manhattan over the weekend.