Picture: IG/Jewish Voice for Peace
NEW YORK (AP) — 1000’s of protesters crammed the principle concourse of New York Metropolis’s famed Grand Central Terminal throughout the night rush hour Friday, chanting slogans and unfurling banners demanding a cease-fire as Israel intensified its bombardment of the Gaza Strip.
Sporting black T-shirts saying “Jews say cease-fire now” and “Not in our identify,” at the very least 200 of the demonstrators have been detained by New York Police Division officers and led out of the prepare station, their palms zip-tied behind their backs. The NYPD mentioned the protesters have been taken briefly into custody, issued summonses and launched, and {that a} extra precise variety of detentions can be out there Saturday morning.
Some protesters hoisted banners as they scaled the stone ledges in entrance of leaderboards itemizing departure instances. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority requested commuters to make use of Penn Station instead. After the sit-in was damaged up by police, the remaining protesters spilled into the streets outdoors.
“Tons of of Jews and buddies are taking up Grand Central Station in a historic sit-in calling for a ceasefire,” advocacy group Jewish Voice for Peace mentioned on social media.
The scene echoed final week’s sit-in on Capitol Hill in Washington, the place Jewish advocacy teams, together with Jewish Voice for Peace and If Not Now, poured right into a congressional workplace constructing. Greater than 300 folks have been arrested for illegally demonstrating.
Israel stepped up airstrikes throughout the Gaza Strip on Friday, knocking out web and largely chopping off communication with the two.3 million folks contained in the besieged Palestinian enclave. Gaza’s Hamas-run Well being Ministry says greater than 7,300 folks have been killed, greater than 60% of them minors and girls.
The Israeli army’s announcement it was “increasing” floor operations within the territory signaled it was shifting nearer to an all-out invasion of Gaza, the place it has vowed to crush the ruling Hamas militant group after its bloody incursion in southern Israel three weeks in the past. Greater than 1,400 folks have been slain in Israel throughout the assault, based on the Israeli authorities, and at the very least 229 hostages have been taken into Gaza.
The U.N. Common Meeting authorised a nonbinding decision calling for a “humanitarian truce” in Gaza resulting in a cessation of hostilities. It was the primary U.N. response to Hamas’ shock Oct. 7 assaults and Israel’s ongoing army response.
