Anti-Israel activists disrupt pride parades in NYC, Toronto, St. Louis

Anti-Israel activists disrupted pride parades in New York City, St. Louis, and Toronto on Sunday, while pro-Palestinian LGBTQ groups boycotted the London and San Francisco marches.

Activists stormed onto the parade route in Manhattan on Sunday waving Palestinian flags and anti-Israel banners, according to Writers Against the War on Gaza (WAWOG). Video published by the anti-Israel group showed the activists throwing red paint onto one of the parade floats before blocking the road and bringing the march to a halt.

WAWOG said the “actionists” had vandalized the float of the Human Rights Campaign float, alleging the NGO had partnered with arms manufacturers.

The New York Police Department arrested the protesters, WAWOG said on Instagram. It called for protests outside the police facility where they had been detained.

In a manifesto, the activists accused Israel of “opposing queer and Palestinian life through pinkwashing” and “laundering the violence of Zionism with the rainbow capitalism of pride parades.”

They explained that they believed the US and NGOs had presented a false dichotomy of being gay or Muslim, Palestinian or Arab, and they rejected the idea of clashes between intersecting identities and ideologies.

“We stand with f****ts fighting for the death of empire. With d**es burning ‘American’ and ‘Israeli’ flags. Drag queens disrupting galas,” read the manifesto shared by WAWOG. “Queers resisting cops. The hundreds of thousands of us in the streets. Every last motherf**ker who lost a job and said ‘IDGAF.’ Aaron Bushnell, screaming Free Palestine until he could scream no more. We stand with Palestine. We stand with Palestinian resistance unconditionally. We stand in solidarity with Palestinian queers and their struggle against imperialism, which cannot be separated from their struggle against heteropatriarchal capitalism. We also stand in solidarity with Palestinian homophobes. They do not deserve to be murdered by our taxes.”

On social media, New York Congressman Ritchie Torres criticized those who disrupted the parade to “signal solidarity with Hamas.”

“There is but one problem with Queers for Hamas: the love is not mutual. There is no Hamas for Queers,” said Torres. “Hamas would never be caught dead in a gay pride parade because it wants gay people dead. Queers for Hamas has not yet gotten the memo. Maybe one day it will. Useful idiocy can be outgrown.”

The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department arrested 19 people on Sunday after they blockaded the city’s pride parade. Parade organizers had requested the SLMPD give dispersal orders for the protesters who had created a human wall by connecting their arms with chains and PVC pipes. The police reportedly ignored three warnings before making the arrests.

“SLMPD requested assistance from the St. Louis Fire Department to respond and used an assortment of saws to cut through the pipes and chains extricating the individuals,” said the police.

Resist St. Louis reported that even after the activists’ arrest, the crowd continued to support their cause by chanting anti-war slogans.

St. Louis Activists, St. Louis Palestine Solidarity Committee, Resist Washington University, and St. Louis Jewish Voice for Peace joined the group to protest Boeing’s corporate sponsorship of the parade,

“[The 1969] Stonewall [riot] was an Intifada,” the groups said on Instagram. “We will never accept merchants of death at Pride.”

The protesters were set to hold a press conference about the event on Monday.

IN TORONTO, the Coalition Against Pinkwashing disrupted the Pride parade, leading the organizers to end it early.

The Toronto Police Service announced on social media that the event was paused due to a demonstration, but the remainder of the parade was ultimately canceled.

“We made the decision to cancel the remainder of the Pride parade out of our commitment to ensuring public safety,” said Pride Toronto. “While we deeply respect and uphold everyone’s right to peacefully protest, our foremost priority is the well being of all participants and spectators.”

Queers for Palestine said that the Coalition would hold a press conference on Monday following the shutdown of the parade. They accused the organizers of being “genocide-complicit” for associating with “enablers of genocide,” such as the US Consulate, Scotiabank, Google, and Amazon.

HonestReporting Canada mocked Pride Toronto on social media for its supposed “pro-Hamas” positions vs LGBTQ-friendly Israel, only for “pro-Hamas thugs” to shut down the celebration.

In March, Pride Toronto called for an “immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza” and the release of the Hamas-held hostages. It alleged that the IDF was indiscriminately bombing Palestinians and depriving Gazans of food, medical supplies, and fuel.

Planning on disrupting the London Pride parade 

Thirty anti-Israel activists had planned to  disrupt the London Pride parade, but the Metropolitan Police arrested them on Saturday in a preemptive operation against the conspiracy, The Telegraph reported.

Queers for Palestine and Imaan LGBTQI Muslim Support boycotted London Pride because the parade was supported by corporate sponsors like Cisco and Deutsche Bank, which, they claimed, were profiting from a genocide in Gaza. Queers or Palestine held its own “decolonial pride” event on Saturday.

Jewish groups also boycotted the parade, the Jewish Chronicle reported last Monday. Keshet UK and the West London Synagogue declined to participate due to safety concerns for its members and congregants.

In a statement on June 13, London Pride accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, adding that it stood with  “all Muslims and Jews worldwide who are facing rising hate and discrimination here in London and around the world.”

San Francisco’s Saturday and Sunday pride events were boycotted by Jewish Voice for Peace Bay Area and Queers Undermining Israeli Terror.

“We answer the call to boycott corporate genocide-supporting San Francisco Pride with a queer and trans[gender] march for Palestinian liberation, the groups said on Instagram on Friday.

On June 5, the San Francisco Pride parade caused controversy when it issued a statement saying that there would be no Israeli float but welcomed pro-Palestinian groups.

The Pride organization clarified on June 7 that no groups were denied entry and that “ absolutely all LGBTQ+ people and allies are welcome at San Francisco Pride, and that includes Israelis and Jewish people just as it does Palestinians and Muslims.”